Hello everyone,
With the spring semester officially ending this Saturday, activity is temporarily winding down in the 3D Lab. We have a lot planned for this summer’s work. The laser engraver will be fully installed as well as a new resin printer and up to three more 3D printers to setup and learn. These will better handle the printing demand during the upcoming fall semester. With our summer community outreach, we plan to present at the OHECC conference at Miami University about our experiences in building a makerspace. And starting soon is a 10-week summer camp that teaches kids from the Orrville Boys and Girls Club how to build R/C airplanes using digital fabrication techniques.
The semester finished with a bang, quite literally. Over the past several weeks, the 3D Lab hosted seniors from Kingsway Christian School. Nathan taught them CAD design using the free SketchUp Make software, designing the fins, body tubes, and nosecones for model rockets. Last Friday, these students finished the designs and launched their creations! Thanks to Nathan’s calculations, they flew straight up, though we had trouble with parachute deployment. Thankfully all rockets were retrieved in (mostly) one piece.
Nathan teaching CAD design
Creating parachutes and final assembly
Lighting the fuse
Successful launch day!
A University of Akron main campus student is pursuing a robotics project. His invention is a “snake bot” that uses pneumatics for mobility by forming/deforming a frame-like, jointed shape. The 3D Lab assisted his project by 3D printing the ball joint system that he designed in CAD. The basic robot works; it is able to move across a surface. We are quite excited about the development of this project, as it seems one-of-a-kind with potential applications.
Last semester, a community member asked if 3D printing technology could be used to create replacement window clips for his house. These clips became brittle from exposure to the sun, then break as the wooden frames were inserted/removed. Thanks to Dusty, variation iterations of the clip were designed and redesigned. The final revision was taken to the house for testing, which fit perfectly! We printed over 30 clips within a few hours for Paul’s current and future needs. Thanks, Dusty!
Have you recently visited the official website for the Wayne College 3D Lab? It’s been going through several enhancements lately. We now have instructions for using most of the equipment the lab, both written instructions and video tutorials. Many thanks to Betty Rogge, Morgan, and Dusty for creating the latter. This way students can learn to use and troubleshoot the machines, giving them autonomy to solve their own problems. Please click here to visit the improved website and watch one of Betty’s excellent videos.
Last year, we mentioned Strati, a fully functional 3D printed car. Below is a video that explains how this was made possible using a large scale, carbon-fiber 3D printer:
https://www.facebook.com/businessinsider/videos/10152781657939071
See how 3D printing lets a blind mom-to-be ‘see’ her son for the first time:
http://www.cnet.com/news/watch-emotional-moment-3d-printing-lets-blind-mom-to-be-see-her-unborn-son
Until next week,
Tom