Knuckles were as white as foam from a broken San Diego coastal wave as we applied 50 pounds of force on the printer, making the suspending rope taut. If I… Read More
WHY ON EARTH ARE HEAVY WEIGHTS BEING SUSPENDED FROM THIS PRINTER?
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
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
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
HOW TO USE OPEN SOURCE HARDWARE IN PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
There are many amazing open source hardware (OSHW) printed circuit assembly (PCA) projects available today. Arduino®, BeagleBone®, Rasperry Pi®, OpenPilot®, and RepRap® are a few of the bigger names, but… 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
WHEN SHOULD I START DESIGNING FOR HIGH-VOLUME MANUFACTURING?
On more than one occasion, a company has approached Simplexity to ask if we can “look at this prototype, work out any bugs, and release it for high-volume manufacturing.” While… 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
THREE TIPS FOR DESIGNING HIGH VOLUME MECHATRONIC PRODUCTS
As I discussed in part one of my three-part mechatronics discussion, there are many, many types of mechatronics systems in the world. In industry, the largest market segment that would clearly identify… Read More