Make Parts Fast

Use a smart phone to share digital microscope images

This is an innovative design—a plastic mount that connects smart phones to microscopes to digitally capture and share scientific images. This is such an innovative idea, that Proto Labs made the co-founders, Andy Miller and Tess Bakke, winners of the Proto Labs Cool Idea! Competition. Miller and Bakke think SkyLight, will have a big impact on global healthcare and science education.... Read More

CNC machining speeds the development of custom gearwheels

Michal Zalewski is a multitalented guy – a successful software engineer by day, and robotics hobbyist in the evening and on weekends. He became serious about robotics almost six years ago, and quickly realized that the most significant limitation is the need to rely on expensive pre-made or made-to-order structural components to move assemblies, custom gearwheels, and so forth.... Read More

Proto Labs’ latest Cool Idea! is a Rice University robotics project

Proto Labs announced the second recipient of its Cool Idea! Award Program. Rice University has been awarded prototyping and production services to help launch a group of robots designed for undergraduate engineering students. The robots, dubbed “r-one,” were developed by Professor James McLurkin and his students and will give students the opportunity to research multirobot engineering... Read More

Reviving model making for architects and other GEO professionals

By: John Ahladis, 2BOT physical Modeling Technologies 3D printing is quickly gaining ground in the personal, professional, and education markets. According to Janne Kyttanen, founder of 3D manufacturing company Freedom of Creation, “two years ago, there were about 40,000 machines in the world. By the end of this year, that number is probably going to hit 100,000.” (Cnet.com) However,... Read More

What you need to know about Subtractive Prototyping

Not everyone thinks that subtractive prototyping has a place in the Additive Manufacturing arena. After all, subtractive is really CNC machining—a process that removes material from a larger piece of material through standard machining processes such as milling, turning/lathing or drilling until the prototype part is created. Subtractive prototyping gives you the opportunity to... Read More

Roland DG Celebrates 30th Anniversary with the Roland Creative Awards

To celebrate the company’s worldwide 30th anniversary, Roland customers everywhere are invited to enter the company’s first ever global design contest. The ROLAND CREATIVE AWARDS are open from Sept. 21 through Dec. 31, 2011 to users of Roland equipment across the globe at www.rolandcreativeawards.com. Entries will be judged based on Creativity, Innovation and Execution in each... Read More

New materials for subtractive prototyping

3D Systems Corporation (NYSE: DDD) released additional materials and secondary finishing capabilities through QuickCutCNC™. The rapid CNC machining service, launched by Quickparts®, has added brass and aluminum to the list of plastic and metal materials available for online interactive quoting, along with the option of powder coating parts machined out of aluminum. Brass 260... Read More

Subtractive prototyping with plastic

When you think of plastic materials for rapid prototyping, additive manufacturing processes probably come to mind. But subtractive prototyping can work with plastic materials too. The main benefit is that you are working with an end-use material. Quickparts works with this subtractive process and calls it Manufactured Plastic Prototypes (MPP). Like most subtractive prototyping,... Read More

You have choices

We recently completed a handbook on additive manufacturing. It will appear in the August issue of Design World. One of the things I became reaquainted with from working on this project is just how many options you have for rapidly prototyping (or manufacturing) your designs. It’s easy to get caught up in the idea that all we have are 3D printers, especially with all the media... Read More

Tips on selecting material for machining

In a previous Protomold Design Tip, we discussed rapid injection molding as an inexpensive way of trying out different materials before committing to a resin for full-scale production. In that tip we suggested using material spec sheets to narrow the list of options before actually molding parts in the candidate materials. But spec sheets alone can’t always tell you all you want... Read More