Perhaps the first thing to ask oneself when specifying or designing a sheet-metal item is whether a finish is actually needed. If the item is made of stainless steel, it probably will not need a coating to protect it from corrosion, and a brushed, bright, or even mirror finish may be acceptable appearance-wise. Aluminum, brass, […]

Designing anything begins with definition — deciding what it should do. That should go without saying, but sometimes we get so involved with details that we can lose sight of the purpose of a project. A case in point is injection molding; there are so many variables, so many attributes to choose from, and so […]

The scenario is familiar: a designer comes up with an idea for a product — a consumer device, part of a military system, a vehicle, etc. After some refinement, the next step is the detailed design and creation of a prototype. Engineers then generate CAD models for all the parts of the new product and […]