Wicked article on EOS DMLS

I'm trying to work out how much designers and engineers are aware of rapid prototyping and direct manufacturing processes and stumbled across this article by the team at MindTribe's blog. Check it.
What I'm pondering is whether users are aware of the new techniques, new processes, new materials and such that are rapidly coming out, advancing and developing and how they can both be used as part of existing design processes or used to create something new, something exciting? Leave a comment and let me know what YOU want to know, how and what.

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Tormach brings mill/turn

I don't know how familiar these guys are to our readers, but Tormach has some pretty nifty prototyping kit. they've got a range of CNC machines aimed at the higher-end hobbiest, prototyping market and the costs are pretty slick too. This month, they've launched an add-on for their CNC milling machines that gives you lathe or turning capability; for an extra $1150.

It seems that the Duality Lathe component is retrofitted to an existing PCNC 1100 mill, so you can effectively mill/turn in a single step - and it can be used in a manual fashion for those that love dialling in the numbers by hand.

I'm not too sure if these things are avialable in Europe, with the voltage difference, but they should be. Got to be a better bet that a 15 year old Bridgeport

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STL for Revit

I found the recent addition to the Autodesk Labs web-site pretty interesting. There's a new download for an STL exporter for Revit. According to the web-site you can "Create 3D Prints of your Revit 2009 models. As architects and engineers start their digital designs earlier and keep them digital for longer, they want a way to still physically interact with their designs. With the economical availability of 3D printers this has become possible."

This is interesting for two reasons. Firstly, the Architectural world is going nuts-out-crazy for 3D printing and other rapid prototyping technology that designers and engineers have been using for decades (in some cases). Also, its interesting that this comes out for Revit, when the Inventor STL output tools are a little sketchy. It doesn't allow you to export individual parts from an assembly (each has to be created separately), and it only supports the heavyweight ASCII version of STL, rather than the more compact binary version.

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