Rockers. Triggers. Directional Pads. No matter how you use them, nothing yells control quite like physical buttons do. Unfortunately, incorporating working analog controls into a piece of hardware is more often than not significantly more difficult than it sounds. From an industrial design perspective, buttons can both be a blessing and a burden. While size, materials and color can help communicate usability and even add interest to a form, aligning a button design with awkward PCB boards, wiring and tricky internal structures can just as well take the fun out of “designing”. “Buttons are a chance for both comfortable ergonomics and increased intuition in your product design,” explains design engineer…

Although it has advanced significantly within the past few years, the process of going from CAD model to 3D printed object is still a bit rough around the edges – particularly in industrial applications. Aiming to expand their 3D printing ecosystem with a refined design-to-print workflow for product designers, engineers and 3D printer operators, Stratasys has unveiled a new SaaS software platform capable of making 3D printing significantly easier, more intuitive, and highly accessible called GrabCAD Print. The new branch of the digital manufacturing hub, which joins the existing GrabCAD Community and GrabCAD Workbench under the larger GrabCAD umbrella, is a unified cloud-based platform for job preparation, scheduling and monitoring…

Back when my generation were kids, we created projects using the most state-of-the-art technology on the market–Tinkertoys, Erector Sets and the eternally popular LEGO. It took a lot of imagination (along with cuts and bruises) to create projects that somehow always ended up being some crazy Rube Goldberg contraption. Imagine if we had access to the tech that kids have today, such as Weistek’s MiniToy 3D printer, a kid-friendly, 3D printing making machine.

With so many cool things coming out each week, it can be hard to wade through all the rock-awesomeness. With ‘Cool Tools’, we’ve done the hard work for you. This week we saw an insane coffee table that brings a small slice of the ocean into your living room, a sofa that more or less resembles the original Moog, an all-new minimalistic arcade shooter for iOS, how to build a Modern Live Edge Coffee Table (in case the ocean one doesn’t suit your fancy), a quick history on why running used to be for “weirdos” and more… Ready? Let’s go! This week we look at: DESIGN delMare table “The delMare…

What if we could all make a difference by reviving our artisan roots of ages old? I’m not implying you ditch your condo for an old barn, wood shop and some chickens, but I am saying us little guys can change the status quo (and save some money along the way) by supporting, well, other little guys. The new designer watchmaker Brathwait shows us how.

Presented by When Onshape added linked documents a few weeks back, I don’t think I even looked out from my box of Cheetos. On second look, it might just be the most important feature of the year thus far.