Autodesk seems to be tightening up their rules regarding use of the popular Fusion 360 CAD system. The company moved the product to a subscription-based cloud system a couple of years ago and then simplified their licensing levels. This is a very common practice in the software industry as it provides significant advantages: a near-100% likelihood that all participants are on the same software release, and a guaranteed smooth flow of income. Among the subscription levels provided by Autodesk for Fusion 360 was what they called the “Startup/Hobbyist” license. This license allowed individuals to use the product at no charge as long as the usage was for personal use or…

Whoever said goofing around wouldn’t lead to new discoveries must have not done it long enough. Taking inspiration from the small, spinning whirligig toy, students at the Lambert High School in Georgia have come up with an inexpensive portable centrifuge capable of separating liquids of different densities. Dubbed the 3D-Fuge, the project is actually a modification on the work of M. Saad Bhamla, one of the students’ advisors. His original idea consisted of a paper centrifuge filled with tiny plastic tubes. You would glue the samples to be separated to these tubes and whirl them around until the individual liquids were separated. The initial concept proved promising, but the “paperfuge”…

Between September 16th-20th this year, Denver was overflowing with out-of-towners for Denver Startup Week. (Which was much to the dismay of native Denverite Uber passengers.) Here, you can read about the many physical product development related goings-on at this free conference. There were a lot. See below for the video: The Venue I try not to be needlessly negative but this should be said: wow, the venues were a serious pain to get to. Be advised if you attend next year! Initially, I didn’t look up the locations of all the events I earmarked before flying to Colorado. I assumed most of them would be in the same location with…

While extremely versatile for a wide range of applications, there’s no denying that poorly-disposed PET plastics are affecting our ocean systems. To help counteract their contribution, Coca-Cola committed to manufacturing all of their bottles with at least 50% recycled plastics by the year 2030. So far, it looks like they’re on track. This month the company introduced a short run of its first bottle design created using recycled plastic waste from the ocean. In total, 300 bottles were produced from marine waste plastic collected by volunteers across 84 beach cleanups in Spain and Portugal. In partnership with Dutch startup ioniq, the company uses a depolymerization process to break down the…

It wasn’t too long ago when the concept of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and the capabilities of generative design seemed like some far off sci-fi future. Yet, both technologies are alive and kicking in 2019—and they came together recently to test the implementation of generative design and additive manufacturing capabilities in the field of UAVs. The Helyx Drone, from Italian design and manufacturing company Sigma Ingegneria, focuses on the development of a First Person View (FPV) drone for racing and freestyle applications. Created using Autodesk Fusion 360 (and seen here rendered in Keyshot), the design process took into account three key factors that are fundamental to the development of an FPV…

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: With Xi in Its Corner, the Nike of China Wants to…