Rapid Prototyping. It’s a phrase that’s been glossed over in recent years. As the MakerBots, the RepRaps and the 3d printing bandwagon have garnered the column inches, TV minutes and tweet counts over the last two years, many have forgotten the background to much of this technology.

The Roland iModela is compact but fully functional

Now, while the mainstream media cooks up all manner of nonsense about the rebirth of manufacturing through the adoption of an ABS sausage extruding machine, those at the business of the design to manufacturing process, will recognise that these machines are prototyping machines — to a greater or larger extent.

What’s interesting is that while the world has gone nuts for 3D printers, the other technologies often used in the prototyping process have been going through a quiet revolution at the same time. Smaller, cheaper machines, available to a much wider audience.

In the world of CNC machines for the design office or design workshop, Roland has gained a reputation as a leader. If you’re not familiar with the name, Roland is one of those curiously Japanese organisations that seemingly has its fingers in many different and often diverse, pies.

Musicians amongst the readership will recognise the name Roland as being a provider of electronics; keyboards, synthesisers, electronic drum kits, recording kit. They’ve even got a digital accordion. The guitar fiends amongst you will also know the company’s sub brand, Boss, masters of the effects pedal.

Roland also has interests elsewhere, it has a range of printers for the reprographics market, plotters and such for the design office and much more.

But for the designers and engineers out there, Roland is also known for the activities of its Design Group. It’s in this group that you’ll find not only its MDX CNC milling machines as well as a number of 3D scanners. These have been on the market for over a decade, have sold in their tens of thousands across the globe and are a core part of many workshops.

While the product range for CNC milling has been established for some time, with a reasonable entry level, it was with some surprise a year or so ago that the company launched the iModela. It looks different to Roland’s other CNC machines; it’s very small, it’s compact and it’s 500 quid. And it’s this that we’ll be taking a look at this month.

Out of the box build-up

Anyone that’s got involved in the set-up of machining equipment will be more than familiar with the process of set-up and calibration.

The iModela differs from the usual course of events. It arrives in a hard case and opening it up, you’re presented with a set of components that, with just a cursory glance at the manual, gets you up and running in no time at all.

Export of your part geometry - here from Autodesk Inventor

For those experienced with CNC machines, you’ll be surprised that this device is essentially a small drill bit collet chuck, driven by one of those motors from a radio controlled car.

The cutter is driven in the X axis by a linear guide screw, the platform beneath takes care of the Y and Z axis travel. Once everything is in place, you close it all up (which is delightfully origami-esque), snap the locks into place and plug it into the power and eventually, your laptop via USB.

It’s a small unit, about the size of Weetabix box and has the look of an extra from Pixar’s Wall-E, rather than a CNC machine.

Software set-up

The software set-up requires that you install the base level systems — the controller software (think: just like your more industrial scale brothers, even with the big red button) as well as number of applications to assist with design. Here, you have a number of options.

The iModela Creator system gives you a vector based design system, ideal for creating name plates, smaller engraving jobs and such. But for those of us in design, we really want to be able to machine 3D forms. For this you’ll need to download and install Roland’s ModelaPlayer system.

This gives you the ability to import 3D files (typically done via STL) and set-up a machining job.

Toolpath set-up

You begin by importing and orienting the part, setting up the datum, the billet as well as offsets from the part form, so that it can be machined in the block.

Import the part, set-up the job, including multisided cutting operations

Despite the simple nature of the system, you can do some quite advanced things, multi-sided machining and such. It just takes a little forethought about how best to produce the form you want.

You then create the toolpaths, using presets for the material you’re machining (the iModela will cut most plastics, woods, modelling foam and such — but can’t handle conductive materials so no metals).

If you want to dive in, you can change all the parameters, speeds, feeds, cutter dimensions, cutting strategy — the whole shebang. It works exactly the same as a standard mill.
It can even give you a visual simulation of material removal, so you can see what you’re going to get.

Once complete, the toolpaths are output and ready to read into the controller application.

Model cutting processing

Model prep is pretty straightforward.

Once your toolpaths are calculated, they can be simulated in the Virtual Modeler

Take your material block, stick it to the machine bed (using double sided tape), move the cutter to the datum point and set the machine going.

One thing that you’ll notice is that this is a noisy little bugger. It’s not as bad as a 5 -axis high speed machining rig, but when it’s running at full tilt, it’s pretty noisy.

If you’re machining a small name badge or other detail, it’s not too bad, but if you’re cutting out a more substantial model, then it needs to be borne in mind when installing the machine.

Results and conclusion

As with all such machines, it’s the results that count and how they fit into your workflow. The fact is that the iModela is a small machine. It can handle parts up to 86 x 26mm and up to 55mm in the z height. It’s clear that you’re not going to produce massive parts on this thing.

That said, what it can do is machine out small, intricate parts and give you small details where needed. If you’re building presentation models in house, then there are some parts that just can be done effectively on a 3D printer of whatever flavour.

With the iModela, you can machine these in a pretty usable time frame. It won’t be the centre piece of a prototyping workflow, but I can completely see it fitting in as an ancillary machine to assist where needed.

If you’re in the jewellery industry, then its also worth noting that Delcam have retrofitted this machine with a rotary axis for machining investment casting waxes along with some of their own software magic (see delcam.com for more details).

All in all, the iModela is a decent bit of kit. Limited, yes, but if you’re looking for something larger, then it’s worth looking at the other products in the range.

Fancy moving up?

The iModela is a wee little beast and while I’m sure most will scoff at its small stature, it could find a place in quite a few design offices. That said, we all want bigger and better prototypes, the ability to build at full scale. This is where Roland’s extensive product range comes into its own. From smaller CNC mills that combine cutting with 3D scanning, up to fully automated 4th axis and auto tool-changing, it’s all there. Let’s look at two of the best:

MDX-40A

While not the smallest of the MDX range (that’ll be the MDX-20 that also doubles as a probed based Rev eng device), the MDX-40 is where things start to get serious.

With 305 x 305 x 105mm as a machining area, optional rotary axis mechanism and 3D scanner add-on, it’s bigger than most 3D printers, and gives you a nice spread of possible materials to cut with — it is also worth noting that the MDX-40A won’t do metals.
Price: £5,499

MDX-540

The is a big boy. It can be fitted out with automatic tool changers and rotary axes. It’ll cut almost anything you need it to (they limit it to “light metal”).

And from speaking to companies that already have them, it’s pretty much bullet proof. At just shy of 14K, this brings it in league with other CNC machines out there, but for the design office/workshop, this is about perfect and about as big as you can get for parts up to 500 x 400 x 155mm
Price: £13,999

With the ability to “print” all kinds of functioning 3D objects also comes some important legal consequences.

Simply put, printing products can be illegal if the products infringe someone else’s registered designs or other intellectual property rights (IPR).
Owners of valuable characteristic designs may act in different ways as 3D printing starts to impact on their commercial returns.

Some may take an open source approach and others may tread a stringent legal path. Nokia, for instance, provides access to a 3D printing template for personal customisation of the back cover of its smartphone.

However, it has also been quick to put in legal controls to stop others from exploiting its designs by limiting the production of its phone cover for personal use. More binding approaches may be adopted by others depending on their marketing and IPR strategy.

Defending your rights

Different types of IPR relate to different aspects of the printing process: from copyright in artistic works and the software used to control the printer, to design rights in the components and products produced, patents covering the specialised resins and polymers used in printing, the design, construction and mode of operation of the printer as well as trade marks for printer branding and those protecting the 3D features of the products produced.

Jackie Maguire - CEO of Coller IP

So, for anyone developing a business built around 3D printing, there are specific IP issues that can affect the success of the operation. Liabilities don’t stop there; the onus is on those supplying and using 3D design templates to investigate who is the true owner of the original designs, products or creations.

Regular defence of IPRs is a current reality. Last year, Yantai Aowei Winery Co., Ltd and Yantai Chivas Winery Co. Ltd were found to be selling products in the shape of the Chivas bottle.

In so doing, it infringed Chivas’ 3D trademark regarding reproducing the shape of the bottle. In accordance with the Trademark Law of China, the court ordered the defendants to immediately cease using the bottle, as well as make a public apology in the newspapers, and pay an amount of RMB 500,000 in damages.

So, reproducing and selling under someone’s 3D trademark can have some serious consequences.

The Search is on

Alongside this legal backdrop, the controversial not-for-profit Defcad site is using crowd funding methods to create the world’s first so-called unblockable, open-source search engine for 3D printable models. Its founder, Cody Wilson says:

“The revolution which many predict 3D printing will bring about will only happen if it can be freed from corporate ties.”

The blueprints available on the site will be for “important stuff”, he claims. “Not trinkets, not lawn gnomes but the things institutions and industries have an interest in keeping from us; access, medical devices, drugs, goods and guns. There will be no take downs.”

Many of those products covered by the blueprints will be protected by IPR and their use governed by other laws and regulations. But Mr Wilson appears controversially to be raising a point perhaps better expressed by Einstein ““We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

If 3D printing gains widespread traction, then the world will behave differently.

The implications for everyday life have spurred something of a craze and hype as well as reviews calling for the alignment of IP laws and policy changes at Government level.

But then, so did the “Information Superhighway” – now the essentially accepted internet. Society has found a way of assimilating this paradigm shift within the intellectual property legal framework. There is no reason to suggest why this should not happen with the emergence of 3D printing.

In the meantime, as controversies such as what is permissible with file-sharing services such as Napster, plagiarism from the web and even the extent to which documents can be reproduced by the humble photocopier have shown, disputes are likely to continue.

It is perhaps unwise to ignore IPRs and to assume that the legal intellectual property framework will be abandoned as this technology becomes more widespread.

What you can do

Before contacting an intellectual property advisor, there are some easy checks around the products that you wish to produce that can be made first.

For instance, you can search for 3D Trade Marks and designs that others may have registered that prevent you from legally using or producing certain product shapes.

National websites are available to carry out such searches: e.g. ipo.gov.uk for UK marks; or oami.europa.eu for European Community Trade Marks; or tess2.uspto.gov for Marks that are registered in the USA. Have a look at what is already out there.

Doing your own research and perhaps, where necessary, taking advice at an early stage is the best way, for all involved in this fascinating technology, to avoid problems later on.
collerip.com

If there’s one thing that warms the cockles of your heart, it’s seeing one of your kids being creative. Whether it’s drawing on a notepad, clicking together a Lego model or building a den in the garden.

The UK Maker Faire was buzzing

As they say, it’s all good. What’s interesting is watching what gets kids engaged in designing something, solving a practical challenge and thinking something through.

We all learn from our mistakes and missteps and it’s something that starts very young. I’m pretty sure we can all trace back the point when our paths towards being designers and engineers started.

For many of a similar age to me, that was probably the clunk of Lego or the stripping of knuckles on a Mechano spanner. I’ve heard stories of that spark coming from seeing Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s name in feet high letters on the Clifton Suspension Bridge.

Engagement + technology

As a dad, there’s nothing I love more than showing off a bit of technology to the kids, showing them how things work, explaining what something is.

Recently, it became clear how technologies like 3D printing can engage with the young ones.

The ability to physically manifest an idea, from screen to something held in the hand is incredibly captivating and inspiring — for all ages.

So, with all that in mind, DEVELOP3D ended up supporting Europe’s largest Maker Faire in Newcastle at the tail end of April.

If you’re not familiar with a Maker Faire, the idea began in the US by the team behind Make magazine.

Maker Faires are typically localised events, bringing together all sorts of people, with all manner of interests and showing off all manner of projects. If you made it, you’re welcome to pitch up, take a table and talk to people about it. What’s not to love about that?

Even though we weren’t too sure what to expect, we packed up for an overnight stay in Newcastle and a visit first thing on a chilly spring Saturday morning.

Like minds meet

Held in the Life Centre in the centre of Newcastle, the UK Maker Faire was buzzing even before the event opened.

Pitching up early, we got our passes, got let in and immediately bumped in to Alice Taylor, CEO of MakieLab, who was presenting (along with her husband, Cory Doctorow of BoingBoing fame) later on in the day. It seems they’d also brought their daughter along for the weekend.

Inspiring for all ages!

As Jack and I wandered around the halls, it was clear that this was an event that satisfies anyone with a curious mind.

Amongst the many stalls, we saw robotics, we marvelled at the PancakeBot (a 3D printer for pancakes — pancakebot.com), we had a drive of BattleBots and gazed at a demonstration of how to bend glass to make neon lighting (by Sarah Blood).

We also took photos of the Star Wars cosplay folks that seem to be ever present at these things and, of course, the Daleks.

Jack had a go at building a Minecraft model and learned about the Printcraft service that will realise it in a 3D print or give you an STL.

He learned how to hack a website using Mozilla Webmaker and Google X-Ray with an incredibly patient lady — even if he did panic a bit that he was changing Nintendo’s actual website!

Is this the next generation?

What was interesting for me, was seeing the make up of the crowd. It was the broadest cross section of society. Parents with kids, teenagers, older folks and even the odd pensioner knocking about the place. The gender split was about bang on equal.

It struck me that while the government is talking about supporting manufacturing in this country with all manner of concocted schemes and initiatives, it’s this type of grass roots event that it should be supporting. Not specialist events, but general access events, that anyone can go to, that anyone can dive into and find something to spark an interest.

After all, it’s that formative point where, as a kid, you see something interesting, something that sticks in the back of your brain and sits there, through your schooling, through your education and helps determine your life choices.

As a final thought, there was something absolutely delightful about seeing parents sitting with their kids, around a bunch of tables, soldering electronics kits together. A collective experience involving molten metals, steaming hot irons and a little bit of magic.

It might be easy to dismiss Maker Faires, but I’d advise taking a trip to a local event at least. They’re encouraging, enlightening and gives you confidence in the future.

Stanford University mechanical engineering student John Ulmen created his own ingenious means of getting around campus without exerting very much energy – an electric powered longboard.

Boosted Boards co-founder Matt Tran riding one of the prototypes in San Francisco

Cruising from his car onto campus and then between classes he can easily pick up the board and take it with him wherever he goes. Realising that this invention was too good not to share Ulmen, together with fellow mechanical engineering students Matt Tran and Sanjay Dastoor, founded Boosted Boards.

“We started with something that is already very efficient – the longboard. We then used really efficient motors and batteries and designed custom electronics and software to create the lightest electric vehicle that has ever been made,” describes Dastoor.

The result of almost two years work is a 12 pound (5.4 kg) longboard that features twin brushless electric motors, battery pack and drivetrain providing 2,000 watts of power and a six mile range on a single charge, which can be done in less than two hours using a standard wall socket.

The rider can reach a top speed of 20mph, even up 15 per cent grade hills. If they run out of charge or just feel like pushing, the board can be used like a normal longboard. A handheld remote allows for acceleration and braking.

“We’ve managed to build an electric powered drivetrain that only adds four pounds onto a normal eight pound longboard but it has enough power to go up the famous San Francisco Russian Hill at 20 mph,” describes Tran. “Boosted Boards are really revolutionary because of the power you get from something so light and portable.” 

Motor heads

Ulmen created his original prototype following research he had been doing at university into electric motors.

He noticed that as their power was increasing so their price was decreasing, making inventions like his much more affordable. “The best part about the RC brushless motors and battery pack we used in our first prototype is that we bought them from a toy store. They were inside a remote controlled aeroplane,” smiles Dastoor.

A prototype of a Boosted Board being assembled in the machine shop

Their bid to use as many off-the-shelf components as possible also extended to the longboard itself and being longboarders they knew exactly who to turn to.

A partnership with Loaded Boards, a Californian high performance longboard manufacturer, soon ensued providing the deck and wheels.

“It was important to us that the Boosted Board looks like a longboard and it really does from above because the drivetrain is so compact,” says Tran. 

The very first longboard prototype Ulmen created for his own use was modelled using SolidWorks. All subsequent refinements to the drivetrain including the kinematics were also modelled and simulated in the software.

“There are a lot of clearance issues with the drivetrain,” explains Tran. “Normal longboards have wheel bite, where the wheel hits the deck of the board and it can make the rider come to a stop pretty quickly.

With our electric longboard we have something called motor bite. So with the motors connected to the truck, which is on the part that holds the axle of the wheels, when that part moves independently of the deck and if you are turning really hard that motor can hit the bottom of the deck and cause it to stop abruptly.”

Set up shop

The first prototypes were paid for through the trio’s own savings.

They were then lucky enough to get some seed funding from incubator initiatives – Y Combinator and StartX – which helped pay for a membership to TechShop.

Various prototypes of the handheld remote control

This US-only initiative, which was founded in California and now consists of six TechShops at different locations, provides fully equipped workshop facilities and an array of tools that members can use to develop their designs and prototypes. Boosted Boards actually rented a small room at the San Jose TechShop last summer where they kept all their tools and inventory.

“At TechShop you don’t only have access to all these machines that you wouldn’t be able to afford otherwise, but it also brings a creative community together. Just seeing other people’s projects and what’s possible inspires your own,” says Tran.

“I often hear people talk about how manufacturing has moved overseas and how designers are no longer connected to that process and know what’s possible to achieve through manufacturing. So a place like TechShop is pretty awesome because it really connects you back to the manufacturing process because you are actually there doing it.”

Talk the talk

Creating the best electric longboard that has ever been invented is no small feat and the team decided to draw on the experiences of those who knew what they were talking about.

One of these was a former engineer at Tesla Motors, a manufacturer of electric vehicles, who came onboard as a mentor.

“Having that kind of mentor is really key because the experience they have in actually bringing something to market makes it way easier to avoid some of the mistakes that most hardware companies do when they are starting out,” says Dastoor.

The Boosted team have designed their own custom motor controller to provide smooth acceleration, braking and throttle feedback

The technology the Boosted team were using is similar to that found in modern electric cars and motorbikes but on a much smaller and lighter scale.

The constant refinements and alterations to their designs resulted in about five prototype boards being built. But as Tran explains, each one of these kept changing as new components and different iterations were tried out.

“We didn’t have brakes on our first prototype and the acceleration was jerky at first because we didn’t have encoders or sensors to provide for the wheel speed and position. So we basically developed our own electric speed controller which means that the board can accelerate smoothly from a stop. We’ve also added regenerative braking making it easier to learn because now you can control your speed and come to a complete stop even going downhill all while recharging the battery,” explains Tran.

They were also working on a design for a remote control and were initially planning a handheld remote with a thumb wheel for throttle and braking.

However, having tested the design through a process of 3D modelling and 3D printing, they chose a ring-style controller that features a wheel for the throttle and brake as well as a battery indicator to show how much power is left.

Kick in the right direction

Once happy, five prototypes were made to sell to paying customers.

“One bit of advice we were given at the beginning of the project was to sell a few of the products to paying customers to make sure that people thought they were worth the money,” says Tran.

“All five unanimously said at the end of the summer that the boards were really awesome and they would have paid more for them. It was also great to get their feedback and incorporate it into later prototypes.”

The next step was to launch a Kickstarter campaign, something they had decided on from the start.

Although they did need the funding, it wasn’t all about the money. “We had some friends who had done Kickstarter successfully and it was great confirmation that people actually want to buy your product,” says Tran.

“Kickstarter also provides a really good way of promoting your product. It’s pretty amazing that a start-up can get so much publicity right from the get go. In the past it would have been a lot tougher to get people to see and become interested in what you are doing.” 

The user can travel at speeds of up to 20mph, even up hills…The initial stages involved a lot of hand drawn sketches

On 11 September 2012 the Boosted Boards Kickstarter campaign was launched with a target of raising $100,000. Exactly one month later the campaign ended with a huge $467,167 pledged by backers.

The rewards varied from $1 for a sticker to $10,000 for up to 15 personalised boards. As they had been advised to ramp up production slowly and carefully, the rewards reflected this with backers being able to buy a board from the 25 batch beta production run in March 2013, first production run in May 2013, second batch in June 2013, or third in July 2013. With so much interest, the boards can also be pre-ordered directly from the Boosted Boards website for $1,299.

So, with work to be done it was time to move out of their room in TechShop and find bigger facilities. They moved into a 5,000 square foot building in Sunnyvale, California, with a fellow robotics company, Double Robotics, where they would share a machine shop that included a CNC mill, manual mill and lathe, laser cutter, 3D printer, band saws, drill press and lots of hand tools. There was also a large room that could be used for the assembly of the boards.

They also expanded their team with three new members who importantly all share the founder’s passion for the product. “In a small company and with a small project like this you know that what comes out is how much work you’ve put into it whereas in a larger company you can sometimes feel lost being a small cog in a big wheel,” comments Tran.

Tweaking the design

Work on the design continued and although initially an off-the-shelf lithium battery pack was going to be used, Boosted Boards has since partnered with a custom battery manufacturer that is providing custom packs with an advanced battery management system.

This will result in more charge cycles, higher safety, and even the potential for faster charging.

Other improvements include a redesigned truck to accommodate different pulleys and belts, which connect the motors to the wheels. This will minimise slip on steep hills, something that became apparent from their prototype boards that had been ridden heavily for a year.

They had also been using off-the-shelf motor controllers that they have tuned to work with the prototype boards. However, following feedback received, they have since decided to design their own custom controllers to provide the smoothest acceleration, braking and throttle feedback.

Using SolidWorks to model the remote control design…Although it’s hard work the Boosted team are having fun in the process

The user also now has the ability to go in reverse. Simultaneously, new features have been added to the remote design including a kill switch on the bottom for user safety.

Boosted Boards recently finished assembling the first five beta boards, which have been delivered to the Kickstarter backers, all of which are located in the San Francisco Bay area.

These backers had to be local as their feedback is a crucial step towards the development of the production units. The remaining 20 beta boards will be manufactured in two further batches.

As production is being ramped up slowly, feedback from these beta batches as well as those from the first and second run will help the Boosted team continue to improve on the design until it’s perfect and ready for mass production.

“Once we have the production process down in-house then we’ll start to work with contract manufacturers to replicate that process and ramp up to really large volumes,” comments Tran.

Although delivering the world’s lightest electric vehicle is certainly an exciting prospect, according to Dastoor this project is part of a longer term vision to revolutionise personal transportation.

“We really think that the powertrain we’ve developed will allow us to reimagine what a vehicle can be especially when you think that a Boosted Board can run for 1,000km on only $1 of electricity.”