Since screaming onto the American manufacturing scene in 2013, lifestyle brand Shinola Detroit has expanded their product line from high-end watches to leather goods to even bicycles — all with a majority of the parts and materials sourced from local or national suppliers and assembled in Detroit, Michigan. For their latest project, the company pulled out all the stops to create a $2,500 turntable that offers audiophile sound quality and a lifetime warranty —  each assembled by hand in Detroit at the company’s flagship store. Produced in a limited run of 500 units, the turntables were created in partnership with Harry Weisfield, founder of premier turntable manufacturer VPI. While designed for…

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 tracks as a tool for your process. This week we’ll start things off with “My Sweet Lord” from Yim Yames and work our way through tracks from Youth Lagoon, Yelle, Tangerine, Balue, and others before wrapping up with “Spent Missing” from froyo ma. Have suggestions? As always, let us know what you listen to, what you want to hear and what…

Little by little augmented/mixed reality (AR/MR) is slipping past the surly bonds of consumption with more and more imagining, nay DEMONSTRATING, what 3D design could be like using devices that are, at least, sure to give us chuckles at the possibilities and, at most, completely take over our every waking hour. Exanaview is a very, VERY basic modeling app with capabilities that include Constructive Solid Geometry (CSG) modeling, selection, highlighting, sectioning and measuring. However, it has one big feature no other 3D modeling app has yet to venture toward – 3D spatial authoring. In other words, real-time, 3D environmental modeling via a mixed reality headset (like the Microsoft HoloLens). There’s…

I don’t know when you last played Super Mario Bros. 3 for 87 hours straight… what’s that? Last week? Well, after that you probably had that nightmare where you’re running through Mushroom Kingdom being repeatedly pummeled by massive concrete THWOMP blocks, right? No? Ok, just me. Still, those were one of my favorite obstacles and if you liked them too, then you’ll LOVE this week’s model. Wes Swain has created a super-size, little THWOMP game console to house a Raspberry Pi (although I’m thinking that sizing it up a little to house the innards of a Super NES with a spot in the mouth to shove the cartridge would be…

You’ve likely been hearing a lot about something called “Machine Learning” lately, but could this affect 3D printing? Most definitely so! The concept of machine learning is simply the application of advanced algorithms against previously collected data to develop predications, classifications and decisions about future events. From the outside view it more or less mimics the complex decision making that a human might perform. We are beginning to see this technology used in real-life applications recently, with much more to come. One notable application is driverless cars, where algorithms and sensors replace the human behind the wheel. While experimental and a novelty at this time, that application will surely knock…

Remember when life was nothing but eating large amounts of pasta and disassembling engines? Yeah, that was the best! Especially the time you shot noodles out your nose and into the crankcase – that squirrel didn’t even know what was coming. Ah, simpler times perhaps. Though some would question their ability to launch noodles from a nostril, there are plenty who could tear down and reassemble an engine. But what about 3D PRINTING THE ENGINE FIRST? Yes, never mind the challenge of building an engine – let’s build a working one from layers of plastic that warp if you look at them wrong. Well, Eric Harrell from Santa Cruz is…