“The future is already here. It's just not evenly distributed yet.”
– William Gibson
1. Mitsubishi Prints Space Antennas
You know, you don’t see too many Mitsubishis on American roads these days. What happened to the Lancer Evolution? What happened to the Eclipse? Well, Mitsubishi Motor’s sister company, Mitsubishi Electric, is picking up the slack, working on a different eclipse – a literal one! OK, maybe not a literal one, but they’re onto bigger things – in space – where they’re 3D printing antennas!
2. CNC Milling PCBs
I honestly had no idea this was a thing. I mean they’re called “printed circuit boards” for a reason, right? I know they’re not 3D printed in the current (zing! Because electricity) sense of the word, but they are printed in multiple sheets or plies, then laminated together, and that’s it, right? I’m asking because I don’t know and was just assuming. If you were making similar assumptions to mine, then you too might find this article interesting!
3. RISE Summons AddUp
AddUp is a cool company. They’re an AM giant conceived through the joint venture between one of the global leaders in the manufacturing technology industry, Fives, and the world’s greatest tire manufacturer, Michelin. If you disagree, send me a set of tires superior to the Pilot Sport 4S, and I’ll consider changing my mind. Oh, AddUp has signed a partnership agreement with the Research Institutes of Sweden (RISE), so who knows, maybe Öhlins will get in on the action too.
4. Stratasys Turns Left
Speaking of partnerships, guess who teamed up with Stratasys? NASCAR! All gas, no brakes, baby! “Stratasys and NASCAR began working together last fall when testing a cooling device for drivers at Charlotte Motor Speedway. It resulted in the windshield air ducts that have been in all cars since the beginning of the season and debuted in the Busch Light Clash at the L.A. Coliseum.” ‘Murica.
5. 3D Print Filament From Plastic Bottles
It’s free perPETual motion! OK, it’s absolutely not perpetual motion, but recycling PET plastic bottles to make the 3D printing filament used to print the device that turns discarded PET plastic bottles into 3D printing filament is, indeed, perpetually meta. Mad circle-of-life vibes.
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