In the Pharmaceutical industry more and more drugs never make it out of the lab to reach the patients that need treatment. Costs are not only high to the companies that have placed big R&D bets to develop novel drugs, but also to the patients who cannot be helped and the insurance companies who must…
In recent years there’s been a lot of talk about STEM education. STEM comprises Science – Technology – Engineering – Math and sometimes is called STEAM when Art is added into the mix in order to include the design component. STEM education is important because more and more studies demonstrate that in the next industrial…
2015 has yet again proven to be a great year at Potomac! We continually strive to be on the cutting edge [pun intended!] of digital fabrication by utilizing the latest tools for laser micromachining, 3D printing, CNC machining, laser marking and other manufacturing processes. But we go beyond just buying the best new machines. Here’s…
Laser micromachining at very small spatial scales demands special attention to precision. Anyone who has ever tried to assemble DIY furniture where holes were slightly off from part to part knows the frustration part variation can cause even for simple home projects. As you can imagine, precision takes on new meaning when drilling holes that…
The horrors in the news that come to us from around the globe each day challenge us to remember the many things for which the USA is thankful. We do not live in a perfect place but Americans strive to create a better world on many fronts. Technology is an area in which we excel…
At Potomac innovation is not just another buzzword. Everyone, from our engineers to the operators on the shop floor, is continually looking for new ways to push the limits of standard laser micromachining technology. Almost perfectly smooth parts have been one of the manufacturing technology quests Potomac has successfully conquered through in-house manufacturing process innovation….
When we need to make very small holes, cuts, lines and features laser micromachining is usually the best choice in our digital fabrication toolbox. Lasers that emit light in the ultraviolet region of the spectrum are especially useful in biotech and medical device applications since they can create features as small as 1 micron –…
All material processing starts, of course, with the material. Laser micromachining is a good option for manufacturing parts since materials absorb light resulting in a physical transformation of the material’s structure. Whether it’s a thermal process as with infrared lasers or the ultraviolet lasers’ photo-ablative mechanism, laser light can drill holes, cut, weld, and mark…
At Potomac we like to say that despite the mainstream media hype, 3D Printing is not yet the Star Trek replicator. The same is true for all the technologies we use to make products for our customers. From prototype to production, manufacturing tools are seldom a one-stop solution to making anything and are often used…
In recent years Potomac has added 3D Printing to our Digital Fabrication toolkit, integrating the additive manufacturing process with laser micromachining, micro CNC machining and other technologies to solve complex manufacturing problems. We’re pushing the envelope of 3D printing limitations especially in the medical device and biotech fields. But sometimes it’s the simplest of applications…
Laser marking Creates Remembrance for Marine Corp Veteran Potomac has had a long history working with U.S. government agencies over the years. Our first R&D funding came from the Small Business Innovation Research program that supported our UV laser and Laser micromachining development with grants from DARPA, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the…
How we helped Fab Lab Baltimore and in the process gained valuable workforce development. Potomac’s move to the UMBC campus has reaped a number of benefits for Potomac, one of which was most unexpected. The new facility is located about a mile from the Community College of Baltimore County [CCBC] where Fab Lab Baltimore [FLB]…
