How Will Digital Fabrication Affect The Machines of The Future?

Will there ever be a time when machines can heal themselves? Heal may be the wrong word, but there may be a point where digital fabrication could help machines of the future fabricate their own parts.

Yesterday I was watching an extended PandoMonthly interview with Mark Suster of Upfront Ventures and the Both Sides of The Table blog. Mark is a well known venture capitalist who mainly invests in technology companies.  

 

Read more

4 Resources You Can Use to Find Specialty Metals Online

Finding specialty metals locally can be a difficult task, no matter where you live. You can go to your local hardware store, but chances are they only stock small sections of limited gauges and alloys of metal sheets. So you try the local metal distributor, only to find they are far from receptive when it comes to small quantities of steel sheets or structural metal. So where do you go when you only need a small lot of steel or sheet metal for a minor project?

Here are four online metals sites you can use to find specialty metals for your small project.

Read more

3 Mistakes I Made and You Can Learn From as a Small Business Owner

Have you made mistakes as a small business owner? I know we have and in the early days I'm not sure we even recognized what those mistakes actually were. Over the last few years however, after seeing our business from new perspectives, my father and I have started to recognize and learn from our previous mistakes.

Here are three of our biggest.

Read more

5 Venting Issues When Installing Your New Built in Microwave

Are you installing a new built in microwave for the first time? Before you rip the box open, take a minute to make sure you have checked out the area where you will be installing the microwave first. Over the years I have helped many customers who have entered the fabrication shop looking for duct fittings needed to vent their brand new microwave oven.

Here are five of the most common venting issues they have conveyed to me.

 

Read more

How to Assemble a Pittsburgh Seam for Sheet Metal Plenums

Have you gone to your local HVAC supply house to buy a plenum with a Pittsburgh seam that was not assembled? If you are an HVAC professional or do-it-yourselfer, more than likely you have. The purpose of this short tutorial is to show how to assemble a Pittsburgh seam in a few simple steps, with a couple simple tools.

Read more

Old School Custom Trunk Duct Fabrication

Currently I am fabricating some custom transitions to marry a new heat pump system to this existing trunk duct. The customer emailed these this morning to give me an overview of what I would be hooking the new duct transitions up to. Always helpful when a customer is willing to take the time and snap a few shots of what the job looks like.

Read more