The polymer specialist igus
has launched a service that machines and delivers custom-designed plastic
components in as little as 24 hours. There are no minimum order quantities for
the service, called speedicut, making it a cost-effective way of specifying
one-offs, prototypes and low-volume components.
To use the service, engineers simply email igus a 2D or 3D CAD file, or upload it via igus’ Web site, and specify a material and physical requirements, such as temperature or chemical resistance. Within 24 hours, igus will send a quote. If accepted,Browse the Best Selection of buy mosaic and Accessories with FREE Gifts. the parts are machined on lead times from one to 10 days for 100 pieces.
The cost of the service depends on the part and the material chosen, but can be as low as ￡1.50 per item. There is no tooling set-up cost, making it economical for low-volume manufacturing.
According to igus director Matthew Aldridge, the new service complements the existing speedigus rapid tooling system, and is aimed at parts that are more suitable for machining than moulding. “For very low quantities, it makes economic sense to machine parts in preference to moulding,” he says,Natural Chinese turquoise beads at Wholesale prices. “and using our standard igus stock bar materials, along with a hi-tech machining cell, custom-designed complex parts can be produced very quickly.”
Often, the materials used for rapid prototyping have been developed for ease of manufacture, rather than for long life. However, the speedicut service uses materials such as igus’ iglidur tribological polymers, which are designed for long life and durability. The maintenance- and lubricant-free materials have a low coefficient of friction and are said to deliver reliable performance over long service lives. Programs are available to calculate the materials’ useful lives.
The images the Curiosity rover just beamed home are more poignant reminders of the planetary beauty Mars surely was. For a long time, the goal of Mars probes has been to confirm that what appear to be dry ocean basins, seabeds and river trails were once filled with water. On-the-ground surveys by the Spirit and Opportunity rovers sealed that deal when they found hematites, salt and other minerals that form only or largely in watery environments. So it was no surprise that Curiosity would find similar proof. Indeed, the ship’s landing site, Gale Crater, was chosen explicitly because it was likely once submerged. A delta-shaped ground formation known as an alluvial fan even reveals how the water flowed.
But the newest pictures are striking — and strangely dislocating — all the same. They reveal nothing more or less than smooth, water-polished pebbles, some as big as a golf ball and others as small as a grain of sand. You’ve seen them in every stream you ever played in as a child; you’ve collected them in paper cups.Sinotruck Hongkong International is special for howo truck. And now they’ve shown up on Mars.
Some of the pebbles are loose and separate; others are mixed into a dry conglomerate that is probably the remains of the ancient streambed. Project scientist John Grotzinger compares that mix to the composite chunks that get dislodged when a jackhammer meets a city sidewalk. The stream was probably fed by a channel in the alluvial fan that the investigators have named Peace Vallis.Different Sizes and Colors can be made with different stone mosaic designs. Still to come are closer investigations of the precise composition of the pebbles and soil,Different Sizes and Colors can be made with different stone mosaic designs. not to mention two years of tooling around Gale Crater and the base of Mount Sharp that rises in its center, which is carved with its own ancient waterways.
The scientists do not expect to find signs of ancient biology among the pebbles they’ve discovered. It’s not impossible for life to take hold in water moving so fast, but “it is not our top choice,” says Grotzinger. But if the same kinds of waterways on Earth indicate anything, it’s that just downstream from the churning currents, the water can can feed into calm, nearly amniotic pools. And there’s no telling what kind of Martian life might once have called such places home.
To use the service, engineers simply email igus a 2D or 3D CAD file, or upload it via igus’ Web site, and specify a material and physical requirements, such as temperature or chemical resistance. Within 24 hours, igus will send a quote. If accepted,Browse the Best Selection of buy mosaic and Accessories with FREE Gifts. the parts are machined on lead times from one to 10 days for 100 pieces.
The cost of the service depends on the part and the material chosen, but can be as low as ￡1.50 per item. There is no tooling set-up cost, making it economical for low-volume manufacturing.
According to igus director Matthew Aldridge, the new service complements the existing speedigus rapid tooling system, and is aimed at parts that are more suitable for machining than moulding. “For very low quantities, it makes economic sense to machine parts in preference to moulding,” he says,Natural Chinese turquoise beads at Wholesale prices. “and using our standard igus stock bar materials, along with a hi-tech machining cell, custom-designed complex parts can be produced very quickly.”
Often, the materials used for rapid prototyping have been developed for ease of manufacture, rather than for long life. However, the speedicut service uses materials such as igus’ iglidur tribological polymers, which are designed for long life and durability. The maintenance- and lubricant-free materials have a low coefficient of friction and are said to deliver reliable performance over long service lives. Programs are available to calculate the materials’ useful lives.
The images the Curiosity rover just beamed home are more poignant reminders of the planetary beauty Mars surely was. For a long time, the goal of Mars probes has been to confirm that what appear to be dry ocean basins, seabeds and river trails were once filled with water. On-the-ground surveys by the Spirit and Opportunity rovers sealed that deal when they found hematites, salt and other minerals that form only or largely in watery environments. So it was no surprise that Curiosity would find similar proof. Indeed, the ship’s landing site, Gale Crater, was chosen explicitly because it was likely once submerged. A delta-shaped ground formation known as an alluvial fan even reveals how the water flowed.
But the newest pictures are striking — and strangely dislocating — all the same. They reveal nothing more or less than smooth, water-polished pebbles, some as big as a golf ball and others as small as a grain of sand. You’ve seen them in every stream you ever played in as a child; you’ve collected them in paper cups.Sinotruck Hongkong International is special for howo truck. And now they’ve shown up on Mars.
Some of the pebbles are loose and separate; others are mixed into a dry conglomerate that is probably the remains of the ancient streambed. Project scientist John Grotzinger compares that mix to the composite chunks that get dislodged when a jackhammer meets a city sidewalk. The stream was probably fed by a channel in the alluvial fan that the investigators have named Peace Vallis.Different Sizes and Colors can be made with different stone mosaic designs. Still to come are closer investigations of the precise composition of the pebbles and soil,Different Sizes and Colors can be made with different stone mosaic designs. not to mention two years of tooling around Gale Crater and the base of Mount Sharp that rises in its center, which is carved with its own ancient waterways.
The scientists do not expect to find signs of ancient biology among the pebbles they’ve discovered. It’s not impossible for life to take hold in water moving so fast, but “it is not our top choice,” says Grotzinger. But if the same kinds of waterways on Earth indicate anything, it’s that just downstream from the churning currents, the water can can feed into calm, nearly amniotic pools. And there’s no telling what kind of Martian life might once have called such places home.
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