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DECEMBER 2020 I PCB007 MAGAZINE 73 such as in a locked fire-proof safe. Cloud ser- vices have become the new standard for data backup, but it is good business practices (and cheap insurance) to still have a physical copy stored offsite. Conclusion While documentation is often viewed as a necessary evil, it is a very important aspect of any quality system. By adopting the "if you can't prove it, it didn't happen" mentality and applying the practical KISS principles discussed in this two-part series, a world-class, auditor- friendly documentation system can be devel- oped with minimum pain and suffering. PCB007 Steve Williams is the president of The Right Approach Consulting. To read past columns or contact Williams, click here. Data Backup The document control procedure needs to address electronic data (quality system files, customer data files, CAD files, business files, etc.) and specify not only a backup plan but also provide for redundant copies to be stored off-site for protection against a facility disas- ter. On-site copies should be securely stored, relatively cheap $250 printer, the most common type of printer," Forman says. Filaments to fabric Forman's experiments were inspired by the work of a friend who used under-extruded filament to produce vas- es. With his first attempts at under-extruding, "I started playing with it, bending it and even stretching it, I was like, 'whoa, wait, this is a textile. It looks like it, feels likes it, bends like it, and it prints really quickly." The new textile can be sewn, de-pleated, and heat- bonded like an iron-on patch. Forman and his colleagues have printed the textiles with a con- ductive filament that allows a lamp to be lit and dimmed by touching pleats in the lamp- shade. The researchers suggest that other base materials or ad- ditives could produce textiles with magnetic or optical proper- ties. (MIT Media Lab) Sometimes 3D printers mess up. They extrude too much material, or too little, or deposit material in the wrong spot. But what if this bug could be turned into a (fashion- able) feature? Introducing DefeXtiles, a tulle-like textile that MIT Me- dia Lab graduate student Jack Forman developed by con- trolling a common 3D printing defect—the under-extru- sion of polymer filament. Forman used a standard, inexpensive 3D printer to pro- duce sheets and complex 3D geometries with a woven- like structure based on the "glob-stretch" pattern pro- duced by under-extrusion. For- man has printed these flex- ible and thin sheets into an interactive lampshade, full- sized skirts, a roll of fabric long enough to stretch across a baseball diamond, and intri- cately patterned lace, among other items. "No custom software or hardware is needed—just a Leveraging a 3D Printer 'Defect' to Create a New Quasi-textile