September 2010

designing with nylon

I recently had occasion to dive pretty deep into Nylon(polyamide). For some applications it’s perfect,  but you will consider the following before you start lock it into your design. nylon absorbs alot of water To give you a from of reference, typical engineering polymers like ABS & PC absorb ~0.3% – 0.5% water (by weight). [...]

Tagged as: nylon, plastics, tolerances

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green plastics search engine

A while back I shared 6 of my favorite materials websites. Well I just came across another great site, courtesy of IDES, that I wish I’d included. The site is IDES’s new Prospector Tool, and it’s got some nice search features that Matweb doesn’t have (they’ve got some videos after the jump), but one in particular [...]

Tagged as: biodegradaility, materials, plastics, recycling

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is your invention novel enough?:
35 USC 102 in plain english

This is one of a series of posts covering intellectual property. Specifically, my pursuit of translating US patent law into plain english as I study for the patent agent exam. Today I’m digesting 35 U.S.C. 102: Conditions for patentability; novelty and loss of right to patent. This section tells you under what circumstances the USPTO will [...]

Tagged as: 35 USC 102, invention, patent bar exam, patent law, prior art, study guide

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chinese-made cheap 3d printer

I’ve been on a cheap 3D-printer kick lately, and it continues. From BoingBoing The UP! personal 3D printer from China retails for $1500, with goop running at $50/kg. Fromthis early adopter’s review: It runs at 0.3mm resolution, and the finished models show striations from successive layers of goop, but light sanding produces a smooth finish. [...]

Tagged as: 3d printing, rapid prototyping

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3d printing hack

It’s not going to replace Makerbot or your local rapid prototyping house anytime soon, but still a pretty impressive hack.

Tagged as: 3d printing, hacks, makerbot, rapid prototyping

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makerbot build video

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the industry, Makerbot is the (in my opinion) at the leading edge of the RepRap movement. Or, with less jargon: Makerbot is a build-it-yourself robot. It makes things out of plastic. It’s worth checking out their website for the details, in the meantime check out my buddy Nick’s [...]

Tagged as: 3d printing, makerbot, rapid prototyping

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