Well, first off, thanks for buying this book! And, if you are only considering buying
this book, or at least took the time to pick it up and read the preface, hey, thank
you, too! Regardless, at this point you are hoping I don’t ramble through the
whole text like this, so let’s get down to business, shall we?
This book was written by a technical professional who, for over seven years,
has personally operated, modified, tweaked, repaired, and advanced at least one of
every domestic rapid prototyping system on today’s market. Just what is rapid
prototyping? Well, here it refers to a collective set of manufacturing technologies
that build parts in additive fashion, by growing slices of a material from the bottom
to the top of the part, directly from computer-driven data.