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What's a SLIC Pin^®? Pin and cotter all in one!

The SLIC Pin (Self-Locking Implanted Cotter Pin) from Pivot Point is a pin and cotter all in one. This one-piece locking clevis pin is cost saving, fast, and secure. It functions as a quick locking pin wherever you need a fast-lock function. It features a spring-loaded plunger that functions as an easy insertion ramp. This revolutionary fastening pin is very popular and used successfully in a wide range of applications.
Learn more.

Engineering challenge: Which 3D-printed parts will fade?

How does prolonged exposure to intense UV light impact 3D-printed plastics? Will they fade? This is what Xometry's Director of Application Engineering, Greg Paulsen, set to find out. In this video, Paulsen performs comprehensive tests on samples manufactured using various additive processes, including FDM, SLS, SLA, PolyJet, DLS, and LSPc, to determine their UV resistance. Very informative. Some results may surprise you.
View the video.

Copper filament for 3D printing

Virtual Foundry, the company that brought us 3D-printable lunar regolith simulant, says its popular Copper Filamet™ (not a typo) is "back in stock and ready for your next project." This material is compatible with any open-architecture FDM/FFF 3D printer. After sintering, final parts are 100% pure copper. Also available as pellets. The company says this is one of the easiest materials to print and sinter. New Porcelain Filamet™ available too.
Learn more and get all the specs.

Copper foam -- so many advantages

Copper foam from Goodfellow combines the outstanding thermal conductivity of copper with the structural benefits of a metal foam. These features are of particular interest to design engineers working in the fields of medical products and devices, defense systems and manned flight, power generation, and the manufacture of semiconductor devices. This product has a true skeletal structure with no voids, inclusions, or entrapments. A perennial favorite of Designfax readers.
Learn more.

Full-color 3D-printing Design Guide from Xometry

With Xometry's PolyJet 3D-printing service, you can order full-color 3D prints easily. Their no-cost design guide will help you learn about different aspects of 3D printing colorful parts, how to create and add color to your models, and best practices to keep in mind when printing in full color. Learn how to take full advantage of the 600,000 unique colors available in this flexible additive process.
Get the Xometry guide.

Tech Tip: How to create high-quality STL files for 3D prints

Have you ever 3D printed a part that had flat spots or faceted surfaces where smooth curves were supposed to be? You are not alone, and it's not your 3D printer's fault. According to Markforged, the culprit is likely a lack of resolution in the STL file used to create the part.
Read this detailed and informative Markforged blog.

Test your knowledge: High-temp adhesives

Put your knowledge to the test by trying to answer these key questions on how to choose the right high-temperature-resistant adhesive. The technical experts from Master Bond cover critical information necessary for the selection process, including questions on glass transition temperature and service temperature range. Some of the answers may surprise even the savviest of engineers.
Take the quiz.

Engineer's Toolbox: How to pin a shaft and hub assembly properly

One of the primary benefits of using a coiled spring pin to affix a hub or gear to a shaft is the coiled pin's ability to prevent hole damage. Another is the coiled pin absorbs wider hole tolerances than any other press-fit pin. This translates to lower total manufacturing costs of the assembly. However, there are a few design guidelines that must be adhered to in order to achieve the maximum strength of the pinned system and prevent damage to the assembly.
Read this very informative SPIROL article.

What's new in Creo Parametric 11.0?

Creo Parametric 11.0 is packed with productivity-enhancing updates, and sometimes the smallest changes make the biggest impact in your daily workflows. Mark Potrzebowski, Technical Training Engineer, Rand 3D, runs through the newest functionality -- from improved surface modeling tools to smarter file management and model tree navigation. Videos provide extra instruction.
Read the full article.

What's so special about wave springs?

Don't settle for ordinary springs. Opt for Rotor Clip wave springs. A wave spring is a type of flat wire compression spring characterized by its unique waveform-like structure. Unlike traditional coil springs, wave springs offer an innovative solution to complex engineering challenges, producing forces from bending, not torsion. Their standout feature lies in their ability to compress and expand efficiently while occupying up to 50% less axial space than traditional compression springs. Experience the difference Rotor Clip wave springs can make in your applications today!
View the video.

New Standard Parts Handbook from JW Winco

JW Winco's printed Standard Parts Handbook is a comprehensive 2,184-page reference that supports designers and engineers with the largest selection of standard parts categorized into three main groups: operating, clamping, and machine parts. More than 75,000 standard parts can be found in this valuable resource, including toggle clamps, shaft collars, concealed multiple-joint hinges, and hygienically designed components.
Get your Standard Parts Handbook today.

Looking to save space in your designs?

Watch Smalley's quick explainer video to see how engineer Frank improved his product designs by switching from traditional coil springs to compact, efficient wave springs. Tasked with making his products smaller while keeping costs down, Frank found wave springs were the perfect solution.
View the video.

Top die casting design tips

You can improve the design and cost of your die cast parts with these top tips from Xometry's Joel Schadegg. Topics include: Fillets and Radii, Wall Thicknesses, Ribs and Metal Savers, Holes and Windows, Parting Lines, and more. Follow these recommendations so you have the highest chance of success with your project.
Read the full Xometry article.

What's the latest from 3D Systems? Innovations for different industries, processes

3D Systems unveiled several new solutions at the RAPID+TCT 2025 show in April designed to change the way industries innovate. From new 3D printers and materials for high-mix, low-volume applications to marked improvements in how investment casting can be done, learn what is the state of the art from the original inventors of 3D printing.
Read the full article.

Clever! Indexing plungers with chamfered pins

JW Winco has developed a new type of indexing plunger -- GN 824 -- that can independently latch into edges and grooves. This is made possible by a chamfered plunger pin. When the chamfered pin encounters a raised latching geometry, it retracts and then springs back out again once it reaches the latching point. This new indexing plunger can be ordered with axial thread for fastening and a black plastic knob for operating the indexing plunger. In a clever design, the plunger pin can be adjusted by 360 degrees to ensure that it encounters the mating surface perpendicularly. This hardware is well suited for transport frames, mechanisms, or covers that need to be locked in place quickly and securely, especially without the need for manual intervention.
Learn more.

Charging lithium-ion cells at different rates boosts the lifetimes of battery packs for electric vehicles, Stanford study finds

The secret to long life for rechargeable batteries may lie in an embrace of difference. New modeling of how lithium-ion cells in a pack degrade show a way to tailor charging to each cell's capacity so EV batteries can handle more charge cycles and stave off failure.

By Adam Hadhazy, Stanford University

Stanford University researchers have devised a new way to make lithium-ion battery packs last longer and suffer less deterioration from fast charging.

The research, published Nov. 5, 2022, in IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology, shows how actively managing the amount of electrical current flowing to each cell in a pack, rather than delivering charge uniformly, can minimize wear and tear. The approach effectively allows each cell to live its best -- and longest -- life.

According to Stanford professor and senior study author Simona Onori, initial simulations suggest batteries managed with the new technology could handle at least 20% more charge-discharge cycles, even with frequent fast charging, which puts extra strain on the battery.

Most previous efforts to prolong electric car battery life have focused on improving the design, materials, and manufacturing of single cells, based on the premise that, like links in a chain, a battery pack is only as good as its weakest cell. The new study begins with an understanding that while weak links are inevitable -- because of manufacturing imperfections and because some cells degrade faster than others as they're exposed to stresses like heat -- they needn't bring down the whole pack. The key is to tailor charging rates to the unique capacity of each cell to stave off failure.

"If not properly tackled, cell-to-cell heterogeneities can compromise the longevity, health, and safety of a battery pack and induce an early battery pack malfunction," said Onori, who is an assistant professor of energy science engineering at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability. "Our approach equalizes the energy in each cell in the pack, bringing all cells to the final targeted state of charge in a balanced manner and improving the longevity of the pack."

Inspired to build a million-mile battery
Part of the impetus for the new research traces back to a 2020 announcement by Tesla, the electric car company, of work on a "million-mile battery." This would be a battery capable of powering a car for 1 million miles or more (with regular charging) before reaching the point where, like the lithium-ion battery in an old phone or laptop, the EV's battery holds too little charge to be functional.

Such a battery would exceed automakers' typical warranty for electric vehicle batteries of eight years or 100,000 miles. Though battery packs routinely outlast their warranty, consumer confidence in electric vehicles could be bolstered if expensive battery pack replacements became rarer still. A battery that can still hold a charge after thousands of recharges could also ease the way for electrification of long-haul trucks, and for adoption of so-called vehicle-to-grid systems, in which EV batteries would store and dispatch renewable energy for the power grid.

"It was later explained that the million-mile battery concept was not really a new chemistry, but just a way to operate the battery by not making it use the full charge range," Onori said. Related research has centered on single lithium-ion cells, which generally don't lose charge capacity as quickly as full battery packs do.

Intrigued, Onori and two researchers in her lab -- postdoctoral scholar Vahid Azimi and PhD student Anirudh Allam -- decided to investigate how inventive management of existing battery types could improve performance and service life of a full battery pack, which may contain hundreds or thousands of cells.

A high-fidelity battery model
As a first step, the researchers crafted a high-fidelity computer model of battery behavior that accurately represented the physical and chemical changes that take place inside a battery during its operational life. Some of these changes unfold in a matter of seconds or minutes -- others over months or even years.

"To the best of our knowledge, no previous study has used the kind of high-fidelity, multi-timescale battery model we created," said Onori, who is director of the Stanford Energy Control Lab.

Running simulations with the model suggested that a modern battery pack can be optimized and controlled by embracing differences among its constituent cells. Onori and colleagues envision their model being used to guide development of battery management systems in the coming years that can be easily deployed in existing vehicle designs.

It is not just electric vehicles that stand to benefit. Virtually any application that "stresses the battery pack a lot" could be a good candidate for better management informed by the new results, Onori said. One example? Drone-like aircraft with electric vertical takeoff and landing, sometimes called eVTOL, which some entrepreneurs expect to operate as air taxis and provide other urban air mobility services over the next decade. Still, other applications for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries beckon, including general aviation and large-scale storage of renewable energy.

"Lithium-ion batteries have already changed the world in so many ways," Onori said. "It's important that we get as much as we possibly can out of this transformative technology and its successors to come."

Published February 2023

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