Founded by Max Farndale 1947 - 2018
Back in March 2016 Slash gear ran this item about Autodesk's Project Escher printer. This new 3D printer from Autodesk wants to revolutionize 3D printing technology by allowing users to print larger items. Project Escher is an assembly line of 3D printers with a smart setup controller that is able to control an endless number of print heads to create larger items. Rather than having a single printer working on one large project, Project Escher has multiple print heads each working on one section of an object.
By having multiple heads working on a large project, the item can be completed more quickly. “By intelligently distributing toolpaths between multiple collaborating machines, systems enabled by Project Escher can manufacture parts faster than traditional 3D printers,” say the developers. “Project Escher is a parallel processing system where numerous independent tools collaborate to fabricate a design. It’s faster because whatever the job is, there are more workers on that job. And there is no compromise to detail because we’re using proven existing technology.”
Each of the independent printers has interchangeable tool heads. The company hopes to make the tool head changing automatic, along the lines of how a CNC machine works. The team of designers also hopes to create Pick-and-Place tools that would put pre-made components into an object during the printing.
Autodesk also expects to integrate other technologies into the printer including laser cutting. One key bit of information that is outstanding right now is when Project Escher will hit the market. Developers of Project Escher are looking at a 2017 or 2018 launch. The faster multi-head printer would be able to complete a larger piece for inspection the same day.
As exciting as the technology is, the industry has been waiting for signs that Project Escher would actually be available to the public. At CES this year, the wait was put to an end as Colorado-based start-up Titan Robotics showed off Cronus, the first commercially available 3D printer relying on Project Escher technology.
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You don’t get much closer to the spirit of engineering than in the beginnings of waterjet cutting.
“I got started years ago, in about ’71,” said Dr. John Olsen, one of the originators of waterjet technology and currently VP of operations at Omax Abrasive Waterjets. “I had been reading about some experiments done on rock cutting in England and a friend of mine and I thought it would be fun to try and build a pump and cut something. That was a kind of back-alley operation; it was in my garage and his garage.” Dr. John Olsen is pictured above holding a tilting head waterjet with two linear actuators.
It might sound like many of the stories you hear about start-ups in Silicon Valley today, but the connections between waterjet and computing technologies run deeper than that, as Dr. Olsen explained:
“Oddly enough, one of the biggest changes that made abrasivejets practical was the advent of the PC. A jet is not a very rigid tool—it bends all over the place and makes taper and what-have-you. To make precision parts, you need quite a bit of computing power to predict what the shape of the jet will be so that you can compensate for it. At the time, we were told ‘Nobody will ever accept a PC on the factory floor. Doesn’t that sound funny today?”
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Atlas Copco (IW 1000/325), the world’s largest maker of industrial compressors, plans to split into two listed companies in a move that will see the departure of its longstanding Chief Executive Officer Ronnie Leten and could spark takeover interest.
A newly created company with sales of about 28 billion kronor (US$3.1 billion) will focus on mining and construction tools, and will be spun off to shareholders in a tax-free distribution, the Stockholm-based company said in a statement Monday. Under the plan to be put to shareholders next year, Atlas Copco will retain the compressor and vacuum businesses that have revenue of 74 billion kronor in the year through last Sept. 30.
“The new company is a business that a large player like Caterpillar or Komatsu might be interested in buying,” Swedbank analyst Anders Roslund said by phone. “I don’t think that’s imminent, but it’s an interesting and well-run business.” > > > Continue to full article
Shawn Wasserman who is the author of this e-book is the simulation editor at ENGINEERING.com. Computer-aided engineering applications (CAE apps) help analysts offload expertise and reparative work to non-experts.
These tools come in various types, from templates to stand-alone apps and job-specific CAE tools.
In this 16 page e-book you will learn about:
| Continue here to download the e-book |
Engineers take home an average of nearly $100,000 a year and their salaries are growing strongly, according to the annual IPENZ Remuneration Survey.
Engineers’ median base salary grew by 6.3 per cent in the year to October 2016. According to Statistics New Zealand, average wage inflation in the year to June 2016 was 1.5 per cent.
Engineers’ median base salary is $92,500, with another $5500 on top of that in bonus or other payments.
The survey reveals that in the very first year of their career, engineers earn an average of $55,000 plus another $2000 in cash benefits.
Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand Chief Executive Susan Freeman-Greene says engineers’ strong salary growth reflects demand for all types of engineers in every part of New Zealand.
“New Zealand desperately needs more engineers. With huge growth and expanding range of opportunities, it’s an exciting time to be an engineer.
“Engineering affects all New Zealanders. As well as being financially rewarding, an engineering career means you can make a positive, tangible difference to our society.
“Engineers are driven by the desire to make the world better. Engineering is at the heart of every major technological and societal breakthrough – from smart phones to greener transport to robotic surgery. Engineering is all about making our lives better, easier and healthier.
“We’re also seeing enormous growth at the intersection of engineering with big data. The ‘internet of things’ connects objects and devices and will radically change how we work and live.”
More than 3200 IPENZ members completed the IPENZ 2016 Remuneration Survey, which was sponsored by RobLawMax Recruitment.
Just over 65 per cent of engineers surveyed also received non-cash benefits. The most common benefit was health insurance (32 per cent), followed by a car park (19 per cent ) and a car (18 per cent).
According to the survey, more engineers live in Auckland than anywhere else, with 38 per cent based there. Canterbury is the next biggest engineering centre, with nearly twice as many engineers as Wellington.
| A releasefrom IPENZ | January 18, 2017 |
Vacuum and electronics giant Dyson is expanding its pool of software engineers, with the "majority" of its recruits set to work in the UK.
The company is on the hunt for 110 new staff as part of plans to hire an additional 3,000 engineers globally by 2021.
A Dyson spokesman confirmed the "majority" of the 110 positions will be based in Britain at its Malmesbury campus in Wiltshire and the Dyson software hub in Bristol.
Others will be recruited to Dyson's operations in Singapore, the spokesman said.
To help in its hiring spree, the company is launching a "pop-up" in London where participants will have to solve "cryptic software-based challenges" in teams to help test applicants' problem-solving skills.
The top challengers will then be offered job interviews with Dyson.
It follows an announcement from billionaire inventor Sir James Dyson last November when he outlined plans to launch a new university to help bridge Britain's chronic skills gap.
Sir James is expected to pour £15 million into the Dyson Institute of Technology - which will be based at Dyson's campus in Wiltshire - as he looks to double his engineering workforce to 6,000 over the next five years.
It will take its first 25 students in September 2017.
He told the Press Association in November that the private sector had a duty to help plug the engineering skills gap because the UK needed 10 times as many engineers as it did 10 years ago.
Sir James said that the idea of launching the university came after he visited the Government to "moan about the lack of engineers". He was advised to take matters into his own hands.
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January 2017 Edition
Palace of the Alhambra, Spain
By: Charles Nathaniel Worsley (1862-1923)
From the collection of Sir Heaton Rhodes
Oil on canvas - 118cm x 162cm
Valued $12,000 - $18,000
Offers invited over $9,000
Contact: Henry Newrick – (+64 ) 27 471 2242
Mount Egmont with Lake
By: John Philemon Backhouse (1845-1908)
Oil on Sea Shell - 13cm x 14cm
Valued $2,000-$3,000
Offers invited over $1,500
Contact: Henry Newrick – (+64 ) 27 471 2242
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