3D Printing For Electronics
We talk a lot about rapid prototyping and that often means 3D printed or machined parts. But many prototypes are of the electrical sort as well, and in order to make a working electronic prototype – one that combines rapid production of a case with the internal electrical components – the designer must also create […]
Inventor’s Toolkit: 7 Tips For Inventing Products
Every day we talk to inventors, entrepreneurs and product designers who need help making a physical prototype. For these people to be successful inventors, they need to be armed with knowledge to avoid the many pitfalls they may face in the development process. Here are 7 tips to help make the journey easier. 1. Research […]
Advanced Methods For Making Better Mold Tools
Recent innovations in tooling construction with conformal heating and cooling channels open up exciting new possibilities for part designs with improved throughput and lower costs.Ā Product developers and engineers now have access to new techniques made possible by additive manufacturing which promise enormous benefits in productivity, cost savings and finished part quality. Let’s take a look […]
Why Must We Make Things So Complicated?
A brief look at watches, clocks and other timepieces, and our timeless fascination with spinning gears. What Is A Complication? A watch complication is essentially any movement that displays more than the mere hour, minute or second. This is the face of the world’s most complicated watch, by Vacheron Constantin. Dubbed rather unimaginatively as Ref. […]
AddSub: The Ideal 3D Metal Printing Solution
There’s been a lot of talk zooming around lately about the wonders of additive manufacturing and 3D metal printing, but along with that a lot of misunderstandings about the benefits of this technology for product designers, tooling engineers and prototype makers. We want to take a moment here to clarify some of the confusion and […]
Star Rapid Plays Host To Shenzhen Accelerator HAX
For the third year in a row, Star Rapid played host to a group of young entrepreneurs and visionaries who were part of the “accelerator” program of HAX of Shenzhen, China. This year was the best yet, demonstrating Star’s commitment to reaching out to the larger prototyping community to encourage makers to bring their ideas […]
Star Rapid Talks About Scale, Manufacturing And Measurement
We will assume that if you’re reading this then you fit the general profile of a creative, intelligent person of good taste and breeding. You’re also interested in engineering, science and technology, all of which we applaud. Well, prepare to have your mind blown. When working with product design and manufacturing, whether it be for […]
Designing The Perfect Music System
There’s no more sure-fire way to kick up a cloud of dust among music lovers than to bring up the old digital-vs-analog argument. It’s almost as bad as asking who’s the greatest rock guitarist, or which Beatles album is the best (answer: all of them). No matter what you say, someone is going to disagree, […]
Celebrating 5 Great Prototype Design Winners From China
The Red Dot awards are a prestigious, internationally recognized symbol of product and prototype design excellence. A panel of judges from a number of design disciplines is tasked with reviewing tens of thousands of product ideas relating to transportation, housing, energy, education, public spaces, lighting and many more. To receive a Red Dot award is […]
Plastic Injection Material For Dummies
No, not plastics to make dummies out of, although you could do that. We want to talk about the kinds of plastics you need for the plastic injection process, and how to make sense of the dizzying array of choices out there. Plastic injection molding is, by far, the most popular industrial technique for making […]
