Splat Day coming up

This Friday, March 10, will be the seventh anniversary of Splat Day, and we will be commemorating it in approximately the usual fashion.  We're still working on menu details, but we've more or less decided it will include sushi (provided I can remember how to get the rice cooked right), pizza, teahouse chicken wings, probably sweet rolls, and chocolate orange cheesecake. 

Space is in somewhat short supply; we're in a rather small 2BR condo at present.  RSVP for directions if you're planning to attend and don't already know how to get here.  For that matter, if you DO know how to get here and are planning to attend, RSVP anyway just so we know how many to expect.

Festivities, such as they are, will probably commence around about 6pm.

Rapid prototyping with metals

Pretty much every geek knows about rapid-prototyping systems using materials such as UV-curing resins.  cymrullewes found a more interesting system this morning.  It operates on the same basic principles, but uses a much higher-powered laser to build up 100% dense metal parts from powdered metals.  The infra-red laser actually fuses, not just sinters, the metal, which can range from low-melting-point alloys and zinc through bronze up to stainless steel, chromium-cobalt alloy, or even titanium.  The system builds up parts in 30μm layers and can create features with as little as 100μm wall thickness, depositing 5cm³ of dense steel per hour, with a surface roughness of 10-30μm.