Southco is offering Dzus quarter turn fasteners in plastic, with optional custom color matching. There’s a nice selection of options for both the receptacle and the head style. I had a hard time getting any good output from the online part configurator, but they do include a link to a good ‘ol fashioned datasheet as well. More info here.
The race is on to build low cost rapid prototyping systems! 3D Systems is soon to unveil their V-Flash for $10k, and now California startup Desktop Factory is working on an even less expensive prototyping system, to be priced around $5-7k. The V-Flash has the edge on build size, sporting a 7×9x8 build area versus the 5×5x5 inch build area from Desktop Factory. It’ll be interesting to see a head to head comparison of these two systems once they both hit the market.
Check out this video overview of a compact CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission) from Fallbrook Technologies, based on a concept proposed by Leonardo DaVinci. While this seems brilliant and well suited to bicycle or other low power applications, I am skeptical about the manufacturer’s claims of its potential for use in cars – I question whether it could really handle higher power levels. It’s still a great technology with lots of potential applications though.
You can read more about CVTs here.
(via Coolhunting)
The transmission will be appearing in this cool looking bike from Ellsworth.
Osram has come out with a white LED that provides 1000 lumens of light! That’s brighter than a 50W halogen bulb. It’ll be interesting to see how these LEDs can begin to enter new markets. The device actually packs six small LEDs into a single package to obtain this output. (via Physorg.com)
