Hello everyone,
The Spring 2015 semester begins next week. The 3D Lab is ready for another exciting semester. As with last January, our engineering students will design model rockets, some using 3D printed parts. Last year’s rockets were quite creative, so we are excited to see how the printers and vinyl cutter will be used this year.
A big announcement is the receipt of a generous grant from The Romich Foundation for a laser engraver! These incredibly diverse machines are used for engraving/etching designs onto wood, metal, plastic, even onto laptops, leather, foam, etc. The laser also cuts out shapes from wood, plastic, and other “soft” material. The possibilities are endless for what they can do.
To start with, the R/C airplane club will use the laser engraver to cut airplane wings, bodies, and precise parts from foam board. The engineering students can cut-out custom fins from balsa wood and more. We hope to create engraved promotional materials, name tags, and materials to benefit the local community and other schools. Stay tuned as we begin this exciting adventure.
Please check-out the following page of the many things that can be made & customized with a laser engraver:
https://www.epiloglaser.com/resources/sample-club.htm
If you have anything that you would like engraved, please stop-by! Using the engraver is as easy as “printing” from Microsoft Word. We should have the engraver installed and ready for use in a month or two. We also have a wide variety of materials that you and your students can engrave onto at no cost.
The Friday before Christmas break, kids from the Orrville Boys & Girls Club came to the 3D Lab to create t-shirts using their own designs made on the vinyl cutter. We have a special “heat transfer” vinyl that, in conjunction with a heat press, hot presses the vinyl onto t-shirts at high temperature. The results were amazing and the process was fairly simple to do. Kids made designs with solid-color vinyl, glitter vinyl, and a special “chrome” vinyl with impressive results. The event was fun and the kids went home with their own custom-made shirts.
If you or your department needs custom-made t-shirts, bring-in some shirts! We will provide the vinyl and help with creating your designs. We can work with 100% cotton, 100% polyester, and 50/50 blend.
Last semester, Akron campus filmed a Wayne College commercial that mentioned our 3D printer initiative. You can view the video here. Betty Rogge, Senior Lecturer of Elementary Education at Wayne, has graciously offered to create a promotional video of our 3D Lab! Morgan wrote the script and Dusty did the acting (in the style of “The Crocodile Hunter”). Betty directed and is now arranging and producing the final video. It will introduce the lab and the various equipment that students have access to. It’s informative and funny, so stay tuned for its release!
Last, check-out our latest print from our PLA printer, a Maker Faire Robot. This little guy was designed to be “print-in-place”, meaning that the robot is a fully articulating object printed as one piece with no assembly. It helps one understand how to design 3D objects with 3D printing in-mind. It is a marvelous engineering accomplishment.
See how 5th graders use 3D printing to create a prosthetic leg for “Stumpy” the turtle. It’s a heart warming story:
http://www.gizmag.com/fifth-graders-3d-print-stumpy-turtle/35419
We learned a new technique to bind plastic parts together without glue. It’s called “friction welding” where we use our Dremel tool to spin filament at high speed. This melts when applied to plastic junctions. The bond is amazingly strong, almost like welding metal!
http://hackaday.com/2014/12/30/3d-printing-technique-friction-welding
Until next week,
Tom