SCIENCE / TECHNOLOGY : Laser-Tech Says It Builds a Better--or Less Expensive, Anyway--Prototype

Stereolithography isn’t your everyday kind of word.

But if you’re a manufacturer and haven’t heard of it, you may be missing out, says Randall Wood, president of Laser-Tech Engineering in Irvine.

Laser-Tech has been using stereolithography technology for the past year to make low-cost prototypes, Wood says.

Instead of casting prototypes the old-fashioned way, by molding wooden models over six weeks, Laser-Tech uses lasers to cut through a vat of liquid plastic to make three-dimensional plastic molds for part prototypes. Guided by a computer program that contains the part design, the laser can create a model of a circuit board for the guidance system of a rocket that is accurate to within 1/100,000th of an inch. Prototypes can be finished in one to five days, depending on the complexity of the part.

“The average model we make costs $1,200 to $2,000,” said Steve Duhamel, design engineer for Laser-Tech. “Conventional prototypes could cost $10,000 to $30,000.”

The company, which uses stereolithography machines produced by 3-D Systems in Valencia, says it expects revenue to top $750,000 in 1991. Its clients include General Electric Co., Hughes Aircraft Co. and Mobil Oil Corp.