An anonymous tipster has provided the solution to last week’s Solidscape event. If you missed it, Stratasys unexpectedly sold their subsidiary, Solidscape, to Prodways for an undisclosed amount of cash. Solidscape produces high-end wax 3D printers mainly for the jewelry industry, whereas Prodways delivers large-scale production 3D printers for industry–quite a bit different. Our thought was that Prodways picked up Solidscape because they were angling for a way to transition smaller, but growing, jewelry manufacturers from the small-scale Solidscape equipment to their larger scale Prodways products. This still makes sense. But the mystery was why Stratasys would snip off Solidscape. Originally, my thought was that they wanted to focus more on large…

Well, it’s been a couple years since The Big Life Fix made its debut, but tonight at 8 PM (UK time) they’ll have an all-new episode (and more to come). The crew of eight engineers, designers, and makers take on the challenges others would balk at to help people change their lives, fulfill their dreams, and do the very things they never thought possible. Jude Pullen just gave us the heads up on the premiere where he’ll help Kyle Elson, a talented gent who has dreamed of being a hairdresser and trained for it, even though he had one big, glaring challenge–no left hand. Though he’s had surgeries to add…

I’m not much of a car nut, but even I know the automotive industry is making huge strides in taking new technologies and using them to make cars faster, more efficient, and most importantly, safer than ever before. Take, for example, the brake-by-wire system that was first incorporated into the 2014 F1 racing cars. While the brake pedal connects directly to the front brakes, the rear brakes are instead connected to a computer which controls them, limiting the energy they recover from turns. In an article by Sam Collins for Racecar Engineering, he explains how racing regulations state that racecars are only allowed to recover a certain amount of energy…

For those who spend their days slicin’ and dicin’ material—be it for rough prototyping or simply just opening up all those Amazon purchases—having the right utility blade is an absolute must. While we love the simple and old-fashioned X-Acto blade, we’ve found them to be better for precision cutting versus all-around, at-the-ready utility. c This grippy heavy-duty cutter makes use of OLFA’s unique snap-off blade system, so you’re never without a sharp blade at the ready. And with an anti-slip rubber grip design featuring a ratchet-wheel blade lock for safety, you won’t have to worry about slipping or unexpected pocket surprises. OLFA 18mm Rubber Inset Heavy-Duty Utility Knife — $10.87…

We’ve said it time and time again, but the Raspberry Pi is just so dang cool and we believe all designers and engineers should have one in their toolkit—if not on their desktop. While there is a bit of a slight learning curve, it’s nothing that today’s designers and engineers can’t handle on a leisurely Saturday. So why not start now? The Raspberry Pi Mastery Bundle includes 8 courses to get started creating your very own Amazon Echo or even a KUKA-like robotic arm for your desktop (how’s that for office bragging rights). Throw in any of your own 3D printed housing designs, and the opportunities are limitless! For a…

As I travel around the country, one of my most challenging tasks as an engineering service provider is figuring out where to connect with other physical product development pros. Where do the HW nerds come out to play? This month, I was in the Seattle-Tacoma area. Here I’ll cover the networking gems I discovered there. I should start by saying I horribly failed at this earlier in the year. In May, I visited Seattle to meet a specific engineer I already knew. Besides her, I couldn’t turn up a thing. All my online searches dead-ended in events for software nerds. The terms that usually bring me some luck, like “hardware,”…