#282 – 3D Product Logistics

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• Dave will be on another podcast called Space Worlders.
• While planning to fix his Aircon, Chris wonders why Dave doesn’t buy a ladder on Amazon. Prime (or any simplified logistical setup) influences decisions about purchases. 
• Dave has become a product marketer/definer. He has a new secret project coming out soon. Some companies are more secretive than others. 
• Dave got a 3D model of his new product, which is important for showing off to people inside and outside your company.
• Quality goes through cycles…China/Japan/Taiwan/Korea all started simple and have progressed to high quality goods.
• Chris traded in his mill for a 3D printer. It is a Wilson II 3d printer, a reprap variant designed by his friend Marty.
• David2 built a super high end 3D printer for his senior project and won contests with it. 
• The unwritten part of 3D printing is needing to get better at 3D modeling software.
• Dave uses the simple eMachineshop as it fits how he thinks about mechanical assemblies. 
• CadJunkie (run by Adam who was also on Engineer v Designer) is a program for learning about how to model stuff in 3D.
• Chris uses Sketchup, which can get you somewhat far. He is also investigating AutoDesk Fusion 360.
• Dave asks Chris whether he is giving away all of his content. Not yet!
• David Bowie (RIP) wrote about the future of the music industry in the NYTimes…in 2002. He was spot on.
• One of the main ways to still make money is on tour. Adam and Jamie of Mythbusters tour around the world, including Australia (which Dave missed).
• Chris had a list of life goals that he was reviewing at the beginning of the year. Dave has never had a list. What should Dave do?
• Michael who was recently on Embedded.fm talked all about FIRST Robotics.
• The introductory FIRST video this year is based on Monty Python and the holy grail.
• Former guest Fran has started a kickstarter for her reboot of the peachfuzz pedal. A couple days left!
• Zano went bust to the tune of 2.3M pounds. Kickstarter is doing an investigation. 
• Chris quoted Hans Gruber from Die Hard with regard to flopped crowdfunding campaings. We learned today (the day after the recording) that Alan Rickman sadly passed away.
• A new article indicates that Atmel’s board prefers Microchip buy them. Dave loves saying “fiduciary responsibility”. 
• Brian Benchoff tried to prank Chris with “something ominous from his past”. It turned out to be a t-shirt of his lame band.
• Future product designers will be tempted by low cost platforms like the Pi Zero ($5). Dave and Chris went over why it would be a bad idea to think this is a long term plan (ie. a product vs a prototype).
  • Form Factor — It’s not optimized for your design.
  • Stock — Recall when Octopart started their BBB tracker because it was so hard to get them.
  • Price — If they got good pricing on a chip, you probably can as well.
• Looking for a fun way to ride for 20 minutes and/or get chopped up by blades while riding to work? Check out the Ehang 184!
• Dave didn’t know that LaVar Burton was the host of Reading Rainbow, which recently relaunched.