Industrial giant Siemens acquired Atlas 3D to add to their growing additive manufacturing portfolio. Somehow I missed this in the Formnext Frenzy, but on 12 November Siemens and Atlas 3D announced the Indiana-based startup was to be entirely acquired by Siemens. Sunata Features We’ve followed 3D Atlas for a few years now and were impressed with their Sunata product. Sunata can perform a sophisticated simulation of a metal 3D print in order to understand the thermal distortions while 3D printing a specific geometry. Then, it can re-engineer the design slightly to account for the thermal stresses to ensure that the part is geometrically correct when printed. In other words, if…
Need a design taken from A to B or maybe A to Q? Going from A to B might take one skill set and from B to C, another. Do you know what Q through B looks like? Stuff that brain matter back in your ears and take a breath. Let’s review the ABCs of project management and see if you’ve got the chops to design with me. Skilled Implementor Skilled execution requires a clear input and a clear output. If the inputs, outputs, and processes are unambiguous, tasks can be outsourced. Sites like Fiverr and Upwork abound with talented and eager folks ready to tackle requests for less than…
Get that stretch out of your system with this week’s Spotify-powered SolidSmack Radio Playlist. It’s fashioned up, ready to make you pull your shoulder blades back and knock out another week of meaningful work while you bob your head to the beat. Whether you’re in the shop milling aluminum, sketching the latest product prototypes or modeling up a 3D storm, consider these tracks as a tool for your process. Have suggestions? As always, let us know what you listen to, what you want to hear and what tunes get you through the week. Shoot us an email or leave a comment down below!! *Note: if the embedded playlist below doesn’t…
It’s all happened to us before: one minute you’re tightening a bolt, the next one you’re scrambling to free it from its enclosure. Whether it be due to exaggerated machismo or bad bolt design, the fact of the matter is that you wound a bolt too tight and now you can’t get it out. DTI (Direct Tension Indicating) SmartBolts make gauging the tension of bolts easier. Instead of just “feeling for it” like folks have done for years, DTI SmartBolts have visual indicators on the bolt’s head. When not attached to anything, the indicator stays bright red. As you attach it to a fixture and tighten it, it slowly turns…
As purveyors of prime Grade A web content, the SolidSmack crew has done some of the heavy-lifting to make sure you get your Mondays started on the right track. Welcome to The Monday List. Every Monday, we link you up with some of the most insightful, informative, and socially-relevant stories to keep tabbed, bookmarked, reading listed, pocketed, or what have you to get your week started on the right foot. Be sure to check in each week for a new crop of freshly sprouted words curated straight from the source of your favorite homegrown ‘Smack. What We’re Reading This Week: ‘I Think This Guy Is, Like, Passed Out in His Tesla’…
Even though the new Tesla Cybertruck is supposedly going to usher in a new age of electric offroad vehicles, some people think the design is a bit… lacking. Like a CG model whose textures haven’t loaded in or a long lost drawing Elon Musk made when he was 4-years-old, the Cybertruck doesn’t exactly give off the same cool vibes other car manufacturers (or even Tesla’s other car models) do. At least, that was the initial reaction by many. Either way, this brutalist, simple approach to the design makes the truck easy as pie to recreate in 3D modeling programs like Blender: CGMatter is a YouTube channel that focuses on creating…