Hello everyone,
Finals Week is here! Students are cramming for their final tests this week, racing to finish end-of-term projects, etc. The 3D Lab is packed with engineering students, especially when projects were due that week. It’s refreshing to see this activity after a long, dry spell earlier in the pandemic. Students are having a lot of fun in the lab, too. Check out these cute dioramas made by Early Education majors!
Earlier in the year, community member Norm was asked by a local sewing machine repair person if he would like a challenge to make a gear for a sewing machine that was no longer available. The repair person gave Norm the broken gear to measure to make the replacement.
Below is the broken gear and hub after Norm separated them. The gear was pressed on the metal hub and the knurl on the raised part of the hub shaft bit into the plastic, mating the two parts so the gear would cause the hub to rotate.
To make the gear, Norm used Fusion 360 with a helix gear plugin that he obtained from the Fusion 360 website. To test the gear, he had to make an identical right-handed gear. Using the Fusion 360 mirror command it was easily created to make sure the teeth would mesh after a test print or two.
After creating an identical replacement gear, the trick was attaching it permanently to the metal hub. To heat the hub to the melting point of the PLA plastic gear, the hub was placed in Norm’s oven at 360° F for 20 minutes. The heated hub slid over a pencil and using gentle pressure pushed down on the hub until it came in contact the metal washer. Below is the finished part!
Read the attached PDF if you would like to read more about how this replacement sewing gear was made.
Today was the day of the infamous Battle Bots tournament, participated by students taking the Tools for Engineering class! Throughout the semester, they build LEGO Mindstorms robots to perform useful tasks. But what fun is that compared to robots bent on mutilation? This non graded assignment is more about imaginative designs and fun. And what fun they had! The surprises were smaller robots that ran circles around larger ones, robots that lost parts as they fought, and sometimes both robots sometimes tumbling off-rink in a death grip.
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:
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
British Man Given 3D Printed Eye In a World First
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/11/25/health/3d-printed-eye-scli-intl-gbr-scn
Reverse Engineering & 3D Printing Classic Car Parts
https://all3dp.com/1/reverse-engineering-3d-printing-classic-car-parts
What’s better than a store-bought gift? A personalized gift that you made yourself! Check out these laser gift ideas:https://www.epiloglaser.com/resources/sample-club.htm
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
Maker Monday is postponed out of COVID19 precautions. Please check www.schantzmakerspace.com for future meeting dates, workshops, and activities as some dates have changed.
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.