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104-407: Small form factor ( abbreviated : SFF ) is a term used for desktop computers and for some of their components, chassis and motherboard , to indicate that they are designed in accordance with one of several standardized form factors intended to minimize the volume and footprint of a desktop computer compared to the standard ATX form factor. For comparison purposes, the size of an SFF case

208-416: A CAD model or a digital 3D model . It can be done in a variety of processes in which material is deposited, joined or solidified under computer control , with the material being added together (such as plastics, liquids or powder grains being fused), typically layer by layer. In the 1980s, 3D printing techniques were considered suitable only for the production of functional or aesthetic prototypes, and

312-417: A manufacturing process . Other terms that have been used as synonyms or hypernyms have included desktop manufacturing , rapid manufacturing (as the logical production-level successor to rapid prototyping ), and on-demand manufacturing (which echoes on-demand printing in the 2D sense of printing ). The fact that the application of the adjectives rapid and on-demand to the noun manufacturing

416-552: A 25% weight reduction, and reduced assembly times. A fuel nozzle is the perfect inroad for additive manufacturing in a jet engine since it allows for optimized design of the complex internals and it is a low-stress, non-rotating part. Similarly, in 2015, PW delivered their first AM parts in the PurePower PW1500G to Bombardier. Sticking to low-stress, non-rotating parts, PW selected the compressor stators and synch ring brackets to roll out this new manufacturing technology for

520-494: A 3D service provider specializing in Howtek single nozzle inkjet and SDI printer support. James K. McMahon worked with Steven Zoltan, 1972 drop-on-demand inkjet inventor, at Exxon and has a patent in 1978 that expanded the understanding of the single nozzle design inkjets (Alpha jets) and helped perfect the Howtek, Inc hot-melt inkjets. This Howtek hot-melt thermoplastic technology is popular with metal investment casting, especially in

624-717: A British patient named Steve Verze received the world's first fully 3D-printed prosthetic eye from the Moorfields Eye Hospital in London . In April 2024, the world's largest 3D printer, the Factory of the Future 1.0 was revealed at the University of Maine . It is able to make objects 96 feet long, or 29 meters. In 2024, researchers used machine learning to improve the construction of synthetic bone and set

728-438: A desk or carry them around. Advancements in technology combined with a reduced size enables a powerful computer to be a smaller size. Small form factor designs do not include computing devices that have traditionally been small, such as embedded or mobile systems. However, "small form factor" lacks a normative definition and is consequently open to interpretation and misuse. Manufacturers often provide definitions that serve

832-431: A few examples, there is Aldi , from Theo Albrecht , the name of its founder, followed by discount ; Haribo , from Hans Riegel , the name of its founder, followed by Bonn , the town of its head office; and Adidas , from Adolf "Adi" Dassler , the nickname of its founder followed by his surname. 3D printing 3D printing or additive manufacturing is the construction of a three-dimensional object from

936-608: A lack of desk or floor space as the footprint is small when placed vertically. It may also fit nicely into a TV cabinet/shelf and act as a cheaper, faster, upgradable alternative to gaming consoles. The graphics card may be sectioned off internally as to isolate it from the heat produced by the CPU. Until 2005, SFF cases were usually sold as barebones units (case, power supply, and motherboard) to system integrators and home-based builders. In 2005, Apple Inc. introduced its Mac Mini (volume of 1.4 L , excluding external power brick ). Later in

1040-494: A microATX form factor. True SFF systems use SFX , TFX or smaller power supplies , and some require a laptop-style external "power brick." Some SFF computers even include compact components designed for mobile computers , such as notebook optical drives , notebook memory modules, notebook processors, and external AC adapters , rather than the internal power supply units found in full-size desktop computers. Crowdfunding and availability of rapid prototyping tools has enabled

1144-442: A miniature HTPC replicates the look of other smaller-than-rack-sized home theatre components such as a DVR or mini audio receiver . The front panel interface is emphasized, with the optical disc drive rotated relative to the case in order to maintain horizontal mounting, and more motherboard port connectors (such as for USB ) are routed to the front panel, they normally are as powerful as PC desktops. A computer-on-module (COM)

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1248-405: A more appropriate term for it at the time was rapid prototyping . As of 2019 , the precision, repeatability, and material range of 3D printing have increased to the point that some 3D printing processes are considered viable as an industrial-production technology; in this context, the term additive manufacturing can be used synonymously with 3D printing . One of the key advantages of 3D printing

1352-521: A number of years. Both BPM 3D printers and SPI 3D printers use Howtek, Inc style Inkjets and Howtek, Inc style materials. Royden Sanders licensed the Helinksi patent prior to manufacturing the Modelmaker 6 Pro at Sanders prototype, Inc (SPI) in 1993. James K. McMahon who was hired by Howtek, Inc to help develop the inkjet, later worked at Sanders Prototype and now operates Layer Grown Model Technology,

1456-480: A person's name, such as Migjeni —an abbreviation from his original name ( Millosh Gjergj Nikolla ) a famous Albanian poet and writer—or ASDRENI ( Aleksander Stavre Drenova ), another famous Albanian poet. Other such names which are used commonly in recent decades are GETOAR, composed from Gegeria + Tosks (representing the two main dialects of the Albanian language, Gegë and Toskë), and Arbanon —which

1560-555: A plural of an initialization without an apostrophe can also be used for a number, or a letter. Examples: For units of measure, the same form is used for both singular and plural. Examples: When an abbreviation contains more than one period, Hart's Rules recommends putting the s after the final one. Examples: However, the same plurals may be rendered less formally as: According to Hart's Rules , an apostrophe may be used in rare cases where clarity calls for it, for example when letters or symbols are referred to as objects. However,

1664-598: A record for shock absorption. In July 2024, researchers published a paper in Advanced Materials Technologies describing the development of artificial blood vessels using 3D-printing technology, which are as strong and durable as natural blood vessels . The process involved using a rotating spindle integrated into a 3D printer to create grafts from a water-based gel, which were then coated in biodegradable polyester molecules. Additive manufacturing or 3D printing has rapidly gained importance in

1768-557: A single letter and was originally spelled with lower case letters then there is no need for capitalization. However, when abbreviating a phrase where only the first letter of each word is taken, then all letters should be capitalized, as in YTD for year-to-date , PCB for printed circuit board and FYI for for your information . However, see the following section regarding abbreviations that have become common vocabulary: these are no longer written with capital letters. A period (a.k.a. full stop)

1872-517: A symbol such as "km" for " kilometre ". In the International System of Units (SI) manual the word "symbol" is used consistently to define the shorthand used to represent the various SI units of measure. The manual also defines the way in which units should be written , the principal rules being: A syllabic abbreviation is usually formed from the initial syllables of several words, such as Interpol = International + police . It

1976-420: A way to reduce cost, reduce the number of nonconforming parts, reduce weight in the engines to increase fuel efficiency and find new, highly complex shapes that would not be feasible with the antiquated manufacturing methods. One example of AM integration with aerospace was in 2016 when Airbus delivered the first of GE's LEAP engines. This engine has integrated 3D printed fuel nozzles, reducing parts from 20 to 1,

2080-738: A word to a single letter was common in both Greek and Roman writing. In Roman inscriptions, "Words were commonly abbreviated by using the initial letter or letters of words, and most inscriptions have at least one abbreviation". However, "some could have more than one meaning, depending on their context. (For example, ⟨A⟩ can be an abbreviation for many words, such as ager , amicus , annus , as , Aulus , Aurelius , aurum , and avus .)" Many frequent abbreviations consisted of more than one letter: for example COS for consul and COSS for its nominative etc. plural consules . Abbreviations were frequently used in early English . Manuscripts of copies of

2184-490: Is a complete computer built on a single circuit board . They are often used as embedded systems due to their small physical size and low power consumption. Gumstix is one manufacturer of COMs. Each model of Dell's OptiPlex line of computers typically includes an Ultra-Small Form Factor (USFF) chassis option. In the Core 2 era, these machines used 8.9 cm (3.5") desktop hard drives and external power supplies, such as

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2288-568: Is a syllabic abbreviation of Commonwealth and (Thomas) Edison . Sections of California are also often colloquially syllabically abbreviated, as in NorCal (Northern California), CenCal (Central California), and SoCal (Southern California). Additionally, in the context of Los Angeles, the syllabic abbreviation SoHo (Southern Hollywood) refers to the southern portion of the Hollywood neighborhood. Partially syllabic abbreviations are preferred by

2392-533: Is a variant of the acronym. Syllabic abbreviations are usually written using lower case , sometimes starting with a capital letter , and are always pronounced as words rather than letter by letter. Syllabic abbreviations should be distinguished from portmanteaus , which combine two words without necessarily taking whole syllables from each. Syllabic abbreviations are not widely used in English. Some UK government agencies such as Ofcom (Office of Communications) and

2496-777: Is an alternative way used to describe all Albanian lands. Syllabic abbreviations were and are common in German ; much like acronyms in English, they have a distinctly modern connotation, although contrary to popular belief, many date back to before 1933 , if not the end of the Great War . Kriminalpolizei , literally criminal police but idiomatically the Criminal Investigation Department of any German police force, begat KriPo (variously capitalised), and likewise Schutzpolizei ( protection police or uniform department ) begat SchuPo . Along

2600-498: Is another mini computer. The HP Slimline uses a non-standard motherboard that is very similar in size to Mini-ITX. In addition to its industrial use, the extremely small Mini-ITX motherboard form factor has also been incorporated into SFF computers. These are often extremely compact, incorporating low-power components such as the VIA C3 processors. The Travla C134 is an example of this design. At 17.8 x 25.4 x 5.1 cm (7 × 10 × 2")

2704-418: Is controversy as to which should be used. One generally accepted rule is to be consistent in a body of work. To this end, publishers may express their preferences in a style guide . Some controversies that arise are described below. If the original word was capitalized then the first letter of its abbreviation should retain the capital, for example Lev. for Leviticus . When a word is abbreviated to more than

2808-414: Is produced by additive manufacturing or 3D printing methods to enable quick prototyping and responses to tooling and fixture needs. Agile tooling uses a cost-effective and high-quality method to quickly respond to customer and market needs, and it can be used in hydro-forming , stamping , injection molding and other manufacturing processes. The general concept of and procedure to be used in 3D-printing

2912-695: Is sometimes used to signify abbreviation, but opinion is divided as to when and if this convention is best practice. According to Hart's Rules , a word shortened by dropping letters from the end terminates with a period, whereas a word shorted by dropping letters from the middle does not. Fowler's Modern English Usage says a period is used for both of these shortened forms, but recommends against this practice: advising it only for end-shortened words and lower-case initialisms; not for middle-shortened words and upper-case initialisms. Some British style guides, such as for The Guardian and The Economist , disallow periods for all abbreviations. In American English ,

3016-466: Is the ability to produce very complex shapes or geometries that would be otherwise infeasible to construct by hand, including hollow parts or parts with internal truss structures to reduce weight while creating less material waste. Fused deposition modeling (FDM), which uses a continuous filament of a thermoplastic material, is the most common 3D printing process in use as of 2020 . The umbrella term additive manufacturing (AM) gained popularity in

3120-632: Is the technology's ability to produce complex geometries with high precision and accuracy. This is particularly relevant in the field of microwave engineering, where 3D printing can be used to produce components with unique properties that are difficult to achieve using traditional manufacturing methods. Additive Manufacturing processes generate minimal waste by adding material only where needed, unlike traditional methods that cut away excess material. This reduces both material costs and environmental impact. This reduction in waste also lowers energy consumption for material production and disposal, contributing to

3224-584: Is typically US . There are multiple ways to pluralize an abbreviation. Sometimes this accomplished by adding an apostrophe and an s ( 's ), as in "two PC's have broken screens". But, some find this confusing since the notation can indicate possessive case . And, this style is deprecated by many style guides. For instance, Kate Turabian , writing about style in academic writings, allows for an apostrophe to form plural acronyms "only when an abbreviation contains internal periods or both capital and lowercase letters". For example, "DVDs" and "URLs" and "Ph.D.'s", while

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3328-522: Is used as the preferred term, acronym refers more specifically to when the abbreviation is pronounced as a word rather than as separate letters; examples include SWAT and NASA . Initialisms, contractions and crasis share some semantic and phonetic functions, and are connected by the term abbreviation in loose parlance. In early times, abbreviations may have been common due to the effort involved in writing (many inscriptions were carved in stone) or to provide secrecy via obfuscation . Reduction of

3432-405: Is usually measured in litres . SFFs are available in a variety of sizes and shapes, including shoeboxes, cubes, and book-sized PCs. Their smaller and often lighter construction has made them popular as home theater PCs and as gaming computers for attending LAN parties . Manufacturers also emphasize the aesthetic and ergonomic design of SFFs since users are more likely to place them on top of

3536-576: The Modern Language Association explicitly says, "do not use an apostrophe to form the plural of an abbreviation". Also, the American Psychological Association specifically says, "without an apostrophe". However, the 1999 style guide for The New York Times states that the addition of an apostrophe is necessary when pluralizing all abbreviations, preferring "PC's, TV's and VCR's". Forming

3640-690: The Old English poem Beowulf used many abbreviations, for example the Tironian et ( ⁊ ) or & for and , and y for since , so that "not much space is wasted". The standardisation of English in the 15th through 17th centuries included a growth in the use of such abbreviations. At first, abbreviations were sometimes represented with various suspension signs, not only periods. For example, sequences like ⟨er⟩ were replaced with ⟨ɔ⟩ , as in mastɔ for master and exacɔbate for exacerbate . While this may seem trivial, it

3744-550: The UV exposure area is controlled by a mask pattern or a scanning fiber transmitter. He filed a patent for this XYZ plotter, which was published on 10 November 1981. (JP S56-144478). His research results as journal papers were published in April and November 1981. However, there was no reaction to the series of his publications. His device was not highly evaluated in the laboratory and his boss did not show any interest. His research budget

3848-465: The Zonbu , fit-PC , Linutop , and A9home . With the release of Intel Atom CPU, AOpen also made Nettop systems: the uBox series with model LE200 and LE210. The uBox series equips a dual-core Intel Atom 270/330 processor, single-channel DDR-II 533/667 memory, Intel 945GC+ICH7 chipset, three SATA connectors and 5.1-channel high-definition audio output. Essentially a bookshelf-style case lying on its side,

3952-646: The stereolithography process. The application of the French inventors was abandoned by the French General Electric Company (now Alcatel-Alsthom) and CILAS (The Laser Consortium). The claimed reason was "for lack of business perspective". In 1983, Robert Howard started R.H. Research, later named Howtek, Inc. in Feb 1984 to develop a color inkjet 2D printer, Pixelmaster, commercialized in 1986, using Thermoplastic (hot-melt) plastic ink. A team

4056-448: The 1980s cost upwards of $ 300,000 ($ 650,000 in 2016 dollars). AM processes for metal sintering or melting (such as selective laser sintering , direct metal laser sintering , and selective laser melting) usually went by their own individual names in the 1980s and 1990s. At the time, all metalworking was done by processes that are now called non-additive ( casting , fabrication , stamping , and machining ); although plenty of automation

4160-459: The 1990s led to a marked rise in colloquial abbreviation. This was due largely to increasing popularity of textual communication services such as instant and text messaging. The original SMS supported message lengths of 160 characters at most (using the GSM 03.38 character set), for instance. This brevity gave rise to an informal abbreviation scheme sometimes called Textese , with which 10% or more of

4264-515: The 2000s, inspired by the theme of material being added together ( in any of various ways ). In contrast, the term subtractive manufacturing appeared as a retronym for the large family of machining processes with material removal as their common process. The term 3D printing still referred only to the polymer technologies in most minds, and the term AM was more likely to be used in metalworking and end-use part production contexts than among polymer, inkjet, or stereolithography enthusiasts. By

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4368-661: The 20th century. The contractions in Newspeak are supposed to have a political function by virtue of their abbreviated structure itself: nice sounding and easily pronounceable, their purpose is to mask all ideological content from the speaker. A more recent syllabic abbreviation has emerged with the disease COVID-19 (Corona Virus Disease 2019) caused by the Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (itself frequently abbreviated to SARS-CoV-2 , partly an initialism). In Albanian, syllabic acronyms are sometimes used for composing

4472-730: The 3D printing jewelry industry. Sanders (SDI) first Modelmaker 6Pro customer was Hitchner Corporations, Metal Casting Technology, Inc in Milford, NH a mile from the SDI facility in late 1993-1995 casting golf clubs and auto engine parts. On 8 August 1984 a patent, US4575330, assigned to UVP, Inc., later assigned to Chuck Hull of 3D Systems Corporation was filed, his own patent for a stereolithography fabrication system, in which individual laminae or layers are added by curing photopolymers with impinging radiation, particle bombardment, chemical reaction or just ultraviolet light lasers . Hull defined

4576-562: The GeForce GTX-295. Most SFF computers use highly integrated motherboards containing many on-board peripherals, reducing the need for expansion cards. As of 2020 many SFF PC cases do not include any expansion bays larger than 2.5 inches (large enough to accommodate SATA SSDs), due to the declining popularity of optical disc drives and 3.5-inch hard drives in the consumer space. Even if labeled "SFF," cube-style cases that support full-sized (PS2 form factor) power supplies actually have

4680-494: The I/O shield and the two PCI slots being located in common with mini-ITX motherboards. Most ShFF systems utilize Shuttle's proprietary heat pipe (liquid cooling) system, "Integrated Cooling Engine" (ICE), for the processor, although several also feature heat pipe cooling for the voltage regulator and/or the chip set ( Northbridge ). When an ShFF system is upgraded to a mini-ITX motherboard, an Intel or compatible processor fan must replace

4784-661: The ICE cooler. The ShFF's ICE computer fan is so designed that it may be repurposed as a case fan when the case is upgraded to mini-ITX use. When so upgraded, the repurposed fan would be connected to the motherboard's case fan connector (3-pin) while the new CPU fan would be connected to the motherboard's CPU fan connector (4-pin). AOpen Inc. produced a stackable S120 case, allowing the user to stack up to four components vertically or horizontally. These layers can be for add-on cards, optical drives, and hard drives, using either internal power supplies or external AC adapter power sources. After

4888-619: The OptiPlex 745 and 755. More recent units use 6.4 cm (2.5") laptop hard drives and have integrated power supplies, such as the OptiPlex 990 USFF. The compact size comes at the cost of restricted expandability, as USFF models have no PCI or PCIe slots and may have limited CPU and memory options. Starting from Series 5, USFF was replaced with Micro variants, an even smaller size option that uses external power supplies and does not have optical drives. Understood as comprising nano-ITX (12 × 12 cm) and pico-ITX (10 × 7.2 cm) boards,

4992-598: The S120, AOpen made more small form factor cases for systems with Micro ATX and Mini-ITX. The graphics card is placed behind the motherboard and PSU , connecting to it via a PCI Express x16 extension cable. This design is popular with SFF enthusiasts as it packs high-performance hardware into a small space while providing adequate cooling. Water cooling radiators may be added on to the top, bottom or sides to further increase cooling capacity. An electrically insulating sheet, such as thermoplastic polyurethane , may be placed between

5096-511: The Travla C134 is somewhat larger than the Mac mini which is 16.5 x 16.5 x 5.1 cm (6.5 × 6.5 × 2") and barely bigger than a standard 13.3 cm (5.25") optical drive . Beginning in 2007, several other companies have released other very small computers that besides a small size, focus on a low price, and extremely high power efficiency (typically 10  W or below in use). These include

5200-768: The US Navy, as they increase readability amidst the large number of initialisms that would otherwise have to fit into the same acronyms. Hence DESRON 6 is used (in the full capital form) to mean "Destroyer Squadron 6", while COMNAVAIRLANT would be "Commander, Naval Air Force (in the) Atlantic". Syllabic abbreviations are a prominent feature of Newspeak , the fictional language of George Orwell 's dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four . The political contractions of Newspeak— Ingsoc (English Socialism), Minitrue (Ministry of Truth), Miniplenty ( Ministry of Plenty )—are described by Orwell as similar to real examples of German ( see below ) and Russian ( see below ) contractions in

5304-448: The VIC 3D printer for this company is available with a video presentation showing a 3D model printed with a single nozzle inkjet. Another employee Herbert Menhennett formed a New Hampshire company HM Research in 1991 and introduced the Howtek, Inc, inkjet technology and thermoplastic materials to Royden Sanders of SDI and Bill Masters of Ballistic Particle Manufacturing (BPM) where he worked for

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5408-522: The XPC is provided with mounting points which accommodate both "Shuttle form factor" (ShFF) and mini-ITX motherboards. In order to accommodate mini-ITX motherboards, two of the ShFF mounting points are simply relocated (the remaining mini-ITX mounting points are in common with the remaining ShFF mounting points). A "standard" ShFF motherboard is 20.6 cm (8 1/8″) wide by 27.3 cm (10 3/4″) deep, with

5512-456: The advantages of design for additive manufacturing , it is clear to engineers that much more is to come. One place that AM is making a significant inroad is in the aviation industry. With nearly 3.8 billion air travelers in 2016, the demand for fuel efficient and easily produced jet engines has never been higher. For large OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) like Pratt and Whitney (PW) and General Electric (GE) this means looking towards AM as

5616-460: The apostrophe can be dispensed with if the items are set in italics or quotes: In Latin, and continuing to the derivative forms in European languages as well as English, single-letter abbreviations had the plural being a doubling of the letter for note-taking. Most of these deal with writing and publishing. A few longer abbreviations use this as well. Publications based in the U.S. tend to follow

5720-401: The case of the mini PC MP945 series. Since 2006, major OEM PC brands such as HP and Dell have begun to sell fully assembled SFF systems. These are often described as bookshelf units since they resemble a miniature tower case small enough to fit on a bookshelf. The HP Slimline series and Dell Dimension C521 (volume 1.65 L) are good examples of this trend. The Maxdata Favorite 300XS

5824-449: The developing world. In 2012, Filabot developed a system for closing the loop with plastic and allows for any FDM or FFF 3D printer to be able to print with a wider range of plastics. In 2014, Benjamin S. Cook and Manos M. Tentzeris demonstrated the first multi-material, vertically integrated printed electronics additive manufacturing platform (VIPRE) which enabled 3D printing of functional electronics operating up to 40 GHz. As

5928-535: The early 2010s, the terms 3D printing and additive manufacturing evolved senses in which they were alternate umbrella terms for additive technologies, one being used in popular language by consumer-maker communities and the media, and the other used more formally by industrial end-use part producers, machine manufacturers, and global technical standards organizations. Until recently, the term 3D printing has been associated with machines low in price or capability. 3D printing and additive manufacturing reflect that

6032-606: The fabrication of articles on a substrate. On 2 July 1984, American entrepreneur Bill Masters filed a patent for his computer automated manufacturing process and system ( US 4665492 ). This filing is on record at the USPTO as the first 3D printing patent in history; it was the first of three patents belonging to Masters that laid the foundation for the 3D printing systems used today. On 16 July 1984, Alain Le Méhauté , Olivier de Witte, and Jean Claude André filed their patent for

6136-842: The field of engineering due to its many benefits. The vision of 3D printing is design freedom, individualization, decentralization and executing processes that were previously impossible through alternative methods. Some of these benefits include enabling faster prototyping, reducing manufacturing costs, increasing product customization, and improving product quality. Furthermore, the capabilities of 3D printing have extended beyond traditional manufacturing, like lightweight construction, or repair and maintenance with applications in prosthetics, bioprinting, food industry, rocket building, design and art and renewable energy systems. 3D printing technology can be used to produce battery energy storage systems, which are essential for sustainable energy generation and distribution. Another benefit of 3D printing

6240-453: The first commercial 3D printer, the SLA-1, later in 1987 or 1988. The technology used by most 3D printers to date—especially hobbyist and consumer-oriented models—is fused deposition modeling , a special application of plastic extrusion , developed in 1988 by S. Scott Crump and commercialized by his company Stratasys , which marketed its first FDM machine in 1992. Owning a 3D printer in

6344-426: The first decade in which metal end-use parts such as engine brackets and large nuts would be grown (either before or instead of machining) in job production rather than obligately being machined from bar stock or plate. It is still the case that casting, fabrication, stamping, and machining are more prevalent than additive manufacturing in metalworking, but AM is now beginning to make significant inroads, and with

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6448-449: The first patent describing 3D printing with rapid prototyping and controlled on-demand manufacturing of patterns. The patent states: As used herein the term printing is not intended in a limited sense but includes writing or other symbols, character or pattern formation with an ink. The term ink as used in is intended to include not only dye or pigment-containing materials, but any flowable substance or composition suited for application to

6552-411: The first time. While AM is still playing a small role in the total number of parts in the jet engine manufacturing process, the return on investment can already be seen by the reduction in parts, the rapid production capabilities and the "optimized design in terms of performance and cost". As technology matured, several authors began to speculate that 3D printing could aid in sustainable development in

6656-401: The format was championed by VIA Technologies . Intel now describes its own Next Unit of Computing (NUC) products (10.2 x 10.2 cm or 4 × 4") as UCFF. Abbreviation An abbreviation may be a shortened form of a word with a trailing period. For example: etcetera is usually abbreviated etc. and abbreviation is sometimes abbreviated abbr. , abbrv. , or abbrev. . But sometimes

6760-428: The former Oftel (Office of Telecommunications) use this style. New York City has various neighborhoods named by syllabic abbreviation, such as Tribeca (Triangle below Canal Street) and SoHo (South of Houston Street). This usage has spread into other American cities, giving SoMa , San Francisco (South of Market) and LoDo, Denver (Lower Downtown), amongst others. Chicago -based electric service provider ComEd

6864-456: The globally popular term OK generally credited as a remnant of its influence. Over the years, however, the lack of convention in some style guides has made it difficult to determine which two-word abbreviations should be abbreviated with periods and which should not. This question is considered below. Widespread use of electronic communication through mobile phones and the Internet during

6968-414: The goal of many of them being to start developing commercial FDM 3D printers that were more accessible to the general public. As the various additive processes matured, it became clear that soon metal removal would no longer be the only metalworking process done through a tool or head moving through a 3D work envelope, transforming a mass of raw material into a desired shape layer by layer. The 2010s were

7072-427: The high cost would severely limit any widespread enjoyment of a process or apparatus satisfying the foregoing objects. It is therefore an additional object of the invention to minimize use to materials in a process of the indicated class. It is a further object of the invention that materials employed in such a process be salvaged for reuse. According to another aspect of the invention, a combination for writing and

7176-571: The interests of their products. According to marketing strategy, one manufacturer may decide to mark their product as "small form factor" while other manufacturers are using different marketing name (such as "Minitower", "Microtower" or "Desktop") for personal computers of similar or even smaller footprint. The acronym SFF originally stood for " Shuttle Form Factor," describing shoebox-sized personal computers with two expansion slots. The meaning of SFF evolved to include other, similar PC designs from brands such as AOpen and First International Computer, with

7280-557: The like comprises a carrier for displaying an intelligence pattern and an arrangement for removing the pattern from the carrier. In 1974, David E. H. Jones laid out the concept of 3D printing in his regular column Ariadne in the journal New Scientist . Early additive manufacturing equipment and materials were developed in the 1980s. In April 1980, Hideo Kodama of Nagoya Municipal Industrial Research Institute invented two additive methods for fabricating three-dimensional plastic models with photo-hardening thermoset polymer , where

7384-565: The manufacturing and research industries, as the technology was still relatively young and was too expensive for most consumers to be able to get their hands on. The 2000s was when larger scale use of the technology began being seen in industry, most often in the architecture and medical industries, though it was typically used for low accuracy modeling and testing, rather than the production of common manufactured goods or heavy prototyping. In 2005 users began to design and distribute plans for 3D printers that could print around 70% of their own parts,

7488-542: The mid-1990s, new techniques for material deposition were developed at Stanford and Carnegie Mellon University , including microcasting and sprayed materials. Sacrificial and support materials had also become more common, enabling new object geometries. The term 3D printing originally referred to a powder bed process employing standard and custom inkjet print heads, developed at MIT by Emanuel Sachs in 1993 and commercialized by Soligen Technologies, Extrude Hone Corporation, and Z Corporation . The year 1993 also saw

7592-403: The motherboard/PSU and graphics card to implement separate airflow zones, isolating heat sources from each other to improve cooling. Resembling a gaming console (such as Xbox One or PlayStation 4 ), the graphics card is placed directly above or below the motherboard and PSU. The graphics card is connected to motherboard with a PCIe x16 extension cable. This form factor is popular for those with

7696-525: The non-standard motherboards, cramped interior space, and power and airflow concerns. The Power Mac G4 Cube , released in 2000, and the Shuttle XPC are good examples of this design. MSI and Asus produce similar designs. The Xi3 Modular Computer is an example of a cube computer with a little more upgrade possibilities. Shuttle has adapted several of its XPC models (some 5-series and most later) to alternately accept mini-ITX motherboards. The base of

7800-531: The original plans of which were designed by Adrian Bowyer at the University of Bath in 2004, with the name of the project being RepRap (Replicating Rapid-prototyper). Similarly, in 2006 the Fab@Home project was started by Evan Malone and Hod Lipson , another project whose purpose was to design a low-cost and open source fabrication system that users could develop on their own and post feedback on, making

7904-487: The period is usually included regardless of whether or not it is a contraction, e.g. Dr. or Mrs. . In some cases, periods are optional, as in either US or U.S. for United States , EU or E.U. for European Union , and UN or U.N. for United Nations . There are some house styles, however—American ones included—that remove the periods from almost all abbreviations. For example: Acronyms that were originally capitalized (with or without periods) but have since entered

8008-429: The price of printers started to drop people interested in this technology had more access and freedom to make what they wanted. As of 2014, the price for commercial printers was still high with the cost being over $ 2,000. The term "3D printing" originally referred to a process that deposits a binder material onto a powder bed with inkjet printer heads layer by layer. More recently, the popular vernacular has started using

8112-461: The process as a "system for generating three-dimensional objects by creating a cross-sectional pattern of the object to be formed". Hull's contribution was the STL (Stereolithography) file format and the digital slicing and infill strategies common to many processes today. In 1986, Charles "Chuck" Hull was granted a patent for this system, and his company, 3D Systems Corporation was formed and it released

8216-522: The production of several mini-ITX cases focusing on efficiently organizing commercial computer components into small volumes including the Ghost S1, DAN A4-SFX, and Thor Zone MJOLNIR. Communities of enthusiasts and reviewers now develop and promote enhanced SFF assembly, maintenance, and performance criteria. 3D printing and laser cutting have enabled customization and one-off production by both manufacturers like Lazer3D and individual users with access to

8320-512: The project very collaborative. Much of the software for 3D printing available to the public at the time was open source , and as such was quickly distributed and improved upon by many individual users. In 2009 the Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) printing process patents expired. This opened the door to a new wave of startup companies, many of which were established by major contributors of these open source initiatives, with

8424-414: The relevant equipment. The many different types of SFFs are categorized loosely by their shape and size. The types below are available as of 2013. Many SFF computers have a cubic shape. Smaller models are typically sold as barebones units, including a case, motherboard , and power supply designed to fit together. The motherboard lies flat against the base of the case. Upgrade options may be limited by

8528-835: The same lines, the Swiss Federal Railways' Transit Police—the Transportpolizei —are abbreviated as the TraPo . With the National Socialist German Workers' Party gaining power came a frenzy of government reorganisation, and with it a series of entirely new syllabic abbreviations. The single national police force amalgamated from the Schutzpolizeien of the various states became the OrPo ( Ordnungspolizei , "order police");

8632-520: The same year, the first AOpen mini PC MP915 (renamed to XC mini in 2007 since "mini PC" could not be registered as a trademark), was announced. The size of the XC mini series PC—16.5(W) × 5.0(H) × 16.5(D) cm—makes it one of the smallest desktop PC systems (1.3L volume). It was criticized for looking like the Apple Mac Mini but Apple has not taken action on this subject. In February 2007, AOpen redesigned

8736-401: The secret police) and VoPo for Volkspolizei . The phrase politisches Büro , which may be rendered literally as "office of politics" or idiomatically as "political party steering committee", became Politbüro . Syllabic abbreviations are not only used in politics, however. Many business names, trademarks, and service marks from across Germany are created on the same pattern: for

8840-416: The small size of SFF cases may limit expansion options; many commercial offerings provide only one 8.9 cm (3.5") drive bay and one or two 13.3 cm (5.25") external bays. Standard CPU heatsinks do not always fit inside an SFF computer, so some manufacturers provide custom cooling systems. Though limited to one or two expansion cards , a few have the space for 3 ⁄ 4 -length cards such as

8944-470: The start of an inkjet 3D printer company initially named Sanders Prototype, Inc and later named Solidscape , introducing a high-precision polymer jet fabrication system with soluble support structures, (categorized as a "dot-on-dot" technique). In 1995 the Fraunhofer Society developed the selective laser melting process. In the early 2000s 3D printers were still largely being used just in

9048-556: The state KriPos together formed the "SiPo" ( Sicherheitspolizei , "security police"); and there was also the Gestapo ( Geheime Staatspolizei , "secret state police"). The new order of the German Democratic Republic in the east brought about a conscious denazification , but also a repudiation of earlier turns of phrase in favour of neologisms such as Stasi for Staatssicherheit ("state security",

9152-546: The style guides of The Chicago Manual of Style and the Associated Press . The U.S. government follows a style guide published by the U.S. Government Printing Office . The National Institute of Standards and Technology sets the style for abbreviations of units. Many British publications follow some of these guidelines in abbreviation: Writers often use shorthand to denote units of measure. Such shorthand can be an abbreviation, such as "in" for " inch " or can be

9256-549: The surface for forming symbols, characters, or patterns of intelligence by marking. The preferred ink is of a hot melt type. The range of commercially available ink compositions which could meet the requirements of the invention are not known at the present time. However, satisfactory printing according to the invention has been achieved with the conductive metal alloy as ink. But in terms of material requirements for such large and continuous displays, if consumed at theretofore known rates, but increased in proportion to increase in size,

9360-447: The technologies share the theme of material addition or joining throughout a 3D work envelope under automated control. Peter Zelinski, the editor-in-chief of Additive Manufacturing magazine, pointed out in 2017 that the terms are still often synonymous in casual usage, but some manufacturing industry experts are trying to make a distinction whereby additive manufacturing comprises 3D printing plus other technologies or other aspects of

9464-431: The term to encompass a wider variety of additive-manufacturing techniques such as electron-beam additive manufacturing and selective laser melting. The United States and global technical standards use the official term additive manufacturing for this broader sense. The most commonly used 3D printing process (46% as of 2018 ) is a material extrusion technique called fused deposition modeling , or FDM. While FDM technology

9568-469: The trailing period is not used for such shortened forms. A contraction is an abbreviation formed by replacing letters with an apostrophe. Examples include I'm for I am and li'l for little . An initialism or acronym is an abbreviation consisting of the initial letter of a sequence of words without other punctuation. For example, FBI ( /ˌɛf.biːˈaɪ/ ), USA ( /ˌjuː.ɛsˈeɪ/ ), IBM ( /ˌaɪ.biːˈɛm/ ), BBC ( /ˌbiː.biːˈsiː/ ). When initialism

9672-516: The vocabulary as generic words are no longer written with capital letters nor with any periods. Examples are sonar , radar , lidar , laser , snafu , and scuba . When an abbreviation appears at the end of a sentence, only one period is used: The capital of the United States is Washington, D.C. In the past, some initialisms were styled with a period after each letter and a space between each pair. For example, U. S. , but today this

9776-469: The word "Small" replacing the word "Shuttle". The term SFF is used in contrast with terms for larger systems such as "mini-towers" and "desktops." Small form factor computers are generally designed to support the same features as modern desktop computers , but in a smaller space. Most accept standard x86 microprocessors , standard DIMM memory modules, standard 8.9 cm (3.5") hard disks , and standard 13.3 cm (5.25") optical drives . However,

9880-464: The words in a typical SMS message are abbreviated. More recently Twitter, a popular social networking service , began driving abbreviation use with 140 character message limits. In HTML , abbreviations can be annotated using < abbr title = "Meaning of the abbreviation." > abbreviation </ abbr > to reveal its meaning by hovering the cursor . In modern English, there are multiple conventions for abbreviation, and there

9984-668: Was also described by Raymond F. Jones in his story, "Tools of the Trade", published in the November 1950 issue of Astounding Science Fiction magazine. He referred to it as a "molecular spray" in that story. In 1971, Johannes F Gottwald patented the Liquid Metal Recorder, U.S. patent 3596285A, a continuous inkjet metal material device to form a removable metal fabrication on a reusable surface for immediate use or salvaged for printing again by remelting. This appears to be

10088-509: Was applied to those technologies (such as by robot welding and CNC ), the idea of a tool or head moving through a 3D work envelope transforming a mass of raw material into a desired shape with a toolpath was associated in metalworking only with processes that removed metal (rather than adding it), such as CNC milling , CNC EDM , and many others. However, the automated techniques that added metal, which would later be called additive manufacturing, were beginning to challenge that assumption. By

10192-425: Was first described by Murray Leinster in his 1945 short story "Things Pass By": "But this constructor is both efficient and flexible. I feed magnetronic plastics — the stuff they make houses and ships of nowadays — into this moving arm. It makes drawings in the air following drawings it scans with photo-cells. But plastic comes out of the end of the drawing arm and hardens as it comes ... following drawings only" It

10296-565: Was invented after the other two most popular technologies, stereolithography (SLA) and selective laser sintering (SLS), FDM is typically the most inexpensive of the three by a large margin, which lends to the popularity of the process. As of 2020, 3D printers have reached the level of quality and price that allows most people to enter the world of 3D printing. In 2020 decent quality printers can be found for less than US$ 200 for entry-level machines. These more affordable printers are usually fused deposition modeling (FDM) printers. In November 2021

10400-467: Was just 60,000 yen or $ 545 a year. Acquiring the patent rights for the XYZ plotter was abandoned, and the project was terminated. A US 4323756 patent, method of fabricating articles by sequential deposition , granted on 6 April 1982 to Raytheon Technologies Corp describes using hundreds or thousands of "layers" of powdered metal and a laser energy source and represents an early reference to forming "layers" and

10504-428: Was novel in the 2000s reveals the long-prevailing mental model of the previous industrial era during which almost all production manufacturing had involved long lead times for laborious tooling development. Today, the term subtractive has not replaced the term machining , instead complementing it when a term that covers any removal method is needed. Agile tooling is the use of modular means to design tooling that

10608-515: Was put together, 6 members from Exxon Office Systems, Danbury Systems Division, an inkjet printer startup and some members of Howtek, Inc group who became popular figures in the 3D printing industry. One Howtek member, Richard Helinski (patent US5136515A, Method and Means for constructing three-dimensional articles by particle deposition, application 11/07/1989 granted 8/04/1992) formed a New Hampshire company C.A.D-Cast, Inc, name later changed to Visual Impact Corporation (VIC) on 8/22/1991. A prototype of

10712-478: Was symptomatic of an attempt by people manually reproducing academic texts to reduce the copy time. Mastɔ subwardenɔ y ɔmēde me to you. And wherɔ y wrot to you the last wyke that y trouyde itt good to differrɔ thelectionɔ ovɔ to quīdenaɔ tinitatis y have be thougħt me synɔ that itt woll be thenɔ a bowte mydsomɔ. In the Early Modern English period, between the 15th and 17th centuries, the thorn Þ

10816-451: Was used for th , as in Þ ('the'). In modern times, ⟨Þ⟩ was often used (in the form ⟨y⟩ ) for promotional reasons, as in Y Olde Tea Shoppe . During the growth of philological linguistic theory in academic Britain, abbreviating became very fashionable. Likewise, a century earlier in Boston , a fad of abbreviation started that swept the United States, with

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