You know that dream you have where you wake up and a robot is removing circuit boards from your chest and printing in new one? No? That’s just me? Well, BotFactory is the precursor to that eventuality, and their technology is so convincing that they just raised a $1M Seed Round of financing through New York Angels, with New York…
Multi-color – or indeed multi-material – 3D printing just got a little bit easier with a new deal between Type A Machines and Mosaic Manufacturing. Type A Machines is a notable manufacturer of highly robust professional 3D printers capable of printing in a wide range of materials. Their equipment includes features designed for engineering use,…
Honeybees are vanishing, and at an alarming rate. The rise of colony collapse disorder in apis mellifera is concerning, because without honey bees to pollinate our crops, human beings will starve. Colony collapse disorder is a phenomenon in which the worker bees in a hive simply vanish en masse, leaving behind a queen and a…
Ever since YouTube revolutionized how product designers and manufacturers share their design and manufacturing processes, the resulting content is just as varied and colorful as the end products themselves. But despite the myriad of different fabrication processes and design stories that one can get lost in, few are as unique—and downright fascinating—as YouTuber Primitive Technology.…
Robot hands. There was I time I wish I had a lab with robot hands hanging from the ceiling and the constant hum of industrial machining all around. Who am I kidding. I still wish that. The team at RightHand Robotics has a lab. They’ve got the robot hand making process down too; a process…
A great pleasure of mine is enjoying an overpriced hot caffeinated beverage while having esoteric conversations about design around like minded individuals. We rhapsodize about the coolest things we have designed, the crazy hours, and hurdles we overcame. We debate the merits and pitfalls (usually pitfalls) of different 3D printers and CAD packages. And, of…
Drop what you’re doing CNC geeks and enter to win this CNC Periodic Table poster. Skilled engineers still need help every now and then. The internet is an important tool as any. But why spend time hitting up Google, when you can glance at the CNC Periodic Table on your wall? You don’t have one?…
Like Creo and Inventor, SolidWorks can now add non-native CAD files to assemblies without translation. I hopped up to Boston for D3DLive last Monday. It rocked. I met up with our old friend Jeremy Regnerus (the man is back!), and he walked me through the new 3D Interconnect feature in SOLIDWORKS 2017. I was impressed.…
Don your favorite bathrobe, cream that coffee and get comfortable with this week’s SolidSmack Weekend Reader. The Weekend Reader features a handful of the most interesting articles featured on the ‘Smack over the past week ranging from tips and tricks to inspirational designs, processes, and more. So lay back, relax and take a load off…
If there’s one thing that just won’t go away no matter how hard we seemingly try, it’s the amount of waste that ends up in our oceans. While everybody from GStar to Adidas has announced changes to their supply chains or entirely new product lineups made from waste sourced from oceans, few are as passionate…
As one of the most heavily produced and discarded materials in the world, it’s a dang good thing that paper is also so good at being reused, too. While it’s fairly common for discarded paper to be recycled into yet more reams of paper, New Zealand designer Woojai Lee just might have one of the…
Surrey Nanosystems, producers of the amazing Vantablack dark material informed Fabbaloo they have successfully coated a 3D printed object with the world’s darkest material. But first a catchup: Vantablack is a very unusual material composed of extremely long nanofibres, all aligned in a single direction. These fibers tend to trap photons when projected toward a…
Well, we’ve been waiting a long six months, but we’ve finally received access to Vectary, the highly anticipated, online 3D modeling tool, and we’re all sorts of excited to pop open a browser and see what it can do. When we first saw Vectary, we got a glimpse of a simple, intuitive looking interface with…
Presented by You don’t have to wait for quotes any longer. The new Xometry SOLIDWORKS Add-In gives you instant pricing and manufacturability feedback on your CAD file directly within SOLIDWORKS. It’s dead simple to use and the handy “Production Guide: Designing Early for Custom Manufacturing” gives you all the tips on designing your parts for…
It’s been nearly four years since WobbleWorks LLC. screamed onto the scene via Kickstarter and blew everybody away with the 3Doodler –– AKA “The World’s First 3D Printing Pen” –– to the tune of $2.3 million. Since then, the small company has maintained a small but loyal following of artists and retailers including the reputable MoMA…
Flash tats and metallic jewelry tattoos are all the rage among the fashionistas. Why? Well, they can be used to aesthetically augment traditional metal jewelry or make you stand out from normal tattooed people. And you know what? Turns out they can also be used as on-skin electronic connected interfaces for any number of devices…
Among the small explosion of new 3D print materials is a substance you may not have considered: ASA. ASA, or Acrylonitrile Styrene Acrylate, is yet another thermoplastic sometimes used in 3D printing. The intention of using ASA is to improve on the deficient qualities of ABS plastic, a very commonly used substance in 3D printing.…
It’s not very often when a new tool comes along that changes the way we think about making things, but when it does, it’s usually pretty epic. The Shaper Origin is one of those tools. Billed as the World’s First Handheld CNC, the Shaper Origin –– which, as you might expect, looks similar to a…
There have been many aborted attempts at producing recycled 3D printer filament, but Reflow’s approach appears to be successful. In the past I’ve seen many attempts at producing desktop machines that recycle plastic into 3D printer filament. Typically the concept is to collect leftover prints or plastic, grind it up into fragments and remelt them…
It’s no secret that assembling the dozens –– or hundreds –– of parts that make up a consumer electronic product assembly is both costly and time-intensive. But what if said electronics could –– gosh darn it –– just assemble themselves? What better things have they got going on? Such is the premise behind the latest project…
This past Sunday, Canada-based woodworker John Heisz uploaded a video he made documenting a paper saw blade that he had made from standard printer paper cutting wood with surprisingly clean results. Unsurprisingly, the video went viral in a matter of hours and is currently sitting at over an impressive 4 million views. While we’re still…
While saw blades come in a multitude of sizes and colors with a range of different kinds of teeth, you surely haven’t seen a saw blade like this for sale at your local hardware store before. Canada-based woodworker John Heisz recently cut a circular disc/blade from regular ‘ol printer paper (no teeth) and installed it…
Maryland-based startup M3D gained fame back in 2014 when they successfully crowdfunded their Micro 3D printer on Kickstarter in a matter of minutes (surpassing their goal of $50K and ending with over $3.4M). The fledgling company is hoping for a repeat performance with their latest edition of their 3D printer lineup–the M3D Pro, which again,…
Considered by many to be “The Contemplative Man’s Recreation,” fly fishing is also a favorite for craftsmen who prefer to make their own equipment –– be it tying a fly on the side of a stream or making their own fly fishing rods altogether. But with well over 160 or so steps that go into making…
It’s a cyberpunk dream to print clothes like vacation photos and TPS reports. Various companies have tried to combine 3D printing with fashion fabrication, like the mildly successful Elctroloom. Cool, but it’s not open-source. However, Gerard Rubio is doing things differently. Inspired by the open-source RepRap 3D printer project and community, along with other digital…
Remember the Mechwarrior model we shared a few weeks ago? So. Good. We’re in the process of printing up one of our own and can’t wait to paint it. Gambody, the same place we bought the model, has a interesting little operation going. They started as a marketplace for 3D prints of video game models.…
I was having a tough time finding my white car occasionally. I wanted to remedy that situation by having an antenna that was unique and stood out in a crowd. I settled on a Glow option as it would be a lighter color than other vehicles and “of course” glows in the dark! MATERIALS How…
While nearly every material requires some sort of a process to bring it from a raw state to a finished design, few materials demand the attention of the creator quite like glass. From the heat to the constant movement, and the teamwork often involved in creating larger pieces, the process of creating glass objects is…
While most people might approach freshly cut firewood as a way of fueling their bonfires or keeping their house warm on cold nights, designer Paul Foeckler has a different idea of harnessing light. Using carefully selected pieces of firewood sourced from California forests, the LA-based woodworker forgoes setting a match to the wood and instead…
With the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio getting underway this weekend, Nike is (unsurprisingly) gearing up for another Olympic year to show off their latest sport-related innovations. While previous years have seen everything from the introduction of new materials to new colorways designed to pop off your TV screen, this year is a little different.…
It’s not uncommon to feel like you’re being pulled down by constraints when you work in the field of product design. After all, everything from strict deadlines and challenging client presentations to manufacturing limitations and material costs are an everyday reality. Why not cut your creativity a little extra loose during the downtime? Heck, why…
Marcin Jakubowski and his lovely wife Katarina are leading the Open Building Institute (OBI) to take open-source to a new level with housing. The organization’s mission is to “make affordable, ecological housing accessible to everyone” and enables aspiring homeowners to build a modular starter home for $25,000. Marcin and team have continued over the years…
A few weeks ago I started using a SpaceMouse Wireless. It does not disappoint. It’s every bit as quick, responsive, and sensitive as the other 3DConnexion goodness, but it fits in a case about the size of your average bar room beef slider, and look, ma! No wires!
There’s a reason LEGO mini-figs don’t look like fleshy human flesh-sacks. They would 1) not match the playful appearance of LEGOs 2) be totally creepy and 3) require small bottles of moisturizer. “I lather my LEGO mini-figs with three coats of jojoba oil weekly.” Well, good for you. Me? I prefer to watch a life-size…
Don your favorite bathrobe, cream that coffee and get comfortable with this week’s SolidSmack Weekend Reader. The Weekend Reader features a handful of the most interesting articles featured on the ‘Smack over the past week ranging from tips and tricks to inspirational designs, processes, and more. So lay back, relax and take a load off…
With many fighting furiously against the end of the world coming to us via plastic bottle waste, more have been looking for that environmentally-friendly bottle to hold their beverages. While bottles are convenient, come in a variety of style and materials, they’re limited in the types of beverages they hold. Coffee? Here you go. Protein…
A newly invented process could enable large-scale use of nano-printed metal materials. 3D printing is most often done at a visible scale, but for many years researchers have sought methods of printing materials at a nano scale to take advantages of molecular effects and microscopic structures. While many of these experiments have been successful, the…
We’re on a cutting kick, with the Ergo Kiwi knife and now a new take on the good ol’ pair o’ shears. Every home has at least one pair of them. They’re a necessary tool, especially if you work in an office full of kids and construction paper. But they aren’t the most hand-friendly tools…
Commonly used to seamlessly join dissimilar materials with different melting points, friction welding has been used to manufacture everything from airplane parts and rocket thruster tanks to even space shuttles and the razor-thin iMac. But regardless of the intended application, the visual spectacle provided by forcefully joining two materials together with brute force is one…
As if Google hasn’t already done enough to streamline how we get our information, the company’s Cultural Institute just did for art and design what Google Streetview did for maps. With works and artifacts from more than a thousand museums across 70 countries, the company’s new and improved Google Arts & Culture website and app…
Yeah, you know any old helmet won’t do. And you definitely know that Lannister guard helmet you fashioned from a paper bag, gorilla glue and wood chips is looking pretty weak right now. Well, there’s a better way to make a helmet and you won’t believe how simple it is. This week on Tested, the…
Don your favorite bathrobe, cream that coffee and get comfortable with this week’s SolidSmack Weekend Reader. The Weekend Reader features a handful of the most interesting articles featured on the ‘Smack over the past week ranging from tips and tricks to inspirational designs, processes, and more. So lay back, relax and take a load off…
There’s a peculiar startup offering a secure method of handling 3D design files called, Make it LEO. “LEO” stands for “Limited Edition Object”, and Make it LEO enables you to produce LEO files that contain the 3D design. But they also contain information about how it can be used. They explain: In a LEO (Limited…
In the “YOU MAKE IT WE SKATE IT” YouTube series, a group of skateboarders with a video camera and a penchant for material science create skateboard decks and accessories out of random objects to see if they ride or not. To date, this has included riding on everything from a flatscreen TV to a series…
When you’re mixing the sweet cream of CAD geometry on the screen like a dairyman on a mission from God, that intense look on your face is enough to make your boss step back for fear of being sucked into the vat of your frothy CAD skills. And then you hear that gasp, the one when they…
The excitement that used to come with each new “revolutionary” desktop 3D printer a few years ago has since quieted down in a major way. While technologies like HP’s Multi Jet Fusion and Carbon’s CLIP can hold their own and even generate mainstream news coverage, these are geared towards professionals at price points that are…
Presented by In seismically active, emerging nations that have suffered through devastating earthquake damage, rebuilding communities doesn’t just end with repairing homes, schools and other community structures – it ends when a foundation has been laid for a safer, more prosperous community. Unfortunately, many rebuilding efforts are based on routine cookie-cutter procedures that are incapable…
Having started his custom shoe design business during high school in 2008, Jacob Blaise Ferrato soon gained exposure in the massive underground sneaker community when he started posting pictures of his hand-painted Nikes in online forums. Today, the now 25-year-old custom sneaker designer demands upwards of $2,000 per custom pair of sneakers – both custom variations…
Botzen Design Studio will have a 2-day, hands-on Model Making Workshop Saturday, June 25 – Sunday, June 26th. It all happens at the Botzen Design Studio in Southfield, Michigan (northwest Detroit).
Cycling. It’s the ragingly popular/eco-friendly/healthy/cheap way to get around town. I like to ride my bicycle – we all do. But it can be a pain deciding where to store the bike, especially if you live in… yeah, just about any apartment. (I have to pay $60 a year to store mine.) Solutions?