Five things to ask before 3D printing, molding, or machining
3D printing is a great technology – in fact, when I talk with children, they don’t realize that not everything is 3D printed, in fact, little in the average person’s life is. Subtractive manufacturing and injection molding are still the dominant players in mass...
Will Your GPS Work After April 6?
Technology often lasts longer than it’s designers imagined, generally long enough that at least one design decision made in an early stage eventually rises up and threatens the ecosystem. The GPS system is about to encounter such an event – the counter rollover...
Level Up Your 80/20 Frames
We love 80/20 T-slot rail. It’s a quick way to make frames and supports for instruments, experimental gear, and even some strong storage fixtures. One of the common issues when making a frame with 80/20 is that it needs to be installed on an un-level concrete floor,...
How to use your hail ruler
Recently we’ve been hit by several hail storms in the Colorado front range – after digging around for a ruler after one storm, John pulled out his Digikey PCB Ruler and posted some hail photos on Facebook and Twitter. Folks really reacted to the photos,...
5 Ways to Improve Your Mechanical Drawings
We love helping our customers create physical products from their concepts, ideas, and visions. Sometimes all you’ve got is a drawing on the back of a napkin and no time to learn a complex 3D CAD system – no problem! We can take anything from your sketch...
New Laser Cutting Services
We’re happy to announce that we have added laser cutting and engraving to our portfolio of in-house services! What can it do? Our laser can cut or engrave most any organic material, as well as mark many metals and other materials. This opens up a whole new set...
A few tools go a long way
Every lab is different, but having a few basic tools can help any group troubleshoot and maintain their equipment. It doesn’t need to be expensive either! This month I’ll share a few of my favorite budget friendly tools that no lab should be without....
Gerry had a problem
Gerry is a graduate student at the University of Oklahoma. As part of his work he needed to take measurements of the magnetic field locked inside of core samples at liquid nitrogen temperatures. There was one problem: his instrument had no way to contain the liquid...