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‘DESIGN’

Art to Part: Designing a Mountain Bike Handlebar for
Performance, Comfort – Part 1

10 Aug, 2011 by Bruce Buck in CAD, DESIGN
3D Human CAD Models

This is a guest post by Bruce Buck, avid photographer, videographer and workstation geek at MySolidBox.com.

There’s one constant in product design – the development of new products. Shocking and unexpected I know, but when that development gets down to all the individual component parts of a larger product, the process gets a whole lot more interesting. Welcome to the ‘Art to Part’ series where we’ll be looking at the details that go into the design from start to finish. Today, we have a part that you would think is fairly simple, a mountain bike handlebar. This one however, is aimed at completely changing the world of endurance/marathon racing.

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60 Details Not To Miss At ICFF

17 May, 2011 by Bradley Derry in DESIGN


Guest post by Bradley Derry from bradleyderry.com

Design is details. Design is the tiny elements in a product that work their way into final production from hours of sketching, prototyping, and CAD. Details are what the designers agonize over and what the manufactures spend so much time trying to get just right. This post is a homage to all the people who make these details.

I spent a good amount of time yesterday at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF), New York City’s annual showcase for contemporary design. The show brings thousands of visitors each year to see over 500 exhibitors displaying product from all over the world. Many visitors glaze right over the products on display missing many design elements, so I made it a point to pick out 60 details to highlight. Did you spot the same details? Did you spot better ones? Take a look…

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Ponoko and CloudFab Team up to Give You Personal Factory 4

22 Nov, 2010 by Josh Mings in FAB, TECH

I know, you may be 5 layers of neon-green acrylic away from overdosing on your custom design addiction. Too bad, it’s about to get 1,000x worse. Ponoko and CloudFab have teamed up to combine the goodness of 2D laser-cut design and the multi-dimensionality of 3D printing to bring you… Personal Factory 4.

This is probably one of the best ideas to happen in the diy-fab scene yet. Ponoko has always been the source for custom laser-cut design. Now, they bring material suppliers, fabbers, creators and DIYers together to release the 4-headed hydra of product design delight.
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Burn Ignite. Relating Skateboarding to Product Design and Engineering.

02 Aug, 2010 by Josh Mings in CULTURE, DESIGN, ROCKIN'

I could seriously watch this video over and over again… In fact, I have. So much so, I caught fire myself and had to be doused with a potted plant from the kitchen.

I love watching skateboard videos, but this one does something a little different. This one tells the reason behind the madness and shows it in a rather visually stunning way. It’s easy to apply this type of intensity to skateboarding. Thing is, it could apply to what we do in product design and engineering. As you watch, it’ll also help to know that a large amount of the fire effects… are real.

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Ask The Reader: What Mix of Programs Do You Have in Your Product Design Arsenal? [Poll]

15 Jul, 2010 by Josh Mings in CULTURE

It’s been a while since we’ve asked this. Plus, when I was talking to a friend about mixing cheese sauce with green paint and throwing it into a fan, he suddenly slapped me and mentioned this:

“I’m currently using SolidWorks, NX, AutoCAD, TeamCenter, KeyShot, Shot, and Photoshop as my design arsenal.”

I dropped the cheese sauce. I was shocked and amazed. “That’s a lot of different programs.” I said. I imagine some of you live in the same cornucopia of deisgn and management bliss.

For instance, I use SolidWorks, AutoCAD, a homegrown PDM system, Photoview 360, modo and Photoshop.” Quite the list as well, I must say. So now, I’m wondering about you. How crazy is it?

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The iPad Canvas Wrap You Can Customize and Print Yourself

17 May, 2010 by Josh Mings in DESIGN, FAB

Before you reach in that bucket and grab a week-old shard of melted plastic to gnaw on for a little iPad case-makin’ inspiration, look at what the necessity for flatness and reduced material usage has resulted in.

Like many of you, Jeff Bare, of jbare designs, knew he would be getting an iPad the first day Mr. Jobs revealed it’s glistening screen in his sweaty palms. It’s like Steve was looking right into Jeff’s eyes saying, “My product sucks… unless you make a rockin’ wrap to keep it from scratchin’”… and that’s exactly what Jeff did. Here’s the story.

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DIY lil’ CNC!! It’s So Cute, You Will Mill Your Pants.

24 Mar, 2010 by Josh Mings in RESOURCES

Look out folks, there’s a CNC storm a’comin’. A wee, cute little storm of laser cut, three-axis THUNDER! It’s the DIYLILCNC and it is so lil’ you’ll want to build it, give it a hug and then command it to do your gantry-mounted bidding!

In the same open-source artery as the Makerbot 3D Printer, Chris Reilly and Taylor Hokanson, with funding from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, have developed plans to create your very own desktop milling machine without having to even know what CNC means.

Earlier last month they gave a presentation at CAA Chicago 2010 that explains all you want to know. So, get your smock, align your cutting tools… GO.

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Ask the Reader: What topics about 3D and Design interest you the most?

18 Mar, 2010 by Josh Mings in CULTURE

Well now, I hear some of you are in the mood for a really broad question with a very broad and generalized set of choices. EXCELLENT, I say! We’ve got just the question.

Today, we’re wondering what topics about 3D, design and any combination of the two, interest you the most. Why? Because there’s an anxious group of senior citizens waiting to take the results and make craft and quilt blocks from them! How fun is that!? In addition, we’re prepping to connect more content, but it totally depends on your choices, so…

[poll id="18"]

Did I miss something?? Let me know and I’ll add it! THE MORE, THE BETTER. So, wheel grams over to the computer and help her make a choice!

Image via Flickr

The Magnificent Sphere of SolidWorks, Rhino, & Blender Design

17 Mar, 2010 by Josh Mings in DESIGN

If you’ve surrounded yourself with thousands of lighted spheres like I have, you’ll be interested to learn of the potential for incredibly cool design living within each of the precious glowing orbs.

Andre Baran of formendesign.de knows, and has animated a spherical surprise to impress upon you the true nature of transformation as applied to the simple shape. From it, five unique design literally unfold in a process that combines SolidWorks, Rhino and Blender to produce the results. Andre tells us more.

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