Additive manufacturing enables engineers to employ design strategies that were never before possible. Prominent among these are lattice structures, which have traditionally been incredibly difficult to both design and manufacture. Lattices offer significant benefits in many applications; here’s an overview. (more…)
Mar
28
Mar
24
It’s the “high noon” of ski season, and I find myself comparing my challenges learning to ski with my work in model-based definition (MBD). Odd as it may sem, this confluence brings me to the conclusion that learning MBD is comparable to becoming a pretty good skier. It took me... read more →
Mar
21
Writing about 3D printing’s potential is so easy. It’s objectively cool – design for additive manufacturing (DFAM), multicolor, printing on the International Space Station – all of it. Thing is, right now, printing doesn’t really need any more “cool.” What it needs is accountability. Not the illusion of accountability, but... read more →
Mar
21
Forget college, be a welder and pull down the big bucks. It's a plausible fantasy perpetuated by cartoons, infographics, poorly researched articles, and even politicians unfairly pitting vocational training against the steadily rising cost of college degrees. After all, there's at least one young welder who manages serious money, $140K per... read more →
Mar
16
We showed you in an earlier post how to build your own customized CAD workstation from the ground up at an affordable cost, but even the best tool is only as good as what it is used for. Now is the time to put your customized CAD workstation to the... read more →
Mar
10
One of the negative side effects resulting from the past couple of years of media hype around 3D printing has been an over emphasis on the past and the future, with much less emphasis on the present. Right here and now in 2016 the impact of 3D printing on the... read more →
Mar
08
The sun rises; the small mountain of indistinct cardboard packages is illuminated by the morning sun as a glorious monument to technology and engineering. The deliveries have arrived in a steady procession over the last several days, solemnly and reverently brought to your doorstep by sentinels of commerce each demanding... read more →
Feb
26
Since 2012 it’s been an annual tradition for GrabCAD to hold the Golden Gear Awards as a way of recognizing top contributors in the Community. These are people who, over the past year, embodied Community values, shared their amazing work and in the process, helped change the way people make... read more →
Feb
26
It's a wondrous time to be alive: cars are starting to drive themselves, robots are starting to walk around and conceivably escape, and 3D printing is starting to make previously impossible designs viable. Also, perhaps marginally less importantly, you can also mod Bob Ross painting happiness into XCOM2. As I... read more →
