2014-12-13 3 min read

2014-12-13

Notes.

This week I had the first of my titanium seatmast toppers 3D printed out of titanium 6/4. There's still a *lot* of work to get the part useable, but it was a big step forward.


I'm still working on a full write-up, but there's an initial report (and, if I might say so myself, one of the best repositories of public information about DMLS) on my blog.


Pathing.

Building.

  • The Manufacturing Bill of Materials (MBOM) lists parts in a structured way that relates to how the entire product (including firmware, packaging, etc.) will be made. An Engineering Bill of Materials (EBOM), on the other hand, is basically just a list of the designed parts of a product.
  • MTConnect is an open-source, royalty-free manufacturing protocol, that connects devices and systems (e.g. CNC mills) from different suppliers to capture and share information in a common format, such as XML.
  • Two links from Daniel Gladstone (whose blog is awesome, BTW): First, a solid video about building a Volvo Open 70. These are 70 foot carbon fiber boats made in three cooks from up to 14 layers of carbon fiber, and are possibly the largest civilian use carbon products in the world. Second, a 65 million gallon tunnel/tank 300 ft below Providence, RI. It's essentially a city sized septic tank, designed to hold sewage during storms so that it can be processed when there is less strain on the system.
  • Nervous System had Shapeways make them a 3D printed dress, and MoMA acquired it for their collection. The really cool part is the folding algorithm they used to compact the dress into a small build volume.
  • HP is building a "revolutionary" operating system for new computer architectures that use memristors.

Logistics.

Reflecting.

Stuff that doesn't fit into my dumb/arbitrary categories.

And.

But seriously. A titanium part. Made from powder that's fused into
a solid by pointing a 400 watt laser at it.

Love, Spencer.

ps - Thank you to everyone - especially my friends at Gin Lane, Undercurrent, Brilliant Bicycles and on twitter - who referred me to everything here.

We should be closer friends. Coffee's on me.

Spencer Wright
Spencer Wright
Spencer Wright is the (mostly accidental) founder of Scope of Work, which he started writing (as The Prepared) in 2013. Today he serves as its editor-in-chief and chief dilettante.
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