Resins and solvents. Embry-Riddle is one of the few universities in which undergraduate students have access to an STL machine. It is shown in the photo above left, the tall box with the large glass door, at the bottom of which can be seen a black vat which contains liquid resin. This shown more clearly in the photo below. One use of the STL machine is to rapidly produce accurate scale models of engineering students design projects.
Students create their designs elsewhere using computer graphics software.
Their graphics files, in STL format, are transferred to the desktop computer sitting alongside the STL machine. That computer drives a laser beam which traces out the intricate details of the three-dimensional shape, layer by layer, on the surface of the liquid resin. The resin hardens where struck by the moving pinpoint of laser light, which is barely visible in the picture below. The solid plastic model rests on a perforated platform. Build times require a number of hours, depending on the size and complexity of the model.