Hello everyone,
It’s hard to believe that Fall semester is almost at its halfway mark. Leaves are changing color and falling fast, seemingly early for this time of year. It’s encouraging to see pre-pandemic activity with students milling the halls, hanging out in the cafeteria & hallways, and hanging-out in the 3D Lab. Students in the Tools for Engineering class scramble each week in the 3D Lab to build robots in the Lab for different challenges. The recent challenge was robots pulling a weighted sled, a real challenge for plastic LEGO parts!
Matt, a student who practically lived in the 3D Lab, now at the Akron main campus, wanted to make personalized anniversary gifts for coworkers. Laser engravers work really well with hardwoods, so Matt bought a few dozen hammers from a local hardware store. Because tool handles are not square, flat pieces of wood, we used a technique called “center dot engraving” to engrave names onto them. The center point of the handle is marked with a red dot laser, then the center of the text is engraved to align with the center dot. This technique is precise enough to engrave text onto pencils! The engraved hammers turned out beautifully and were fast & easy to make:
Community member Ben visits the 3D Lab and participates regularly in Wayne County Maker Faire. He builds model rockets as tall as a person and fabricates his own rocket fuel as well! Ben 3D prints some of his rocket parts, but the surface is not smooth enough, resulting in air drag. This happens because 3D printing works by depositing layers of plastic, similar to building a pyramid. These “layer lines” are visible and can affect air flow.
To solve this problem, Ben built an “acetone vapor bath chamber”. When printing with ABS plastic, acetone dissolves it. But in vapor form, acetone can gently smooth the surface of a 3D printed object, like this:
Ben made the chamber by taking a one-gallon ice-cream container and lining it with paper towels. He used electrical tape because the scotch tape did not seem to stick very well. Ben then cut openings in the lid, then glued and taped some plexiglass sheets for windows so he would not have to open the lid to check on the part’s progress. He soaked the paper towels in acetone and just spilled it in and then moved it around until the towels were soaked. He then cut an old Zip-Lock bag and placed it at the bottom so the part would not be in direct contact with the liquid acetone.
Below is the before & after of a rocket part that was acetone smoothed. This part only took an hour and about 15 minutes to finish. The layer lines are practically eliminated!
Note, acetone is extremely flammable. Do not attempt to recreate Ben’s work without the help of a parent or guardian.
In August, the 3D Lab made a road trip to the Holmes County Fair. It was a packed event with our booth located in an exhibition barn. It’s was also Kid’s Day at the fair, so we shared the barn with many other exhibitors for kids to learn from, everything from making “slime” to beehives! We brought a portable 3D printer to our booth and explained how they work, how kids can get interested into engineering careers just by having fun and inventing things on their own. There were a non-stop stream of requests to print items! We had a great time and most everyone was amazed by the technology.
The 3D Lab continues to provide free services for the community with our digital fabrication equipment and materials. Feel free to contact us below if you have a project that we can assist with! Click here for a complete list of equipment.
We also do road trips! If your school, community group, or business would like a 3D printing demonstration and ideas about careers in engineering, please send an email to tjh1@uakron.edu.
Stay tuned later this month as we introduce more interesting folks who participated in the latest Maker Faire!
Until then,
Tom
See how plastic waste is recycled with 3D printing
https://all3dp.com/1/3d-printing-from-plastic-waste
Scientists Reveal World’s First 3D-Printed, Marbled Wagyu Beef
https://interestingengineering.com/scientists-reveal-worlds-first-3d-printed-marbled-wagyu-beef
Need a project? Check-out these 30 best 3D printed projects!https://all3dp.com/2/best-3d-printer-projects-3d-printing
| Maker Faire Wayne County 2022 is happening! May 21, 2022. It’s our fourth year at Wayne College and is an unforgettable experience. Space is limited, so apply today to participate! https://waynecounty.makerfaire.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.