If you described my lifestyle lately as “Doing math and playing outside,” I could hardly criticize you. Like many other engineers at Simplexity, I spend a fair amount of time… Read More
DOING MATH AND PLAYING OUTSIDE WITH WEBLOCKS
FOUR CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS FOR MECHANICAL INTEGRATION OF OPTICAL SYSTEMS
Introduction Optical systems have always been important, and today they are more important than ever. Even before engineering, before lenses and curved mirrors, optics were important to animals with eyes. … Read More
10 BEST PLACES TO BUY PARTS FOR PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
Purchasing off-the-shelf components is an essential task when developing mechatronic systems, especially for prototyping and low-volume applications. Often, the availability and price of particular off-the-shelf components inform the design. For example,… Read More
DESIGNING THERMAL CONTROL SYSTEMS
Precision temperature control in product design is a matter of degrees. Sometimes the Goldilocks zone is as broad as a barn door. When it is, life is easy. Sometimes though,… Read More
WHY ENGINEERING STILL MATTERS IN PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
The prototyping process is faster and easier than ever before. The Maker Movement encourages us to build, build, build. Rapid prototyping with Arduino and 3D-printed parts and overnight shipping from… Read More
HOW MECHATRONICS IMPROVE DRONE TECHNOLOGY
Drones are a great example of mechatronics in practice. They have many interconnected systems that depend on multiple disciplines to communicate and function as designed. In this article, we’ll explain how… Read More
TOP 10 TIPS FOR DESIGNING INJECTION MOLDED PLASTIC PARTS
Injection molded plastic parts have some wonderful benefits including scalability, the ability to make simple to extremely complex parts, and uniformity, the ability to make hundreds to millions of virtually… Read More
WHEN SHOULD YOU CONSIDER DESIGNING CUSTOM GEARS?
There are typically a number of considerations when choosing whether you want to use a stock gear or to design a custom gear. Two of the key considerations are cost… Read More
WHAT IS THE MECH IN MECHATRONICS?
Mechatronics is not only about the motor, but rather getting the most out of the motors you have. To do that you have to step back and look at the… Read More
SELECTING THE CORRECT MOTOR TYPE AND SIZE
What is the correct (or best) motor to use in a motion control application? Given the myriad choices of type, size and performance it should not be surprising that there… Read More