Hello everyone,

We had an exciting time on Saturday.  Six Wayne College students and staff carpooled early Saturday morning to Case Western Reserve’s Think[box] to tour the facility and use their laser cutters & 3D printers.  Barry Romich also visited us, offering advice and encouraging us as we worked on projects.  Thanks, Barry!

Sadly, both of their MakerBots were not functional because of various problems, but one worked well enough to print a mouth harmonica for Josh.  Stephanie and Chris learned how to use the laser cutter/engraver, while Andrew cut his chops on SolidWorks.  It was a busy place with lots of students and community members using the equipment.

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Stephanie and Chris on the laser cutter Stephanie’s “word necklace” printing
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Andrew fixing the laser cutter! Chris’ laser engraved plaque

After a quick stop at Chipotle’s, we headed on to the Cleveland Mini Maker Faire.  The Cleveland Public Library was full of interesting inventions, workshops, and projects, not to mention many 3D printers and laser cutters.

Of special note, we learned that there additional Maker Spaces at the Lorain County Community College in Elyria (FabLab) and at SynHack in Akron.  LCC offers 3D printers, laser cutters, vacuum formers, etc. that are open for public use, while SynHack has wood working and metal working tools available.

We also discovered a company called TinyCircuits (www.tiny-circuits.com) that produces micro sized Arduino controllers the size of dimes and quarters.  These can be used to measure altitude, acceleration, barometric pressure, GPS position, and so much more.  This may be an interesting addition to model rockets since they are so small and light.

tiny circuits

Here are some highlights of Maker Faire:

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Music from body motion & a sewing machine! Watch a movie lying down
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Motion controlled computing MakerBot 3D printers everywhere
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We need to print some of these at Wayne! Plastic chain mail and an animated flower
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Chris has the whole world in his hands Andrew’s new wheels
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Custom designed R/C cars Arduino controlled LED cube
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Homemade pinball machine Would you go up 10 flights of these stairs?

Back at Wayne College, one of our staff members has sliding doors at home with missing handles.  Andrew and Dusty measured an existing handle, then was able to print six more of them for her:

door handles

Lastly, a teacher has a deck table with a broken collar that surrounds the umbrella hole.  Josh designed a new collar using Creo, made it a cover instead of a collar, then embellished it with a heart:

deck cap

If you have a plastic do-dad that is broken and needs replaced, please bring it to A-120; perhaps we can print a replacement for you!

Tom