| A rapid prototyping and production system features a dispensing head capable of dispensing material from two connected but basically perpendicular exits, one for dispensing material in erected positions and one for dispensing material in horizontal positions. In general, the dispensing head of this invention comprises adjustable exit capable of changing cross-sectional area by a factor of at least 10 to 200 to accommodate variation of required geometric feature size and to increase build rate. Further, this invention includes a shaping tool for reshaping solidified dispensed material to improve curvature and surface finish. Still further, this invention includes a Thick-layer Building procedure, which builds a 3D object by repeatedly alternating a dispensing step to dispense a thick layer of material and a shaping step, using a shaping tool, to reshape the layer. |