An Elegant 3d Printer Design

The math is a bit trickier. But, hey, at least there are no moving parts to wear out in isomorphism. Whether you’re printing human organs or wall sections for building construction, chances are you’ve spent some time thinking about a gantry system. All things considered, a Rostock based 3d printer inspires through a performance that … Read more

Re-inventing the Wheel

If you’ve never explored the Thingiverse, perhaps the best place to start is with the wheel. This is very highly customizable wheel in the way of an OpenSCAD file with 46 parameters that provides a limitless set of combinations and wheel designs. In addition to the spoke options you see here, ou can select tread designs, … Read more

3D Printing – The First Snort is Free

It’s been selling all of us overpriced ink and toner for decades now, while basically giving its printers away. It plans to do the same thing with 3D printers by making them compatible only with proprietary spools and filaments. HP recently told the press that it has already developed a special polymer that its 3D … Read more

Making the Case for Open Source

No one makes a better case for open source hardware and software than the manufacturer of a high-priced, high-end CNC mill like the Mori Seiki NV5000 A/40. Even if you own the machine outright, if you move it at all, a GPS and gyro sensor package in the machine will automatically shut it down and … Read more

HVDC — High Voltage Direct Current

The company that commissioned the world’s first 800 kilovolt UHVDC systems, the longest overhead HVDC link to go into commercial operation, and the world’s longest underwater and underground HVDC links, is now writing the next chapter in the evolution of this technology. ABB has successfully designed and developed a hybrid DC breaker after years of … Read more

Time to Change Direction?

When you simply don’t have the drive or if you feel you’re on a dead end road, it just may be time for a change. One of the best ways to get motivated is to understand our innermost desires. Some call it taking pride in a job well done. Others think of it as perfection … Read more

Freedom that Makes the Church Grow

“They prefer a life caged in their precepts, in their compromises, in their revolutionary plans or in their [disembodied] spirituality.” So said Pope Francis in his remarks following the readings last Friday, he focused on the day’s Gospel, drawn from that according to St Matthew (11:16-19). There, Jesus compares the generation of his time to … Read more

Pseudo Philanthropy

Wealthy philanthropic giving is on the rise, paralleling the rise in super-rich giving that characterized the late nineteenth century, when magnates (some called them “robber barons”) like Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller established philanthropic institutions that survive today. But a large portion of the charitable deductions now claimed by America’s wealthy are for donations … Read more

Shedding Retardant Forces

Thomas Jefferson said it best. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy, as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors. Today we should be asking, What is the regimen? What motivates it? What will our future be like if … Read more

JFK and the Fourth Estate

The corporate media inundates us with poll results concerning the approval ratings of the first three Estates of the Realm. But what if a completely independent poll were conducted concerning the performance of the Fourth Estate, our illustrious press. I suspect that, if it were even possible to conduct such an “independent poll,” our press … Read more