June 2014

Hello everyone, Even in the middle of summer, exciting things are happening at the Wayne College Makerspace.  At one point we had all three printers running, until I broke one of them (twice!). Maureen’s husband learned that PhotoShop can be used to create 3D objects from photos.  Normally, PhotoShop is a 2D program that allows one to edit digital photos and the like.  He took a photo of a fireman, converted it to 3D, then printed the object on his company’s StrataSys printer (a high-end 3D printer).  We printed the fireman with our own printers with decent results.  Note that the roughness of the printRead More →

Hello everyone, The break in communication is because yours truly took a week’s vacation, a much needed break.  Lots have been happening at the Wayne College Makerspace, despite the absence. First off, I heard that Jonny’s custom rocket descent system (the “flowering pedals” approach) worked beautifully!  It launched, opened its wings upon apex, and twirled gently to the ground.  What an amazing invention that he designed! Ben, another engineering student, designed a replacement lawn mower pull-string handle for one of our teachers.  It’s amazing how quickly students are learning CAD and applying it to the real world: Another request was made to improve a wheelchairRead More →

Hello everyone, The theme for this week at the Wayne College Makerspace is recycling!  3D printing is far from a perfect process; a good deal of the plastic used results in failed prints.  To save costs (and the environment) we plan to recycle our waste plastic into usable filament.  Thanks to another grant from the Romich Foundation, we ordered a filament extruder and a plastic grinding machine:                                     Recycling filament is a relatively new idea in the 3D printing world.  In addition to recycling old plastic, we canRead More →

Hello everyone, We are planning to visit the Case Western ThinkBox Institute for Collaboration and Innovation tomorrow (Friday) at 11:45 a.m.   We will carpool to Cleveland, be given a guided tour at 2:30, then return back to Wayne by 5:00 at the latest.  After we arrive at the facility by 1:00 and get our bearings, we’ll find a place to eat, then come back to Case for the tour. Case Western Reserve University’s new invention center provides a space for anyone – especially students, faculty, and alumni – to tinker and creatively invent.  Housed temporarily in a 4,500 square foot space, this $25M project will beRead More →

Hello everyone, One of our engineering students, Jonnathan, designed a prototype rocket fin in Creo.  We loaded this object into the 3D printer’s “Makerware” software and will print it this afternoon.  Having a physical object in-hand now means they can visually inspect its properties, making first-time rocket launches more likely to be successful. Dusty is working on repairing a standing floor fan for E-Wing.  The plastic coupler broke that connects the curled metal pipe that sits on the floor and the vertical pipe below the fan itself.  As you can see, he is making good progress on it.  If the printed part breaks later, weRead More →

Hello everyone, Summer session hasn’t slowed down the activity at the Wayne College Makerspace.  Of particular note was a field trip to America Makes, a national 3D printing research center in Youngstown, Ohio. America Makes fosters engagements with businesses, academia, non-profit organizations, and individuals.  Members present challenges, projects, and direction in which AM researches, completes, and documents.  For instance, if NASA has a particular project that involves 3D printing, AM researches this project for them.  The University of Akron is a proud member of America Makes as well. The equipment at this facility is impressive.  They have almost a dozen consumer-level 3D printers.  They alsoRead More →