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The flexibility in adjusting plastic mechanical properties makes much of our technological advancement possible, from being able to produce fuel-efficient jumbo jets with high strength, to lightweight carbon fiber-reinforced plastic that can be made into impact-resistant silicone phone cases that save our precious phones from shattering into pieces. This article provides an overview of the […]

Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T) is a language of symbols and standards designed and used by engineers and manufacturers to describe a product and facilitate communication between entities working together to produce something. By deepening your knowledge around how to create a well structured GD&T, you will improve communication with your machine shop and ensure everyone […]

Sharp edges are beautiful: light glinting off these clean lines as a product rotates through space, music swelling dramatically in the background of a commercial. Edges are precise. Edges are distinct. Edges are horrible for injection molding. A general rule of injection molding is: Radius all edges. What do you do if your design calls […]

The advent of CAD systems, additive manufacturing, and CNC machining has made the design and manufacture of complex part designs almost routine. Engineers today are being asked to design parts that will probably be exposed to many different factors, including extreme weather, chemicals, bodily fluids, high stress/high load, impact, and other elements and situations that […]

In 2006, Nintendo took the world of interactive gaming by storm. The launch of the Wii welcomed gamers and, more importantly, non-gamers alike to physically interact with a virtual world. Whether the user was playing a competitive round of Wii Tennis or customizing their Mii, the Wii remote (otherwise known as the Wiimote) invited users […]

During pandemic lockdown, I noticed several issues with my home, including the broken sprinkler head, dog stains on the carpet, and my mother’s spice cabinet. My mother has a metric ton of spices that used to have labels that have rubbed off after constant use. I bought a portable label maker to replenish the labels […]

Go, Go, Go—we’ve all heard the inspirational and aspirational desire of upper management to get it done, get it done right, and as always, get it done faster. One way to be more efficient as an engineer is to learn to code. In this blog post, I hope to help convince you to start coding […]

Developing a robotic joint may seem like an overwhelming task, but there are some common issues that can be tackled ahead of time to make your project easier to manage.  There are a lot of parts to stuff into a small space – typically, a joint has motors, transmission, encoders, brakes, electronics, and wiring. One […]

From scanning your favorite pet and creating a figurine for your desk or reverse engineering a part or tool, 3D scanning and 3D printing can be used together to rapidly generate and reproduce ideas. These days, the world of 3D scanning has grown to include hobbyist level equipment all the way to full room setups […]

Engineers are always trying to make designs faster, better, cheaper, lighter. Before 3D printing, the only way to create prototypes was through subtractive manufacturing, where a block of material was cut away until only the part or a mold of the part remained. These components could only be produced and assembled one at a time. […]