GoEngineer Blog

The Canadian defence manufacturing landscape reached a pivotal turning point with the announcement of a $2 billion contract awarded to General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada (GDLS-Canada). This award expands the Armoured Combat Support Vehicle (ACSV) platform by 190 units, along with an additional 35 units designated for international assistance, bringing the total production run to 550 vehicles built on the LAV 6.0 chassis.

If you've been following GoEngineer's partnership with Bright Laser Technologies, you already know what BLT's machines can print: the titanium hinge inside OPPO's Find N5 foldable phone, the metal O-rings BLT produces under an Airbus A320 production contract, the record-setting BYD Yangwang U9X, whose chassis relies on BLT printers for a structure that's both lighter and stiffer than conventional casting could produce. These aren't prototypes. They're production parts, used at scale, today. And behind it all is Dr. Xue Lei (“Leo”), Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Bright Laser Technologies.

In the automotive industry, tight timelines and high throughput are ever-present facts of life. Nowhere is this truer than Tesla's Gigafactory Nevada facility, where a small team of technicians is responsible for delivering thousands of fast-turn SLS parts each week. Here's how Tesla leverages the Formlabs Fuse X1 to churn out production parts on time, every time.

In modern education, the makerspace has evolved from a luxury to a critical component of the engineering and technical curriculum. A well-designed makerspace provides students with the tactile experience necessary to bridge the gap between theoretical physics and real-world application. However, building the perfect lab is not a one-size-fits-all endeavor. It requires a strategic alignment of hardware, software, and support that scales with the institution's goals and the complexity of the curriculum.

The reality of modern industry is stark. Leading companies do not leverage personal desktop systems on their production floors. Employers in high-value sectors like aerospace, defense, and automotive aren’t just looking for graduates who can print plastic trinkets; they are hunting for candidates who understand material performance data, process controls, and quality systems.

I recently designed this Han's Halo Dual Monitor Riser to complement my home workstation setup. But how am I ever going to print this on my small 3D printer? In this blog, I'll detail the process I used to split large models into smaller chunks. This design is over 30 in in length, which certainly can't be printed inside my printer's usable volume of ~ 10" x 10" x 10". But with a little bit of planning, I'm sure I can get there.

RAPID isn't just the biggest additive manufacturing event in North America; it's where manufacturers unveil their latest innovations to the world. As exhibitors at the heart of the event, the GoEngineer team spent the week digging into the latest hardware and software advancements poised to deliver immense value to our customers.  

For decades, the standard engineering response to complexity was "break it down." If a component was too intricate to machine or cast, we split it into sub-assemblies. We added fasteners, gaskets, and weldments. We created sprawling Bills of Materials (BOMs) and accepted the "assembly tax", the inevitable accumulation of labor costs, inventory overhead, and potential failure points. In 2026, that math has changed. As metal additive manufacturing (AM) moves from the prototyping lab to mainline production, the most significant ROI isn't found in making parts faster, it’s found in making fewer of them.

Metal 3D printing has streamlined the process, removing the need for tedious, manual brazing. But the very property that makes copper desirable - its high thermal conductivity- adds its own unique challenges, as heat quickly dissipates away from the laser powder bed fusion melt pool, often leading to instability and significant residual stress. BLT (Bright Laser Technologies) addresses these hurdles with its "Full-System Engineering" approach, integrating design, materials, and machinery to produce copper thrust chambers nearly a meter in height.