Implementation and Testing of a 3-D Hybrid Rapid Prototyping System Capable of Deposition and Machining

Rapid Prototyping (RP), also known as Layered Manufacturing, is a widely used method of manufacturing which has been increasingly applied in the process of design and development of new products. RP's advantages includes being able to produce internal cavities, and being able to deliver and modify prototypes without specialized tooling. New RP technologies add materials than remove materials to produce the prototype part. This simplifies the 3D part producing process to 2D layer adding processes, and permits a part to be produced directly from its computer model. A hybrid Rapid Prototyping system (HRP) developed from existing systems may provide even more flexibility.