Hello everyone,
On a cold, windy day, Dean Deckler and engineering students assembled in the softball field to launch model rockets, many of which were made from the College’s 3D printers. Some rockets had 3D printed parts (such as nose cones, body shafts, and fins) whereas other rockets were entirely 3D printed. Students used molded balsa wood, PVC tubing, and even machined aluminum. It was an exciting day with one rocket exploding in mid-air thanks to an overly thin walled 3D printed rocket body.
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| Waiting for launch | 3D printed rockets |
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| A machined aluminum rocket | Ralph’s rocket with a custom 3D printed nosecone |
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| We have lift-off | A cold, cold day at the launch field |
Andrew, Sarah Jane, and I took a road trip to Northwestern Middle School yesterday to teach students in Industrial Arts classes about engineering. At the roadshow, we explained 3D printing, answered questions, loaded some of their designs, and printed some parts. It was an exciting time; the students were noticeably interested in the 3D printer and interacting with us.
These are currently building Rube Goldberg machines. These are contraptions that accomplish smaller tasks to real a goal, such as rolling a marble down a track, popping balloons, collapsing dominos, etc. ultimately activating, say, a light switch. Students design machines using AutoDesk Inventor (a CAD program), print them on paper, then fashion the designs out of wood. We are currently printing some of these parts on our 3D printers here at Wayne. 50 minutes per class session was not enough time for us to cover the knowledge (nor the student excitement that was generated).
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| The wood shop | Andrew explaining 3D design |
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| Tom explaining 3D software “slicing” | Lots of questions |
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| Explaining the 3D printer | Aren’t these printers cool? |
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| Andrew printing a student design | Student designed Rube Goldberg parts |
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| We drew quite a crowd | Analyzing a prototype part |
In the following article from 3dprint.com, a man born without a hand relied on a prosthetic that cost $42,000 that was covered by health insurance. The device worked admirably but had a few problems.
Thanks to 3D printing, someone on 3duniverise.com designed an alternate prosthetic that cost $50 to produce on 3D printer. Josh prefers the alternate hand much better than the original one, handles heavy loads, and is fixable. Check-out the article at:
http://3dprint.com/2438/50-prosthetic-3d-printed-hand
Stay tuned next week for more news from the Wayne College makerspace!
Tom