Tag Archives: prototyping

PLA – poly lactic acid – is a 3d printable polymer that can be made from maize and is biodegradable. Except, it is seldom publicised, that it is only biodegradeable in industrial-scale high temperature processes, and will last of years in the open environment. Now researchers at the Toulouse Biotechnology Institute have engineered a designer enzyme – hyperthermostable PLA hydrolase ...

Prusa has introduced its first industrial 3D printer, which includes a 90°C heated chamber and a 500°C print head for handling engineering polymers including PEEK and PEI, while still printing PLA for prototyping. Called ‘Pro HT90’, it has a vertical cylinder build volume, 300mm in diameter and 400mm tall. “HT90 supports a wide range of materials, from PLA to Ultem ...

Farnell is to stock a range of 3D printing filamants under its Multicomp Pro brand, aiming at “design engineers, creators and hobbyists”, it said. “As interest and demand in 3D printing continues to grow, we are happy to provide our customers with a diversified line-up of 3D printer filaments that are designed to meet the quality standards engineers require,” added ...

Renesas has introduced a prototyping board for its 48MHz Arm Cortex-M23 based R7FA2E1A93CFM microcontroller. The board, called RA2E1 Fast Prototyping Board, “features a built-in emulator circuit equivalent to an E2 emulator Lite allowing users to write and debug programs without requiring any additional tools,” according to distributor Anglia, which is stocking the boards. It also has Arduino Uno and Pmod ...

BCN3D of Barcelona has added metal printing to its line of 3D printers. Called the Metal Pack, it is aimed at the company’s Epsilon Series 3D printers (right). “This upgrade opens up a new range of applications, especially for spare parts, functional prototyping and tooling, and is mainly aimed at the pharmaceutical, food, automotive, aerospace and manufacturing sectors,” according to ...

Prusa has announced a 3D printer with a 180 x 180 x 180mm build volume. The firm, based in Prague, has walked-the-walk for several years, using 500 of its own filament deposition printers in a farm that prints the structural plastic parts of those same printers – of which it has shipped ~130,000. As such, the larger existing design, called ...

Enclustra's Mercury+ XU9 module, is built around the Zynq UltraScale+ devices

For software development without final silicon, Cadence has launched FPGA-based hardware that can simulate SoCs with up to a billion gates. Called Protium X1, it is intended for debugging software intended to run on SoCs that have yet to be fabbed – for AI, 5G mobile and graphics processors, for example. It can run a 1bn gate design at around 5MHz, ...

Need a multi-coloured prototype with complex curves? A new form of thermoforming is the answer, according to Swiss University ETH. In thermoforming, a plastic sheet is warmed to near melting point and sucked onto a mould – it is the technique used to make yoghurt pots. “The new method is a clever combination of established thermoforming and software which allows even ambitious amateurs ...

Mouser is shipping the Curiosity Development Board from Microchip – an 8-bit development platform for first-time users and designers and also as a rapid prototyping board. It has an integrated programmer/debugger and requires no additional hardware to get started. The Curiosity board uses Microchip’s MPLAB X integrated development environment (IDE) and comes with several options for the user interface, including physical switches, ...