Category: Uncategorized

Designs That Need A Redesign

Last time we talked about what goes into a perfect design. This time we look at some common everyday objects that could use a bit of redesign. All of the following have served their purposes admirably over the years, answering a felt need and in the process becoming ubiquitous in the modern world. But with […]

Can You Build a Better Mousetrap?

Deng Xiaoping famously said that it doesn’t matter if the cat is black or white, so long as it catches mice. And when it comes to catching mice, nothing except the cat has done the job better than the humble mousetrap. We present it here not because we’re enemies of Mus musculus but simply to […]

Will The Internet Of Things Affect Your Future Prototype Designs?

It’s a pretty cool name, the Internet of Things. Attributed to Kevin Ashton in 1999 while he worked at Proctor and Gamble, it’s used to describe the connected world we’re rapidly heading towards, a world in which everyday, ordinary devices carry RFID chips and other low-cost, embedded communication devices. These devices will share information in […]

Getting A Handle On Surface Finish

We’ve talked before about color on a prototype, and the subtle ways that color affects our emotional response to a manufactured object. The final surface finish of a part is also important, not only for the mechanical fitness for a given application but also for the visceral appeal to the end user, although describing this phenomena […]

New 3D Objects Make Learning Fun

Additive manufacturing and 3D printing have now been around for more than thirty years. Touted as heralding the advent of the third industrial revolution, desktop manufacturing promises to fundamentally alter the way that average citizens envision and create the objects that make up our world. Of course you already know all this. But aside from […]

The First 3D Printed Object In Space

One of the essential considerations when designing a product for rapid prototyping, be it in metal or plastics, is the need for supports to hold up the structure while it’s being built up layer-by-layer. The inexorable pull of gravity will deform surface features and alter geometries during the build unless careful allowance is made to […]