A review of state‐of‐the‐art large‐sized foam cutting rapid prototyping and manufacturing technologies

Abstract

Current additive rapid prototyping technologies fail to efficiently produce objects greater than 0.5m³ due to restrictions in build size and build time. Conversely large hot-wire cutting machines, able to cut large objects, often lack the ability to create surfaces with complex geometrical features. Therefore there is a need to develop rapid prototyping and manufacturing technologies capable of producing large objects in a rapid manner directly from CAD data. Large sized freeform objects made of soft materials, such as polystyrene foam, have numerous uses including; conceptual design of commercial products, automotive design, aerodynamic and hydrodynamic testing, advertising, film making, medical supports, sporting equipment and props for the entertainment industry. Plastic foam cutting rapid prototyping is a relatively new technology capable of producing large plastic foam objects directly from CAD data. This paper will describe nine such technologies that have been developed or are currently being developed at institutions around the world.

Embodied prototyping: exploration of a design-fabrication framework for large-scale model manufacturing

“…Large-scale layered manufacturing attempts to build artifacts to the maximum capacity of the build envelope many meters in height or width. A number of researchers have investigated ideas related to large-scale 3D printing [5], [6], [32]. There also exist a few commercial layered manufacturing machines -one in particular can build very large models within a build volume up to four meters square [33].…”

Using the Collective Intelligence for inventive problem solving: A contribution for Open Computer Aided Innovation

“…Technologies for rapid prototyping include adding materials and removing materials methods. Plastic foam cutting is a removing material technology capable of producing large plastic foam objects directly from a CAD model ( Brooks & Aitchison, 2010 ). According to Brooks and Aitchison, the incorporation of polystyrene in rapid prototyping has different uses such as: conceptual design of commercial products, automotive design, aerodynamic and hydrodynamic testing, among others.…”

Rapid manufacturing facilitation through optimal machining prediction of polystyrene foam

“…Furthermore, low cost one-of-a-kind production is attainable and parts can potentially present accurate and smooth surfaces. End applications have the potential to have significant impact on biomedical, marine, consumer product, architectural and furniture industries amongst many others (Thomas et al 1996, Brooks andAitchison 2010). However, a rigorous literature survey has revealed that little research has been directed towards hot-wire cutting mechanics or process optimisation (Brooks 2009).…”