Rapid prototyping

Specialized machines designed for prototyping printed circuit boards can drastically speed up development efforts. Leland Teschler • Executive Editor Examine advice columns online pitched at engineers and you’ll often see posts advocating an investment in a milling machine specifically designed to produce prototype circuit boards. Engineers who use these machines point to benefits that include…

Rapid Product Solutions, Inc. (RPS), has expanded its facility in Oxnard, California to over 15,000 square feet. This enables the company to offer key 3D printing technologies in-house, making it one of the comprehensive U.S. providers for rapid prototyping and production. As part of the expansion the company augmented its Stereolithography (SLA) QuickCast post-processing and […]

Digital manufacturing company, Protolabs (NYSE: PRLB) has launched production capabilities for its metal 3D printing service. The new capabilities use secondary processes to improve the strength, dimensional accuracy, and cosmetic appearance of metal parts. As part of the launch, enhanced inspection reporting is also available. “We see it every day. The designers and engineers we…

Peacekeeping missions often take place at remote locations, requiring the army to have a large supply of spare parts on site to keep everything running. Dutch researcher Bram Westerweel comes to the conclusion that taking a 3D printer on a mission to print parts can save hundreds of thousands of euros and, at the same…

A study conducted in part at the Canadian Light Source (CLS) at the University of Saskatchewan suggests reformulating lubricating oils for internal combustion engines could significantly improve not only the life of the oil but the life of the engine too. Dr. Pranesh Aswath with the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University…

It took only 10 minutes and a ride aboard the Blue Origin New Shepard reusable rocket for 11 students in the Bruin Spacecraft Group to make history. At 6:32 a.m. on May 2, their experimental pump designed for use in zero-gravity environments, named “Blue Dawn,” completed its flight into a low-Earth orbit and freefall — thereby becoming…

Three-D-printing isn’t just for mechanical parts. There are machines on the market able to produce sophisticated printed circuit boards having multiple layers, complete with passive components fabbed with the same conductive inks and dielectrics used to make circuit traces. Most additive machines aimed at PCB work use ink jetting to lay down PCB traces and…

Factors of cost, quality, function and material requirements help narrow the field. Phil Hutchinson | element14 community The 3D printing process offers electronic engineers a great way to speed up innovation. Early adopters such as the aerospace and defense industries have long used 3D printing for rapid concept modeling, component prototyping and the production of…

For decades, scientists have been able to burn fuels in a flame without creating any soot, and they think they know why. They’ve crunched the numbers and run experiments in high-tech facilities, but there’s only one way to be certain about the fundamental relationship between flames and soot: They have to light a fire in…

Those who have a high tolerance for spicy foods may be able to win their local chili-eating contest, but eating spicy foods wears out our taste buds. This can be a hurdle for people who make and sell spicy foods to individuals who want a little kick to their meal. Now, Washington State University has…

Shovels have one job: to dig. For such a simplistic product, EST Gear sure is making it into a much more elaborate piece of gear. Now, the EST Shovel features 18 tools-in-one with what appears to be a shovel on the outside but consists of a saw, axe, knife, spear, bottle opener, fire starter, wire-cutter,…

An aircraft is making aviation history. Now, the first aircraft has been maneuvered using supersonically blown air, removing the need for complex movable flight control surfaces. In a series of flight tests in Wales, BAE Systems’ MAGMA unmanned aerial vehicle demonstrated two innovative flow control technologies that could change the future of aircraft design. MAGMA…

Designing new materials for 3D printing projects is now much simpler, quicker and cost effective thanks to the Alchemite machine learning algorithm, developed by Intellegens, the Cambridge-based artificial intelligence (AI) company. In a research collaboration between several commercial partners and the Stone Group at the University of Cambridge, the Alchemite deep learning algorithm was used to design…

Moving elements twice our size is no easy feat. But now, the future of construction may be easier with “Walking Assembly.” The video below shows two men moving two massive concrete structures, without any trucks, gear, or lifts. Despite some innate doubt, these structures are indeed concrete masonry units and were made in collaboration with…

Assembling a microrobot used to require a pair of needle-nosed tweezers, a microscope, steady hands and at least eight hours. But now University of Toronto Engineering researchers have developed a method that requires only a 3D printer and 20 minutes. In the lab of Professor Eric Diller, researchers create magnetized microrobots—the size of the head…

Many watched the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral light up in flames on Monday, but there has been no hesitation in rectifying this tragedy. Now, French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe has announced plans to launch an international architecture competition to replace the spire, according to New Atlas. Although the Notre-Dame de Paris is approximately 850 years…

A new learning system developed by MIT researchers improves robots’ abilities to mold materials into target shapes and make predictions about interacting with solid objects and liquids. The system, known as a learning-based particle simulator, could give industrial robots a more refined touch — and it may have fun applications in personal robotics, such as…

Inside modern cell phones are billions of nanoscale switches that flip on and off, allowing the phone to function. These switches, called transistors, are controlled by an electrical signal that is delivered via a single battery. This configuration of one battery to power multiple components works well for today’s technologies, but there is room for…

Ikea will start renting and recycling furniture worldwide as part of an eco-friendly drive to address concerns its affordable, flat-pack business model leads to overconsumption and waste. Sceptics see the Swedish giant’s initiative as a mere marketing ploy, while supporters see a genuine seachange. Either way, Ikea says it plans to become a circular business…

Kartell, a company who transforms design and integrates redesign into new products, is presenting an artificial intelligence (AI) chair in collaboration with designer Philippe Starck and Autodesk, a producer of 3D engineering and entertainment software. This creative thinking has brought to fruition the AI chair, a chair that has been co-designed with a computer. “Kartell,…

To see Tim Ellis hunched over his laptop, alone in a room at a major space industry conference in Colorado, you can hardly imagine that he might be the next Elon Musk. But Relativity Space, the company he founded in December 2015 with the vision of launching 3D-printed rockets, has grown from 14 to 80…

Kayak paddles, snowshoes, skateboards. Outdoor sporting goods used to be a tough market for 3D printing to break into, but fused particle fabrication (FPF) can change that. A team led by engineers from Michigan Technological University and re:3D, Inc. developed and tested the Gigabot X, an open source industrial FPF 3D printer, which can use…

The apparent connection between fatal airplane crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia centers around the failure of a single sensor. I know what that’s like: A few years ago, while I was flying a Cessna 182-RG from Albany, New York, to Fort Meade, Maryland, my airspeed indicator showed that I was flying at a speed so slow that my plane was…

It’s rocket science—one NASA project is revolutionizing how liquid rocket engines are made. Additive manufacturing, better known as 3D printing, combined with advanced composite technology could help rocket engines be lighter, cheaper and easier to make. Engineers at NASA tested a 2,400 lbf thrust 3D-printed copper rocket thrust chamber with composite overwrap to see if the…

Airplane toilets are loud. For some, they are downright terrifying. But chin up, frequent flyers, because a group of Brigham Young University physicists have figured out how to make them quieter. After two years of trial and error, three academic publications and thousands of flushes, the BYU researchers have invented a vacuum-assisted toilet that is about half…