By Harald Studer A cataract is a clouding of the lens of the eye that first blurs vision and can eventually lead to blindness if the lens becomes opaque. The World Health Organization estimates that nearly 18 million people worldwide are blind in both eyes because of cataracts, making it the cause of almost half…
From 3D modeling to 3D printing: Lumitoro makes fashion model-worthy jewelry with Autodesk Fusion 360
The fashion world has long been fascinated by the possibilities of 3D printing technology, and now jewelry designers have the 3D technology to finally bring their ideas to life. One of the first in the world to produce high-end fashion jewelry exclusively through 3D printing is Roberto Chaves, a man with multiple talents in the…
Best Practices on Driving Design Decisions with Simulation
This webinar will provide guidance to attendees on how to drive more engineering decisions using simulation tools. Today, there are lots of different options. You can provide automation tools to simulation analysts to improve their productivity or you could provide CAD-embedded simulation tools to engineers for early simulation feedback on a daily basis. What is…
Optimizing built-in tire pressure monitoring sensors
Miniature sensors that regulate automobile performance are designed in a very particular way to operate properly while housed directly on moving automobile tires. They need to have the sensitivity to pick up measurements while in motion and the durability to withstand the elements. Tire pressure is the unsung hero of automobile performance. When inflated to…
Entrepreneur illuminates nightime sports with Onshape cloud-based CAD
As a former college athlete, AfterDark Technologies founder and CEO Dan Wilson will never forget the indignity of being kicked off the sports field. It didn’t matter that he and his Cornell University Swim Team friends didn’t have dibs on his school’s various lit fields at night. After all, none of the football, soccer or…
Round Up: SolidWorks World 2015
In early February, over 5,000 attendees—many of whom were only too happy to flee their snowy, frigid hometowns—filled the halls of the Phoenix Convention Center for SolidWorks World 2015. The weather wasn’t the only thing heating things up at the show. Intriguing general session speakers and many new products were introduced—both by SolidWorks and its…
SRON uses COMSOL to develop thermal calibration system for deep-space telescope
Heat management takes on a unique role in outer space, especially for cryogenic systems that demand extremely low temperatures in order to detect thermal radiation. This was a challenge faced by the engineering team at SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research when designing the SpicA Far-InfraRed Instrument (SAFARI), an infrared camera that measures the complete…
Renishaw road show heads to Texas
The Renishaw Process Control Road Show travels to Texas with four half-day sessions featuring metrology solutions to improve machining performance and increase manufacturing process capability. On January 20 the Road Show will be in Irving, TX, before moving to Houston on January 22. The seminar will be offered twice in each city, with morning sessions…
3D printed electronics for the Internet of Things
A paper presented at the prestigious IEEE International Solid States Circuits Conference in 2011 caused more than a little stir in the electronics industry. Researchers from the Belgian nanotech research center Imec described how they inkjet-printed a 3,381-transistor logic circuit made out of plastic. The number of transistors is noteworthy because it slightly exceeds the…
3D scanning and printing used to retrofit Lotus 340R
While some companies are promising an entire car made of 3D-printed parts, C.ideas, a rapid prototyping company, is using 3D scanning and printing technologies to create and manufacture replacement parts for rare vehicles. The company used scanning, software and printing products from 3D Systems to produce more than 40 replacement components for a Lotus 340R,…
GAM launches a new product sizing tool
GAM, a manufacturer of precision gear reducers, servo couplings, and linear mounting kits, announces the launch of a new web-based product sizing tool. Designed with simplicity in mind, the sizing tool helps users quickly find suitable GAM products compatible with their motor. Over 9,000 of the most popular servomotors on the market are available for…
Dassault delivers with SolidWorks 2015
Over 2.3 million CAD users have patiently awaited the release of SolidWorks 2015. Their wait is now over and their patience has been rewarded with a bounty of new features and enhancements that even the most cynical of users will appreciate. With much fanfare, Dassault Systems rolled out the newest version of its very popular…
PCB design tool upgraded to create slots & cutouts, and file specific hole sizes
Sunstone Circuits®, the leading printed circuit board (PCB) prototype solutions provider, has launched the newest version of their PCB design tool, PCB123®, which includes two major upgrades to functionality: Tools to create slots & cutouts, and file specific hole sizes. With the new version 5, PCB123 users can now create plated slots as small as…
How to create molds in less than 24 hours
Whale, a leading manufacturer of water and heating systems for mobile applications, has slashed its lead times for the production of injection mold tools for prototype parts by 97% since introducing Stratasys 3D printing into its tooling process. Said Jim Sargent, 3D Technical Services at Whale, the company is 3D printing injection mold tools in…
3D Printed pH Probe Measures Fermentation Acidity for the Best Flavor Coffee
When Stanford University graduate students Kristen Dobson and Calder Hughes studied how coffee moves from harvest to our coffee mugs, their research into the process of harvesting and preparing coffee beans revealed that small farmers lack data on a crucial step in the fermentation process that affects quality. Coffee beans are derived from coffee cherries…
Sunstone Circuits is recognized as a Top Work Place for 2013
Sunstone Circuits®, a printed circuit board (PCB) prototype solutions provider, has been named one of The Oregonian Top Work Places for 2013. Companies were recognized based on several factors around employee engagement, direction, execution, connection, leadership, pay and benefits. The Oregonian newspaper teamed up with consulting and data-gathering firm WorkplaceDynamics LLP each of the last…
The Pros and Cons of 3D Modeling Paradigms: Direct Modeling and History-based Modeling
Engineering is really all about problem solving. In product design, this means exploring, iterating, changing, testing, and changing again until an optimized solution is found, designed and built. To empower engineers and designers to be able to design truly innovative products, they need tools that are both flexible and powerful. Parametric, feature-based 3D modeling tools…
Using CAD to improve free-heel skiing
By Michael Jermann, Assistant Editor Jeff found early on that if he had a fall and his bindings released, it was important to use runaway leashes to keep his skis from becoming hazards to other skiers. Jeff Cox, the owner of Bluebird Day Gear, has always loved skiing, especially telemark. Telemark skiing, often called ‘free-heel…
Help Clean Up the Ocean
By Leslie Langnau, Managing Editor Recently when I visited Dassault Systèmes to hear about the developments to SolidWorks 2014, SolidWorks CEO Bertrand Sicot introduced the press in attendance to Boyan Slat, a young engineer with a passion. One of Slat’s hobbies is diving. As he swims in various waters, he sees the effects that the…
Ensure Tolerance Information in a CAD Model
CETOL 6s v8.3 software for SolidWorks can initiate directly from the annotations that already exist within a CAD model generated by the SolidWorks design software, reducing the time required to model the dimension scheme. This new feature also allows f2-way associativity between the SolidWorks CAD annotation and the CETOL model. Changes made to the CAD…
Flexible Licensing for Solid Edge
Siemens is providing a new option to license Solid Edge CAD software. In select countries, customers can purchase a monthly subscription to Solid Edge. The monthly subscription license is available from the Solid Edge online store where customers can select from four different versions of the software based on the features that best fit their…
3D Printer Builds Parts to Test NASA’s Spectrograph, IRIS
Final testing is underway on NASA’s next Small Explorer (SMEX) mission, which will fly into the lower levels of the sun’s atmosphere to use high-resolution images, data collection, and advanced computer models to unravel how matter, light, and energy move from the sun’s 6,000 K (10,240 degree F) surface to its million K (1.8 million…
NVIDIA Unveils New Flagship GPU For Visual Computing
NVIDIA unveiled the visual computing industry’s new flagship technology — the NVIDIA Quadro K6000 GPU. NVIDIA also launched a new line of professional graphics GPUs for mobile workstations. The Quadro K6000 GPU delivers five-times higher compute performance and nearly double the graphics capability of its predecessor, the NVIDIA Quadro 6000 GPU, and features a large…
Structural Topology Optimization: The opposite of FEA
Most of the big CAE vendors are enthusiastic proponents for the democratization of simulation. In fact, Googling the term leads to a treasure trove of results—and shows that each of the CAE vendors seem to have entirely different ideas about what democratization involves. While everyone seems to agree that democratization involves making simulation more available…
Simulation with Nonlinear Structural Materials
Live webinar was September 18, 2013. When the stress in a structure becomes sufficiently large, many materials display nonlinear behavior. Some materials may exhibit a nonlinear stress-strain response even at very low stress. Material models including elastoplastic, viscoplastic, creep, and hyperelastic require expressions more sophisticated than the linear Hooke’s law. This webinar presented applications of…