Hello everyone,

Summer is with us for another six weeks; the brutally hot days are more than enough reason to work on projects in the air conditioned 3D Lab.  Community members stop-by daily to use the laser engraver, 3D printers, and vinyl cutter.  Families who attended the Maker Faire earlier this year visit the lab over the summer, too.  It’s been a busy place!  We are busy upgrading both Prusa 3D printers for better reliability with multicolor printing, working out bugs with the full-color 3D printer, and generally preparing the lab for another busy fall semester.  Engineering students will use the lab for CAD design and building parts for their LEGO Mindstorms robots, too.

New this semester is the new Wayne College Makers Club!  It is a collaboration with students in similar clubs at local schools, building cool things together including robotics, 3D printing, and more.  Details coming soon!  If you want to join the club or simply want to know more, please reply to this email.

A couple of weeks ago, 3D Lab staff Nathan married the woman of his dreams.  To commemorate the wedding, they made a novel version of a wedding guest book, in the form of laser-cut puzzle pieces.  Nathan stained a 24×18” plywood board, then laser cut a jigsaw puzzle design.  As guests arrived, they signed their names on the pieces.  Nathan and Paige will assemble the puzzle and frame it, a perfect memento of the friends and family who attended this big event.  What a great idea!

A lithophane is an etched or molded artwork in very thin translucent material that can only be seen clearly when backlit with a light source.  3D printers are unusually good at making embossed photos. The print results don’t show much at first, but shine some light through one and you’ll be amazed by the details. The way it works is that light passes through the thin parts while being blocked by the thick parts. In this way, the differences in light bring out the details of the image.  Check-out these lithophanes created by Rob from the Schantz Makerspace:

And then with light behind it:

“Cura”, a popular free program for 3D printing, supports lithophanes natively.   You can drag and drop pictures into Cura to create them.  Want to make them yourself?  Check-out these great online resources:

Earlier this year, the Buckeye Council, Inc. Boy Scouts of America hosted its annual Trade Show at the Dalton Middle and Grade School.  Held in conjunction with The Baden-Powell Institute, the event is a training symposium conducted for Scout leaders who cover the full array of Scouting, from Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts to High Adventure Venture Crews. Their interests lie in everything from crafts and patches to Camping, High Adventure Equipment and Venues.  Over 300 Scout leaders was in-attendance.

Scouts are naturally “makers” at heart.  See how this troop in Wilmington, Delaware banded together to print prosthetic hands send to Haitian children in need (click the photo):

The Wayne College 3D Lab was a popular attraction at the trade show.  A steady stream of Scouts, parents, Scout leaders, and community members were fascinated with the technology and how the 3D Lab can be involved with free lab tours, use of the equipment for projects, and more.

The 3D Lab is still open over the remaining summer weeks, so feel free to stop in!  Our hours of operation are posted here.

Stay tuned next week as we introduce interesting folks who participated in this year’s Maker Faire!

Until then,

Tom

See this 3D-printable synthetic muscle that is three times stronger than you:
https://newatlas.com/3d-printable-soft-synthetic-muscle/51434

See how scientists 3D print human skin and bone For future Mars astronauts:
https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/19/07/09/2245221/scientists-3d-print-human-skin-and-bone-for-mars-astronauts

Introducing Drawdio – make music with a pencil, or a kitchen sink, or a banana, or anything! https://drawdio.com

Like whistles?  How about a 3D printed “calliope” set of four whistles that play a tune?
https://www.instructables.com/id/Four-Whistles-Version-2

Thanks for another incredible Maker Faire 2019!  You can find information about past participants here.

Don’t miss the next Maker Monday on Monday, August 19th at 7:00 p.m. at the Schantz Makerspace in Wooster.  Find out more at www.schantzmakerspace.com

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.