Hello everyone,
The Spring semester began at The University of Akron Wayne College. Despite the frigid temperature outside, the college is warm with bustling activity inside! We are happy to see returning students and new faces enriching their lives with learning. Engineering students enrolled in the Dynamics will build and fly model rockets, some of which may be fabricated in the 3D Lab. This includes rocket theory, design, construction, testing, and performance. It will be exciting to see what students and community members create in the lab this year!
Prusa Research Opens Prusa Education To Schools Around The World
Schools interested in using 3D printers and 3D printing in the classroom now have access to thousands of projects and lessons from Prusa Research, a 3D printer company. Now open to the public, institutions need only to sign-up to get access to a catalog of projects. Projects include 3D printed models for an eco-friendly house, a map of Europe, an insect house, plus an electromagnet (an exciting project that allows children to make their own magnet).
Over winter break, students from Wooster City Schools visited the 3D Lab to create a drum cover for their band. The design was created with vector art software (such as Corel DRAW, Adobe Illustrator, and InkScape), then cut into adhesive vinyl with our large-format vinyl cutter. To align the design’s elements onto the cover, they applied transfer tape on top the design, keeping them all positioned when applied to to the cover. The result was professional!
During Finals Week last month, students in the Tools for Engineering class competed in the (in)famous Battle Bots tournament. This year’s battle involved a lot of 3D printed enhancements to make the robots more fiendish than ever! Some printed parts in the 3D Lab, but more and more students have 3D printers at-home and made them there.
The tournament was entertaining and full of surprises. Plow attachments are typically the best “weapons” in tournaments and this time was no exception. The contending robot surrounded itself in a large orange dome that made it nimble and almost impossible to grip. But the plow won in the end!
Staff member Susan Corl brought a drawer pull to the 3D Lab from an antique cabinet. The matching pull was broken; she wondered if we could fabricate another. No problem! The original pull is polished brass. Even though our 3D printers cannot make metal parts (there are prosumer models that do), we had gold colored plastic “silk” material that is quite shiny. With a bit of design work in 123D Design, we created a matching piece with little effort. It was a good fit!
Kevin Wolf of Melrose Elementary School is searching for presenters interested in being part of their school’s STEAM Night. The event takes place on Wednesday February 21st from 6-7:30 p.m.
The event operates as an open house/children’s museum type setting where students and families move independently throughout the building during the event.
Review the attached flyer for activity examples. Please consider participating! Contact Kevin at wstr_kwolf@woostercityschools.org to find-out more.
The Coolest 3D Printed Cars of 2023 https://all3dp.com/2/coolest-3d-printed-cars
Like LEGO? Checkout these 40 Best LEGO pieces & minifigureshttps://all3dp.com/2/3d-print-lego-fantastic-parts-minifigs
Maker Faire Wayne County 2024 is happening on Saturday, July 27, 2024 at the Wayne County Fairgrounds! Space is limited, so sign-up soon! Click here for more information.
Join us on Monday February 19, 2024, for our next monthly gathering. Click here for more information.
Be sure to attend Make-it Monday, a monthly open meeting every second Monday at 6:00-8:00 p.m. Visit applecreekhistoricalsociety.com to learn more and for a list of upcoming classes.
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.