February 2011

injection molding side actions: in depth

If you don’t know what a side action is, that cool. Check out these two brief videos on how side actions work. You also would do well to check out what Protomold (parent company of First Cut) has to say about side actions here and here.   Recently I had occasion to dive into mold-making [...]

Tagged as: cam, Injection Molding, plastics, product design, side action

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LinkedIn InMap

A quick review of my web analytics reveals that a lot of you (my readers) are associated with some some large organizations such as MIT, Toyota, Cambridge Consultants,and Gyrus Medical just to name a few. (I hope you all enjoy it!) That being the case, I assume most of you are on LinkedIn (I am). [...]

Tagged as: infographic

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video: makerbot print quality keeps getting better

Now thanks to a stepper motor upgrade to the extruder. From Makerbot Using a stepper motor to drive your extruder brings a host of advantages. Fussy DC gear motors are history: stepper motors live substantially longer as they do not have internal brushes to wear out. Stepper motors are also much more precise as the [...]

Tagged as: makerbot

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“comprising” vs “consisting”

(If you are considering studying for the patent bar exam checking out my patent bar review exam questions) When examining a patent,  take note of the particular language used by the author. In particular the comprising vs consisting scores high on the importance /obviousness ratio. From 2111.03 Transitional Phrases [R-3] – 2100 Patentability The transitional [...]

Tagged as: claims, IP, patent law

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five phases of “done-ness”

Everyone keeps some sort of task list, be it mental or written, and those of us in product design are no different. What is different are the phases of “done-ness”. Whereas a honey-do list might include an item like “fix the toilet” which is binary (i.e. it’s either done or not done),  I find that items [...]

Tagged as: product design, productivity

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apple dual anodization

ismashphone reports the apple is filing a patent on dual anodization (links mine): A metal surface treated to have two anodized layers or regions may be used in electronic devices. The surface treatment may include performing a first anodization process to create a first anodized layer, removing the first anodized layer at select locations, and [...]

Tagged as: anodizing, apple, hard anodizing, product design

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