• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.500-508
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• 2001

The integration of Rapid prototyping (RP) and Rapid Tooling (RT) has the potential for rapid net shaping of thee-dimensional parts, which have a geometrical complexity. In this study, a new R)P process, (VLM-SP), was proposed to manufacture net shapes of three-dimensional prototypes and it was shown that VLM-SP is an effective and economic process through the comparison of building time, building cost and dimensional accuracy for the test parts with the commercial RP processes ; LOM and FDM. In addition, the metal parts, which are a spanner shape and a clover punch, were produced by the plaster casting as one of RT using the prototypes of VLM-SP.