Slipshft.com

All of the media outlets have been on the piracy bandwagon for a while now, but is it true. Here is an infographic that shows a different story than the one you are hearing. Makes you wonder if they really think that we won’t notice.

While this is not certainly new news it really is troublesome to me that a factory would have to put up netting to catch people throwing themselves to their death from the factory. The picture is from the Foxconn factory in China after 12 people committed suicide. It would seem that the labor force does not think that they are being treated fairly by Foxconn.

“Apple’s biggest supplier, Taiwan’s Foxconn, has been a subject of scrutiny after at least 12 workers have committed suicide at its plants in China. Three died last year and more than 70 were hurt in blasts at two iPad facilities, one of which was also owned by Foxconn. In response to pressure from Apple and the media, Foxconn more than doubled wages in 2010 for some workers in China and employed counselors.

Apple will now subject itself and its suppliers to the FLA’s membership criteria, including submitting to audits and enforcing a code of conduct based on standards approved by the United Nations’ International Labor Organization.

Taipei-based Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. (2317), Foxconn’s flagship listed unit, gets 22 percent of its revenue from Apple, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Pegatron Corp. (4938) earns 16 percent of sales from the U.S. company.” (Source: Bloomberg)

So now after all this time Apple is going to let the FLA monitor the factories that produce its products? It took peoples deaths for them to relent? I am all for less expensive products, but not at the expense of human life.

I found this info-graphic to be interesting.

Source: http://frugaldad.com

Lost Foam Casting is a process in which a foam pattern is made of what ever object is desired then the part is cast and the foam is burned off in the process. It is a type of investment casting, similar to lost wax casting. Since one of the types of foam used is ABS, I thought I would try lost ABS casting where instead of foam a thin filament of ABS is used. So using a Think-o-Matic 3D printer, which extrudes ABS, I printed up a few things to try casting. My first attempt did not go well, actually the results were dismal. Since I was using greensand and I did not vent the sand well enough, the ABS did not have enough oxygen to achieve combustion properly and the smoking continued. Back to the printer.

My second round of testing I received more of the results that I was looking for. First, I limited the amount of ABS in the print (no more than 5% fill) and I reused the sand that had dried from the first attempt. The first part, an android head, came out with good detail and only minor artifacts.

The android body did not do as well. I did not settle the sand well enough and the result was a compressed casting, something else to watch out for. I will be doing some more testing in the near future to refine my process and see how patterns with thin sections will turn out. Maybe a T.I.E Fighter Advanced will be the test for that.