Hello everyone,
The Spring semester came to a close last week, culminating with a Celebration of Graduates event honoring students who recently completed their degrees through the Wayne campus. More than 150 students, family members, staff, and special guests attended the graduation event on May 4th—the highest attendance since before the pandemic.
Even though spring classes are finished, there is plenty happening at Wayne College! Everyone is welcome at the Wayne College Library for its summer activities including board games, movies, book clubs, even a used book sale in August! Attached is a schedule of events. Click to learn more.
In the 3D Lab, students recently used the solvent ink printer and heat press to make cute t-shirts for a bachelorette party. The decals were created from JPG photos, backgrounds removed using free, online websites. The photos were printed on matte heat press vinyl and were rather large, though they look beautiful and shiny when heated pressed onto shirts. Vinyl decals allow full-color graphics, though it makes the shirts stiffer with larger logos. Direct-to-fabric (DTF) printing allows the shirt to flex more.
A community member experimented with heat pressing vinyl decals onto jeans for her daughter’s birthday party. Even with the thicker clothing, the vinyl fused into the fabric well, making a permanent bond that will hold-up to many washings! The daughter was thrilled. ?
Earlier this year, the local YMCA hosted an event that needed a souvenir, a custom poker chip with their logo on it. Instead of designing a 3D model from scratch (which can require moderate CAD skills), we converted a JPG the logo to an SVG “vector” file (a mathematical way to display an image) using Adobe’s free conversion tool. We converted the “flat” SVG file into a 3D printable model using SVG2Solid, another free online tool.
We found a blank poker chip design on Thingverse, then used the 3D printer’s slicer software to combine the chip and logo 3D models, colored them, then printed! The result turned out great. While a somewhat complicated solution, it was certainly something that anyone can do with a bit of patience and creativity.
Gabriel, one of our students, involved himself with another complicated 3D printing project that spanned two semesters. He 3D printed two large, articulated models of the popular Metroid video games. This was no small feat as each figure required many 3D printed parts, some of which did not fit well to each other, requiring resizing and modifying part designs. Some of the parts where printed in TPU (rubber) filament for flexibility, while nail polish was applied to stiffen joints for adjustable poses.
As you can see, the finished figures are fantastic! It’s a perfect example of hard work and perseverance that is a quality of many of our students.
Stay tuned next month as we reveal more interesting things happening in the Wayne College 3D Lab!
Until then,
Tom
3-D Printing of Baby’s Heart Guides Surgery
https://www.vagelos.columbia.edu/about-us/columbia-medicine-magazine/archives/spring-summer-2015/clinical-advances/3-d-printing-babys-heart-guides-surgery
3D Printed Toys: 25 Great 3D Prints for Kids
https://all3dp.com/2/3d-printed-toys-distract-kids/
Join us for our next Maker Monday meeting on Monday, May 18, 2026, from 7:00–9:00 PM at the Romich MakerSpace, 13875 Cleveland Road, Creston, Ohio 44217. This month’s featured program will highlight the Triway Robotics program.
Wood Lathe – Beginners Class (May 19, 2026)
Woodworking Club (May 28, 2026)Click here for more information
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.