Sooner or later every building contractor has to run pipe or conduit through existing concrete walls. The best way to do it is by boring holes with a coring bit, which looks like an oversize hole saw minus the teeth and pilot bit. In place of the teeth is a smooth or segmented edge studded with tiny industrial diamonds that cut concrete and rebar by means of abrasion.

Most are designed to cut wet so a steady stream of water must be supplied to prevent overheating and carry waste material away in the form of slurry. It takes a powerful machine to drive coring bits through thick concrete so until now coring rigs have always required electrical power.

From a demonstration at The World of Concrete: The core bit is advanced into the concrete by turning the nut on the end of the unit. 

But recent developments in battery and motor technology have led to the development of larger more powerful cordless machines than were available in the past. Among those machines is Metabo's 9-inch cordless angle grinder which as cordless grinders go is exceptionally large and powerful. 

The machine exists in two versions, one powered by a single 36-volt battery and the other powered by two 18-volt packs. Used in conjunction with U.S. Saw's Core EZ System, either is capable of drilling 3- to 10-inch holes in thick concrete—the only limit being the length of the coring bit.

The coring bit slides over a guide shaft that has been temporarily bolted to the concrete.

The gear box is attached to both the coring bit and the grinder used to drive it.

The EZ System consists of a gear box, shaft, and drill attachments that can be connected to a variety of coring bits and certain Metabo angle grinders (corded and cordless). 

The pump sprayer on the right will feed water to the coring bit via the blue hose, with flow controlled by a small valve at the gear box.

Water is supplied to the cut through a quick connect fitting that can be connected to a hose or a pump sprayer.

For remote applications, where neither water no electricity is easily available, it makes sense to use the device with a cordless grinder and pump sprayer. The number of holes one can drill with the setup is limited only by the number of batteries and amount of water one can bring to the work area. Where water and electricity are available it may still make sense to use this setup because it avoids the hassle and tripping hazard posed by electrical cords and hoses.

Bould Design is growing and we are looking for an exceptional designer to join our award winning San Mateo studio on a full-time basis. As a part of our team, you will collaborate on all phases of the design process from conceptualization to production. We offer

It was just last December that Elon Musk, frustrated by being stuck in traffic, tweeted this:

Just four months later, he's made actual progress. Last week he tweeted this:

And now, following a TED Talk, he's released a video showing how the fruits of the Boring Company's machine would yield the following fantastical underground network:

Unsurprisingly, Musk's wild idea has drawn criticism, with Popular Science chiming in on why the system would never work. But that hasn't stopped Musk; he's already used the machine in the photo above to dig a vertical shaft in the SpaceX parking lot in Hawthorne, California, and The Daily Breeze reports that he's now planning to dig a 500-foot-tunnel leading away from it.

Said Musk: "We're going to try to figure out what it takes to improve tunneling speed between 500 and 1,000 percent. So we're just sort of muddling along. We have no idea what we're doing. We're going to get this (tunnel-boring) machine, take it apart (and) figure out how to make it go faster while still being safe and not affecting people on the surface."

As observers have noted, if Musk masters tunneling technology, it could also prove a good fit for his Hyperloop concept.

Faster transportation design has been in the headlines recently, as Elon Musk unveiled his unsurprisingly not-a-joke Boring Company and stoked more Hyperloop fervor. But where this kind of futuristic tech might take another decade-plus to deliver, some plucky startups are seeing money in earlier engineering. As of this March, Boom Technology has landed an additional $33 million to build and test a supersonic jet for the mega wealthy set. Supersonic, a la the retired Concorde and '90s predictions of intercontinental luxury travel. 

Apparently the past innovations in supersonic propulsion haven't been left to languish, and there's more meat on them bones. Boom's key project - creatively named Supersonic - hopes to take the old Concorde's styling and pare it down for faster and smoother use. The company formed in 2014 and unveiled a testable miniature model called the XB-1 (or more affectionately, the "Baby Boom") in early 2016, with hopes and math pitched at delivering a full sized prototype capable of running 2.2 times the speed of sound. That's a whalloping ~2.6 times faster than standard airliners. 

Now that additional funding has been grabbed, the push to produce a viable prototype is on. As it stands, the plane body will be largely carbon fiber, and they've oomphed up (and added more) turbofan engines. The interior design has been lengthened to fit around 50 passengers and luxuriant accommodations.

Much of the heady coverage of the project's early stages talks about the ticket pricing and halved travel time between difficult regions like Australia and Los Angeles, or London and NYC. While it's flatly absurd to float a firm price between $2,000 and $4,000 each way when the first scale prototype hasn't been finished yet, this type of new-old tech is compelling. Enough so that good ol' Richie Branson's The Spaceship Company has signed on to back the R+D and add them to their fleet if they work. 

While spending $5k to get your LDN --> NYC travel time down to 3 hours seems like the epitome of first world nonproblem solving, the larger transportation design question is interesting. We (in the U.S.) are spending a lot of hype and funding on visionary tech that's still solidly out of reach... and will likely stay cost prohibitive for the first several iterations. If the Boom talking points are true - and the Concorde's poor cost effectiveness can be fixed with modern materials recently OK'd by the FAA - maybe we should all be investing in an extra high flying class of super planes makes? The whole thing traps my cranky logic in a hyperloop.

When people say "3D printing" they commonly mean one of two things: FDM printing, which turns a plastic filament into something that can be squirted out of a nozzle; or one of multiple sintering processes, by which a machine uses lasers to fuse parts together out of metal powder. Plastic is not strong but it's affordable. Metal is strong but it's expensive, and the metal powders can reportedly provide a health threat to the operator.

Zack Vader, who was then an 18-year-old student at the University of Buffalo, conceived of a 3D printer that would offer the best of both worlds. Five years later he and his mechanical engineer father have succeeded in creating it. Vader Systems' MK1 Experimental machine can take inexpensive aluminum wire and, using the Vaders' patented MagnetoJet technology, extrude it in liquefied form through a nozzle.

The MK1 Experimental can 3D print at twice the speed of a powder bed machine and offers a shocking 90% reduction in the cost of producing parts. Here Zack and father Scott explain how the machine works, show you what it can do and explain how they pulled it off:

This is no mere concept; the Vaders have won grants to develop the technology, have three advisors from the U. of B., have hired three mechanical engineers and are currently gearing up for production of the MK1 at a factory in nearby Getzville. They have attracted interest from the automotive supply industry, and the U. of B. reports that there are medical applications as well:

Ciprian N. Ionita, PhD, a research assistant professor in the Biomedical Engineering Department — a joint effort of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB — foresees the Vader Systems printer ultimately printing out custom stents and other surgical devices right in the hospital.


"This is a game changer," he said. The metal powder used in the current metal printing processes is a contaminant that is difficult to clean up and can be toxic inside the body.


The Vader printer also will be valuable making custom knee and hip replacements, he said.

The Vaders' plan is to advance the technology so that it can print from copper and bronze wire as well. You can learn more about the machines, which will start rolling off of the assembly line in 2018, here.

Hair dryers currently on the market have absolutely comical shapes and a tangle of wires, so we decided to make our own cool hair dryer. We wanted to show that we could have different geometries and functions with the same mechanism, so we decided to break down the hair dryer we already had and reclaim its functional parts—for example, electric wires, motors, insulation, fan, buttons, switches, and wires that can be seen inside the hair dryer when disassembling.

The original dryer's 1.5M long wire gave visual stress to how the dryer is stored. We decided to put the cradle for this reason so that they could be exposed only when using a dryer to escape from the stress caused by the wires. The cradle has multiple purposes: the wire stays wrapped, the wire is hidden when not in use, and the dryer does not need to be hidden in the cabinet every time it needs to be stored.

The Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA)'s first Women+Design Summit (#IDSAWomenDesign)—focusing on the unique challenges and accomplishments of women in design—will be held on May 12, 2017 in San Diego. All are welcome to attend.

See the schedule and sessions and register online by May 8. Book your hotel room block rate by May 2 at the Renaissance San Diego. A welcome reception, sponsored by PepsiCo, will be held on the evening of May 11 on the hotel's rooftop lounge.

"I'm looking forward to working with women across the Society to elevate our voices in the industry," says Megan Neese, IDSA, of Renault-Nissan Alliance, who—on May 1—becomes the fourth woman to assume the role of chair of IDSA's Board of Director's in the Society's 50+ year history. "My colleagues and collaborators lead IDSA's Women in Design Special Interest Section and a rare, all-female slate of officers is rejuvenating one of IDSA's largest communities—the San Francisco Chapter. Now, we hope to bring discussions about women in design to a national audience at our first Women+Design Summit."

Through speakers, sessions, panel, workshop and a networking lunch—the summit will delve into personal stories, experiences and ever evolving topics:

· Morning keynote Maaike Evers, who has spearheaded an alternative design studio formula in San Francisco, will share how she's guided by her passion and energy for design. The co-founder of Mike and Maaike, Inc. was named among the "Most Creative People in Business" by Fast Company.

· Afternoon keynote Erica Eden, director of global innovation at PepsiCo, will explain why "Women Are Not Robots" as she reveals "A Case for a Human Approach to Innovation."

· Go behind the wheel with Diane Allen of Nissan Design America in "Driving Design: Women in Automotive Design."

· IDSA San Francisco Chapter Chair and IDSA Women in Design Section Vice Chair Ti Chang, IDSA—co-founder of a San Francisco-based company specializing in discreet and luxury sex toys. CRAVE—will take attendees from "Industrial Designer to Entrepreneur."

· Emma Segal of Disrupt Design delivers the "Gender Equity Toolkit" workshop.

· Andrea Small, director of product and portfolio strategy at Herman Miller, shares "Untold Stories" of the women behind some of the most iconic designs of our time.

Rebecca Alvord, IDSA, of GE Appliances and a member of the IDSA Board, takes the helm of the "Inspiring Leadership" workshop. "Prepare to be challenged!" she declares.

A panel of seasoned designers will tackle questions about work-life balance and challenges that have impacted their success in life and design. Join Nancy Perkins, FIDSA, of Perkins Design Ltd., as she hosts "Gender Equity by Design" featuring Pattie Moore, FIDSA, an internationally-renowned designer, gerontologist and authority on consumer lifespan behaviors who was featured by ABC News as one of 50 Americans Defining the New Millennium; former IDSA Board Chair and President Betty Baugh, FIDSA; and Katherine Bennett, IDSA, of Art Center College of Design.

"Together we will dive into the journey of being a woman in design. We will look at how far we've come and how we arrived here, then push forward to see how far we still have to go," says Neese. "Several generations will weigh in as we discuss, debate and attempt to solve real world issues."

Follow the conversation and post photos using #IDSAWomenDesign on Twitter @IDSA; Instagram @IDSAdesign; and Industrial Designers Society of America on Facebook and LinkedIn. Join IDSA's Women in Design LinkedIn group.

In Prometheus, we learned that the alien race of Engineers were a bunch of malevolent jerks who apparently invented both hieroglyphics and P-90X.

But they were also fantastical designers, as evidenced by the interior of their spacecraft.

We thought for sure that was all CG, but it was in fact physically constructed. Now a small army of artisans under Ridley Scott's direciton is recreating the interiors again for Alien: Covenant. H.R. Giger's vision is once again taking shape from dimensional lumber, molded fiberglass panels and foam. Adam Savage got to go behind the scenes and take a look:

We are a packaging designery of thinkers and doers. We build brands and create packaging for some of the best companies around, delivering worthy products to the world at large. We are looking for a Portland based senior level graphic designer to join our team. Our designers turn strategic dreams

This is hilarious: In the UK, a fellow named Tom runs the Friars Inn, a pub in Bridgnorth. He asked his buddy Dave to help him with some design work. Here's what happened:

This perfectly sums up why graphic design will always be easier than industrial design. (Yes it does. Yes it DOES. No you shut up.)

Via Digg

When products/form factors have been around for ages, there's a tendency to think of those objects as "done." But design is never really finished, and we love it when industrial designers can take these long-lived objects and continue evolving them in a useful, non-gimmicky way.

A good case in point is Stanley's new Master Series line of thermoses:

At first blush, it seems they've just given their existing thermoses the cosmetic upgrade that will get them into the MoMA Design Store. But there are actual function improvements here. Part of improving an existing design is pushing the boundaries of manufacturing techniques, part of it is examining the user experience to locate areas of need and part of it is taking risks. Stanley's designers have done all three.

On the materials front, they've worked with their manufacturer to figure out how to beef up the structure by drawing 1mm-thick steel (30%-40% thicker than competitors', Stanley reckons) into the sidewalls. They've also added vacuum sidewalls to the cap, turning it into a proper insulated cup.

On the UX front, they've observed that customers will occasionally forget to empty the thermos after a trip, leaving coffee sloshing around in their for weeks. That coffee comes into contact with the plastic on the bottom of the insert, which then leaches that plasticky taste back into the coffee, a flavor that seems to linger even after the thermos has been washed out. Thus they've capped the bottom of the insert with steel. Steel has also been used to line the entire pour-through portion of the stopper, so that the beverage never comes into contact with plastic at any point.

Also on the UX front, they've reworked the rim of the cup--what they call the "lip landing," you've gotta love industry parlance--into a more rounded, pleasant-to-drink-from profile.

Another nice touch is that they've added silicone to the top of the cap, which of course becomes the bottom of the cup. This will provide a little more purchase whether you're placing it down on a flat rock, the hood of your vehicle or a slick marble countertop.

As for the risk part, the designers made the decision not to include a folding handle on the larger 1.4-quart model, instead going with a beefy, fixed handle that's welded on (and wrapped in silicone for comfort). Folks have gotten used to that folding handle for packability, but the designers reasoned that if someone is pouring 1.4 quarts of hot, heavy liquid, it is better to have the firm control that a fixed handle provides. This prioritizing of one aspect of the UX over another may be divisive to customers, but I admire the designers taking a stand.

We should also mention that the Master Series' performance stats are downright absurd:

Lastly, in this era of flashy 30-second commercials, I dig that Stanley took the time to release a longer video aimed at design geeks where they discuss what changes they made and why:

Obi is a robotic feeding companion developed for the mobility-impaired individuals. Obi blends cutting edge technology, elegant design, intuitive controls, and personality to deliver a fun and dignified dining experience. Sundberg-Ferar worked hand in hand with DES?N, the makers of Obi. SF assisted with early design and development all the way through final product confirmation. In addition, before finalizing this design, Sundberg-Ferar conducted in-home qualitative observational research with the targeted user to create the most ideal user experience.

Modern smartphones have grown in size as users require a larger screen to interact with, which simultaneously compromises a smartphone's portability; the DRAS phone has been designed to address this issue. The design incorporates a flexible screen without a solid frame around it so that it can be folded to

Recently Core77 did a post on Kaare Klint's mid century modern Safari Chair and how it was based on campaign furniture. The post also mentions Christopher Schwarz, who actually wrote a book, "Campaign Furniture," that shows you how to build some designs yourself.

Although this style of furniture, as covered in his book, is from the era of the British Empire, it is almost bizarrely relevant today. That's because our relationship with furniture has changed. Buying furniture in previous generations was about the momentous acknowledgement that you were setting up a household. These days, with a far more informal society, most furniture is just another disposable household commodity.

Another reason campaign furniture—which breaks down quickly, sets up quickly and is relatively lightweight for hauling—is more relevant today is because we move a lot more frequently than we used to, and moving furniture is a pain. Campaign furniture fits well into our transient lifestyles.

Let's say you're finishing college and moving to a tiny apartment in a new city. How useful would a campaign secretary desk, which comes apart into easily moveable sections for transport, and then reassembles into a solid desk, be? It might not be the baronial ship of executive state, but it's exactly the right size for someone who really wants a comfortable place to park their laptop and get stuff done.

I'm not going to repeat what I wrote in the book's product description. But I do want to mention that the projects it contains seem to be at the same skill level as your average Shaker pieces, with the main difference being that the woods are fancier, and hardware is integral to the project.

Chris' book has a lot of interesting historical information and his designs are all reflective of the original construction methods. I'm guessing that eventually Chris or someone else will write another book on campaign furniture using more modern materials but keeping with the same concept of design: Proper furniture for life on the go. This to me is where modern furniture needs to go, and Chris gets full marks and applause on kicking off what I hope will be a revival of this genre.

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This "Tools & Craft" section is provided courtesy of Joel Moskowitz, founder of Tools for Working Wood, the Brooklyn-based catalog retailer of everything from hand tools to Festool; check out their online shop here. Joel also founded Gramercy Tools, the award-winning boutique manufacturer of hand tools made the old-fashioned way: Built to work and built to last.

This year, New York Design Week is more like New York Design Month. With countless exhibitions, parties and presentations to go to throughout the month of May, scheduling can get a bit tricky. Not to mention, if you aren't from the the 'Big Apple', navigating can be a real challenge. 

Our NYCxDesign Map is back to help guide you through the city that never sleeps on your quest to discover great design. Use our map on your phone or your computer to plan your schedule, filter through the events you really want to go to by category and/or location (yes, you can just search for parties) and hopefully have a more pleasant, carefree experience altogether. 

If you know of a killer NYCxDesign event that hasn't made it on our guide, we encourage you to let the world know by submitting it via the submit button at the top left of the map. 

See you at NYCxDesign! And if you're not in NYC this May, be sure to stay up-to-date with our social media accounts, especially Instagram and Twitter—we'll keep you in the loop.

Cleaning out his shop, Jimmy DiResta finds a piece of a stripper pole from an older project. He gets an idea for a pair of fanciful lamps, and along with other scraps lying around and a nearby lighting supply store, is able to whip them up in short order. As usual, he comes up with useful productivity tips on the fly:

Are you a creative designer who has always wanted to make toys and games? Self motivated? Up to speed with Rhino, Solidworks, and the Adobe Suite? If so, Big Monster Toys has a place for you. We started making toys, games, and infant gear in the same

A three-way collaboration has cracked four problems that plague 3D printing: Speed, size, material strength and perhaps most importantly, the need to design for gravity. With a conventional 3D printer, one cannot print cantilevers without support structures. This adds time to the process and adds the step of needing to remove the support structure afterwards. But the new Rapid Liquid Printing machine, developed by MIT's Self-Assembly Lab, Steelcase and Swiss product designer Christophe Guberan, isn't beholden to any of these issues.

That's because the machine doesn't print on a bed in layers, but instead squirts its material into a pool of gel. With the material thus suspended by the gel, the vertically-oriented nozzle can move around in all three axes without needing to layer.

The material itself, which can be rubber, foam or plastic, is a two-part mixture—think epoxy—that is soft enough to be squirted out of the nozzle, but begins curing and hardening immediately. And intriguingly, one can vary the "line weight" of what's being printed, going from thin to thick within the same stroke. Take a look:

"As a designer, what's most fascinating and unique about Rapid Liquid Printing is the line quality of the print," says Yuka Hiyoshi, a senior industrial designer for Steelcase brand Turnstone. "It's soft, almost organic. It evokes images of brushstrokes or the branches of plants.

"The printing speed is very impressive. In the far future, large scale objects could be printed in minutes instead of days. Also, it's not limited to typical 3D printing material making the technology very desirable from a design perspective."

It is ironic that those of us who can most afford to buy sunglasses probably need them the least. Using a pair of Ray-Bans to prevent glare whilst driving one's Porsche towards a sunset is not the same level of need as that experienced by someone toiling in a sunny field all day.

Thus Swiss product designer Christophe Guberan developed an experimental design for sunglasses at a workshop hosted by the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad, India. Guberan chose an inexpensive material and a heat-based production method to create something that does not require lenses. The design is simple enough that its story can be told in three pictures:

Obviously they're not perfect from an ergonomic perspective—there's no telling how comfortable they'd be to wear for hours—but this is a great example of outside-of-the-box thinking and of designing something for real-world production in a resource-scarce context.

The hospital gown is the one object that follows the patient to every single part of the hospital experience. It hasn't been touched in over 100 years since its v1. This is the new standard: Gown 2.0.