Sponsored by I’m not sure what you think when you hear the term ‘precision manufacturing’ but when I saw the 7+ axis micro-machining capabilities of Swissomation, I was completely floored. They take precision to the ultimate level. The company has over 70 years of experience working with some of the largest manufacturers in the U.S. They have locations in Texas and Virginia with machines that can take on the smallest parts and most intricate prototype, up to millions of units for a production run. They used Fusion 360 for the modeling, but Fusion 360’s integrated CAM and collaboration capabilities have optimized their process and changed the way they’re able to…

Remember when you had to create a mesh of your model to run any sort of simulation? If Coreform has their way, that question may not seem so strange in a future with the old ways of FEA archived alongside fidget spinners and smartphones. It’s a new take on geometry analysis and the team behind it makes the possibilities even more convincing. In December 2016 we learned Autodesk was ending T-splines and that former T-Splines Founder/CEO and then Autodesk Product Manager, Matt Sederberg, had a startup in his back pocket, Isogeometrx (founded in 2014), a company “dedicated to revolutionizing design and engineering in the automotive, marine, and aerospace industries by providing tools and technologies for integrated…

This week’s Spotify-powered SolidSmack Radio Playlist knocks you in the pop sockets with head-boppin’ groove tuneage to help propel you through the work week in style. Whether you find yourself inking markers until they’re dry, grinding material through a bandsaw, or working that 3D geometry all day, consider these fresh tracks as a tool for your process. This week we’ll start things off with “The Web” from Kane Strang and work our way through tracks from Sunflower Bean, Slow Dakota, Tourist Dollars, Diners, and others before wrapping up with “We’ve Been Had” from The Walkmen. Have suggestions? As always, let us know what you listen to, what you want to…

Have a hot rod project car out in the garage? Yes? No? What’s that? It’s more a pile of hot rod parts you say? If you look at my garage in the dark and squint hard enough, all of those boxes look vaugly like a hot rod… kinda. A hot rod is #3 on my project dream car list. But, like me, perhaps you want to start smaller, like with a RC hot rod car – just think of how many of those you could fit in your garage. Jason Suter set out to design his own documenting the process along the way. He has provided the files and instructions,…

Mondays might not be your favorite day of the week, but the good news is that we’re all in this together ladies and gentlemen. 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. Each Monday, we’ll 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. Be sure to check in each Monday morning for a new crop of freshly sprouted words curated straight from the source of your favorite homegrown ‘Smack.…

We’ve said it time and time again, and we still mean it from the bottom of our hearts: if a zombie apocalypse ever breaks out, we want to be as close to ‘Slingshot Master’ Joerg Sprave as humanly possible. While the German slingshot sensei has created everything from an Oreo Cookie Separation Pump Gun to the ultra-deadly Machete Slingshot, it is perhaps his latest that might deliver the most recognizable kind of pain…assuming you know what it feels like to step on a LEGO brick while barefoot. According to Sprave, the LEGO brick has many desirable qualities for ammo: they’re cheap, hard, edgy, and indestructible. But they are also not…