Latest articles

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Fiat 500 EV Conversion: Prototyping and Sourcing Parts

In this part of our Butterball electric vehicle conversion series of articles, we’re discussing prototyping and making parts vs. buying them off the shelf — and you can learn more about the genesis of the project, its mechanical design, and electrical system in our other articles. As a digital manufacturing company, we’re very familiar with […]

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Fiat 500 EV Conversion: Electrical System

When it comes to an electric vehicle conversion, naturally, designing and installing the electrical system is an indispensable part of the process. It’s in the name, after all! In this article, we’ll discuss how we designed the new electrical system for our EV car conversion project, affectionately known as Butterball. You should also check out our […]

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Fiat 500 EV Conversion: Mechanical Design

Welcome to the next installment of our Butterball EV conversion! In case you didn’t read our introductory article, Butterball is our pet name for the cream-colored 1966 Fiat 500 that we converted to an electric vehicle this past year as a means to foster community here at Fictiv while we were all working remotely.  You […]

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Fiat 500 EV Conversion: Project Butterball

Welcome to our 4-part EV car conversion series! We started this project last year to learn about cars and foster community while we are all working remotely. In this article, we’ll give you an overview of our approach and the decisions our engineers made when turning our 1966 Fiat 500, Butterball, into an electric vehicle. […]

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Manufacturing Costs of 3D Printing vs Urethane Casting vs Injection Molding

3D printing, urethane casting, and injection molding: they’re each suited to different stages of the product development and production process, but how do you know when to use each one? A few factors go into this decision: cost, lead time, and quality. In this article, we’ll discuss indirect and direct costs and lead times for […]

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Monthly Supply Chain Update: November 2021

Fictiv’s Monthly Supply Chain Update series gives you insight into the logistics challenges, transit times, and related manufacturing issues we’re currently facing. Happy holidays everyone! Christmas is right around the corner, and we want to update everyone on how we’re managing our supply chain to keep production moving and fulfilling orders as quickly as possible. […]

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Working with Copper: Design, Machining, and Finish Requirements

Copper is a truly versatile metal. Copper has a naturally beautiful, shiny finish that makes it desirable for artwork, cookware, kitchen backsplashes, countertops, and even jewelry. It also has excellent material and electrical properties for engineered, complex parts, like EDM electrodes. There are many benefits to using copper for machined parts. Copper is one of […]

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Monthly Supply Chain Update: October 2021

Fictiv’s Monthly Supply Chain Update series gives you insight into the logistics challenges, transit times, and related manufacturing issues we’re currently facing. In the early stages of the pandemic, demand for goods was depressed, and delays and shortages plagued production across industries around the world. While consumer demand and industrial activity have picked back up […]

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Enhance Your 3D Printing Workflow With CNC Machining in Post-Processing

If you’ve ever designed and 3D printed a part that required high dimensional accuracy, you were probably disappointed with the outcome. Maybe a bolt didn’t fit into a 3D printed hole, or a 3D printed bracket didn’t fit into its intended recess. Whatever the dimensional intention, it’s likely that the 3D printed part didn’t serve […]

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CNC Machining Copper Alloy EDM Electrodes

Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM) is an amazing technology that can manufacture complex shapes in a variety of conductive materials — and it produces tightly toleranced parts with excellent finishes. EDM is a subtractive electro-thermal manufacturing method that utilizes electricity to erode the surface of a part.  Basics of Electrical Discharge Machining In general, EDM can […]