Talk:Stereolithography

The following discussion is archived. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section. A summary of the conclusions reached follows.

The result was not to merge. -- Wizard191 (talk) 01:45, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

"3D printing" is a catch-all for a bunch of technologies, but few are close to Stereolithography. Objet's PolyJet technology is closest (it uses an acrylic sprayed out of a print head hardened by a UV lamp). Ordinarily, "3D printing" refers to machines like Z-Corp's starch printers, that are pretty inexpensive and "office friendly." I think the merge proposal confuses technologies, which won't help users doing research here. --GargoyleMT 04:28, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

I too dispute the usefulness of a merger with stereolithography. The two previous comments hold a point which many people will agree is valid. As aforementioned rapid prototyping is the umbrella phrase used to describe a number of 3d printing devices. This umbrella phrase encompasses all 3d printing devices regardless of their application or supposed 'friendliness'. The beauty of wikipedia is the user interactivity. If someone has taken the time to write a detailed explanation of an object, I for one believe it should not then become 'belittled' by placing it in a general category. The rapid prototyping category should remain a succinct explanation of rapid prototyping as whole with links to further explanations of individual devices whether held in the wiki domain or on a seperate site. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 80.192.164.98 (talk • contribs) 14:10, January 4, 2007 (UTC)

3D printing is a completely different process than stereolithography, so it makes no sense to combine the articles. That's like trying to combine articles on injection molding and machining; in many cases either could be used to make a part, but the processes are not even similar. --Brouhaha 23:23, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

Bad idea. 3D printing is a superset of stereolithography, not a subset. Plaasjaapie 17:49, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

I think the proposed merging of these articles is unnecessary and might confuse readers. It seems like 3d Pringing, Rapid Prototyping and Stereolithography are different. I think everyone else pretty much summed it up quite well. I'd vote NO on the merge. Testerer 07:43, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

I think it is more accurate to say that this article does not clearly differeniate SLA as a technology amongst various technologies used for 3D printing and prototyping. I added a note referencing SLS, which is not the same as SLA and PolyJet™. In truth, I came looking for information about how SLS differed from SLA which I did eventually find in the link I added.

Regarding rapid prototyping, I would suggest it is again a superset of 3D printing. Rapid prototyping is also a term used in software for instance to describe methodologies that create fast software prototypes. No printing required. Machining parts from alternate materials, ie, machining a plastic prototype for a part eventually to be made in metal would also be called rapid prototyping. Wiredrabbit (talk) 13:01, 4 February 2009 (UTC)

The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section.

The following discussion is archived. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section. A summary of the conclusions reached follows.

The result was not to merge. -- Wizard191 (talk) 01:45, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

I don't think a merge with Rapid Prototyping will be beneficial. Stereolithography is a popular technology used in rapid prototyping, but it's not the only one. It's not even the best selling technology; that falls to FDM. To merge articles would make covering other rapid prototyping topics (techniques like RTV molding or additional machine types) harder. --GargoyleMT 04:35, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

I would not suggest merging Rapid Prototyping and Stereolithography. Stereolithography is only one rapid prototyping technique. Stereolithography is a technology while rapid prototyping is more of the overall concept. My vote is not to merge. Lchrzan 16:09, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section.