Hello everyone,

With final exams beginning the week after next, it’s hard to believe that the semester is almost over.  And what a ride it’s been!  So many new faces in the 3D Lab, so many projects.  Community members visit the lab practically every day, people of all ages.  It’s wonderful how word gets around that we provide this service to the community, making ideas a reality.  Both the 3D Lab and 3D Lounge next door are filled with students; sometimes our six 3D printers were barely enough to meet everyone’s needs.  It’s a good kind of problem.  🙂

 

One of our “think big” community members, Ben Ault, is into model rockets that climb thousands of feet.  He participated in the Mini Maker Faire earlier this year and has big plans for his next rocket.

Ben needed to fabricate a convex, clear window for a large nosecone that he 3D printed.  To form the mold for this window, he created the shape in CAD then carved it out of wood with the CNC mill provided by the Wayne County Community Foundation.  The mold was covered in clear material, placed in an home oven, then baked to harden into the window shape.  A perfect use for a CNC machine!

 

One of our students is enjoying the creative, artistic side of the 3D lab.  With a little bit of help, she learned CAD design on her own to creative musical notes which she 3D printed.  Since our laser engraver supports cylindrical objects, she engraved a beautiful design onto a rolling pin for her grandmother, courtesy of P. Graham Dunn.  We learned that the rotary device does not grip cylindrical wood products reliably, but wrapping the rolling pin’s edges in Scotch tape fixed that problem.

 

Students in the Tools for Engineering class, taught by Scott Gold, are busy building robots to accomplish set tasks, from delivering marked cargo, to stair climbing machines, to battle bots in an arena!

The first type of robots were put-to-the-test last week.  The machines travel down an aisle, detect a certain colored 3D printed cube, pick it up, then deliver it to a particular location.  Some students heavily used sensors from the LEGO Mindstorms kits to detect the aisle distance & shape, cube color, and other physical characteristics of the environment.  There were some spectacular successes as well as failures, the latter of which were more important because of what was learned.

 

Recently the 3D Lab made a road trip to Wooster for the annual Harvest Bash hosted by CIRCLE Coalition.  This free family event included food, games, music, and a costume contest, held at St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception School.  Adults and kids of all ages were fascinated with 3D printing, a first-time experience for many of them.  A number of community members brought themselves and their kids to the 3D Lab in the days/weeks after the event to create personal works of their own.  The 3D Lab is always a hit when we go on the road!

 

Stay tuned as we wrap-up the semester with more student engineered robots, community projects, and lots of unexpected surprises in the 3D Lab!

Until next week,

Tom

3D printers are taking a delicious turn for the better.  This pancake printer makes flat shapes from your 3D printable files.  It really takes the cake (I mean, batter)!

http://www.storebound.com/storebound/pancakebot-products

 

Not sure what to buy your creative “maker” friends for Christmas?  Look no further than this Make: Magazine holiday buying guide:
https://makezine.com/giftguide

 

Mark your calendar for Saturday, May 19, 2018 for the 2nd Annual Wayne County Mini Maker Faire!  The event is free to attend and participate.  To be a maker at the faire, be sure to signup here.  We’d love to have you there!

 

Don’t miss December’s Maker Monday which is Monday, December 18th at 7:00 at The Schantz Organ Company!  Also coming up is their kid-friendly “Build a Snowman” event on Saturday, December 9th (reservations necessary).

 

We offer a free “listserv” that allows to you ask questions to members in the makerspace. It’s great for sharing ideas, forming friendships, and helping & advising each other. To join, send an email to listserv@lists.uakron.edu with

“SUBSCRIBE MAKERSPACE-GROUP” in the subject line.