Hello everyone,
As to be expected at this point in the semester, the 3D Lab is a bustling place. Engineering students are engrossed in their latest class assignments, flight club members build and test planes, community members design and print inventions, students finish homework, and others meet and socialize. The lab has so much energy this time of year; it is exciting to watch the interactions and fun going on there.
The two new 3D printers arrived early last week and are installed. They could not have come at a better time as our oldest 3D printer has broken-down, needing a replacement motherboard. Students are already heavily using both new printers. They use HIPS plastic (high impact polystyrene) which has similar strength to ABS with the ease of printing as PLA. HIPS is dimensionally accurate, is easy to cut, sand, and paint, and is FDA approved for use in food processing.
The printers worked perfectly out-of-the box. We are thankful to the Carl E. Congdon, Jr. and Susanna Congdon McIntyre Memorial Fund, a (component of the Wayne County Community Foundation) for providing these machines; we surely needed them!
Our engineering students are currently designing flashlights and batteries using the Solidworks CAD program, then printing representative versions on the 3D printers. Here is a finished battery designed by a student:
Last Friday, Andrew from our technical support department had a super idea. Since the 3D Lab is rapidly losing free space because of incoming equipment and student projects, he invented a clip that hangs book bags from a desk, saving desktop space and preventing bags from getting dirty on the floor. He fabricated multiple revisions on the 3D printer until the clip has the perfect balance of grip on the table edge and strength/balance. It works perfectly! If you or your students would like clips for tables in your classrooms, please visit the 3D Lab and we’ll help you print some.
A couple of weeks ago, the 3D Lab made a road show to represent Wayne College at the Wayne County Fair in Wooster, Ohio. We brought the portable printer (provided by the Romich Foundation) along with many 3D printed items, brochures, and so on. We took requests from fair attendees to print objects on-demand. The booth was incredibly popular and drew lots of fair goers of all ages to see the printer in-action and discover the 3D Lab at Wayne College.
Especially popular at the Wayne College fair booth were UA “Roo” keychains made by the laser engraver in the 3D Lab! The keychains were provided by P. Graham Dunn and the laser engraver by the Romich Foundation. The engraver works fast; it only took an hour to burn the UA logo onto 150 keychains. We used Corel DRAW to create a jig that the engraver cut out of cardboard, allowing us to engrave a 10 keychains at a time. Our famous Wayne College lip balm finally has a real contender. 🙂
Stay tuned next week as we reveal new and exciting things happening in the 3D Lab!
See how a 3D printed device could help the visually impaired navigate:
http://mentalfloss.com/article/68408/3d-printed-device-could-help-visually-impaired-navigate
See how a shape shifting navigation device points you in the right direction:
http://www.gizmag.com/navigation-haptic-yale-animotus/39130
Until next week,
Tom