Hello everyone,
With the heavy snowfall from a couple of days ago, why endure cold weather when you could be inside a warm, cozy 3D lab? That’s what our students are doing. Engineering students are designing model rockets for launch later this system. Another student is inventing a two-wheel skateboard with impressive CAD designs. We are also printing car parts for the University of Akron’s Electric Vehicle Race Team using the resin and HIPS 3D printers. There is always something going on in the lab.
In our offsite adventures, we recently completed a collaborative activity with Heartland Education Community in Orrville, Ohio. Wayne College offered a three-day workshop on CAD design, 3D printing, and laser cutting. Participants learned how to use the free 123D program to design candy dispensers, then spent the final day at the college to fabricate their creations.
Twelve community members attended the workshop. Heartland also kept one of our printers on-site to demonstrate 3D printing to the public and print the attendees’ designs between sessions. It was a wonderful experience for everyone. We look forward to more collaborative activities with them.
We are thankful for community members who visit the 3D Lab not only to use the equipment, but share their life experiences and knowledge with students. Norm provides valuable CAD advice and lessons, while OSU retiree Mike is knowledgeable in all things electronic. Student are highly interested in talking about projects and electrical theory with him. The Electronics Station in the lab provides an oscilloscope, frequency generator, soldering station, power supplies, learning kits for Arduino and Raspberry Pi projects, and much more. It is rewarding to see students learning well beyond the classroom.
Thanks for the photobomb, Nathan and Andrew. Can you spot them?
As many of your know, Thingiverse offers an immense repository of 3D printed objects, designed by people from all over the world. A while ago, Mike built a portable oscilloscope from a kit. However, the kit did not provide an enclosure. After a search on Thingiverse, Mike discovered that other people built the same oscilloscope and designed a custom enclosure for it. This two-part design printed easily on our Taz 3D printers. And it fit his scope perfectly!
Work in the 3D Lab doesn’t always have to be about serious projects. We also have quite a bit of fun. The laser engraver does an excellent job of creating plaques for awards, such as this one:
The plaque was provided by P. Graham Dunn. The laser engraver created the border and graphics, which were darkened using wood stain. The golden title was carved using a CNC router, then manually painted gold. The result was impressive!
Our older audience may remember the days of ThingMaker, where kids poured rubber molds of insects and skeletons. Mattel is bringing back ThingMaker in the form of a $300 3D printer for kids!
http://www.gizmag.com/mattel-thingmaker-3d-printer-children/41826
Speaking of kids and learning, see how Cornell’s Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering uses 3D printed replicas of historic artifacts that are used for teaching:
http://web.stratasys.com/rs/137-ANB-938/images/CS-FDM-Edu-CornellUniversity-A4-08-13-Web.pdf
Until next week,
Tom