Tag: design
-
Injection Molding Vs. 3D Printing – Which One Wins?
I spent some time the other day teaching myself something new. I often talk about how my new SLA machine creates “injection mold quality parts” and competes with injection molding in a lot of key metrics. I decided to learn how to design a part for the injection molding process. I selected an old model… Read more
-
You Can’t Push a Rope – Engineering at its Simplest
You can’t push a rope. I had a professor who liked to say that engineering school could be summed up in two sentences: 1. f=ma2. You can’t push a rope. Although humorous, this does demonstrate an important problem solving skill that all engineers need to have. Several times in engineering school, I would solve one… Read more
-
The Spirograph & The Cycloidal Gearbox
This common toy actually demonstrates one of the biggest flaws of a well-known piece of modern machinery. The cycloidal gearbox– whose most significant limitation is well-demonstrated by the beautiful patterns that the Spirograph creates. Did you grow up using the Spirograph? It’s a tool for creating geometric art, pictured below. I remember being really impressed… Read more
-
Anti-Aliasing in 3D Printing
Stair-stepping on shallow surfaces has always been a limitation of FDM… until now! 💪 Anti-aliasing is a new FDM 3D printing technique I recently learned about. When applied, it almost eliminates the stair-stepping texture you see on all shallow top surfaces! Let me tell you how it works. All standard slicers typically print each layer… Read more
-
Engineering with 3D Printing in Mind: From Concept to Production
Engineering and 3D printing work best when they’re treated as a single process, not two separate steps. At Wolfpack Workshop in Columbus, Ohio, we approach every project with the end manufacturing method in mind from the very first sketch. This mindset allows us to design parts that aren’t just printable, but stronger, faster to produce,… Read more
-
A Lesson I’ve learned along the way
One of the most unexpected lessons I’ve learned as an engineer– but it’s saved me 100’s of hours! Often in my work, I’ll need a part that is VERY specific. Naturally my go-to answer is to fire up SolidWorks and make a custom model for manufacturing, but I miss a critical step! One small question that… Read more