August 2015

Hello everyone, The first day of the fall semester begins with a bang in the 3D Lab.  Students already have all three printers running simultaneously, visitors are given tours of the room, and the R/C airplane club is slowly taking over every inch of free space with their designs.  We are interested to see what engineering students and community members will create this semester.  It’s always exciting to see non-engineers become interested in the technology as well; they are becoming makers! A few weeks ago, a community member well versed in CAD design used our first 3D printer (affectionally known as “P-Ter” and donated byRead More →

Hello everyone, With the start of Fall semester next week, the busy 3D Lab is about to become a lot busier.  Engineering classes building LEGO Mindstorms controlled robots will use the lab to augment their designs, perform material stress tests, and more.  Our multi-material 3D printers have yet to arrive; students will put them to good use later this semester. New students visited the 3D lab over the summer to use the equipment and 3D print their CAD designs.  Various members of the community work on projects here as well.  One of these people is an avid bird watcher.  He uses AutoDesk’s free 123D MakeRead More →

Hello everyone, With two weeks of summer remaining before the start of fall classes, we are cleaning and preparing the 3D Lab for another busy semester.  The pending arrival of two additional 3D printers (courtesy of the Wayne County Community Foundation) will help with the print load as our existing three printers were frequently running simultaneously last semester. 3D printers can and do cause problems on a regular basis, requiring maintenance and repair.  Our first 3D printer, the Makerbot Replicator 2X, developed jammed filament in its extruder head, requiring replacement.  The company shipped two extruder blocks and a replacement fan; Anthony accepted the challenge toRead More →

Hello everyone, We have a lot to do in the 3D Lab to prepare for the Fall semester of activities and classes.  In the works are designing a brochure and business cards to promote the makerspace when interacting with the public, creating maintenance schedules for the various equipment, and the installation of two new forthcoming 3D printers funded by the Wayne County Community Foundation.  Anthony, our summer student assistant, has been wonderful by helping community members and working on lab projects. One of our community members is an avid photographer, designing improvements to his cameras and other optical devices in CAD, then reproducing parts onRead More →