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Rapid Prototyping

From the complete point cloud produced from scanning the entirety of the artifact’s surface, a finite element mesh was constructed. This is a 3D model based from small triangular facets, all scans taken were optimised to ensure that there were no stepped surfaces and the point cloud was filtered to a point spacing of 0.3mm. Boundary points were inserted to ensure surface definition and small holes in the mesh was filled using curvature analysis. This was achieved using Metris Kube software.

 

Manipulation of the model was performed in Magics RP (Materialise n.v). To prepare the model for stereolithography, the surface model was hollowed to create a 3mm wall thickness shell in order to reduce RP build time and weight of the model. A hole was then created in the base surface to allow resin to drain from the hollow part after construction. The RP model was realised using a SLA 5000 (3D Systems Inc) system in Watershed 11122 XC resin (DSM Somos). A layer thickness of 0.1mm was employed.