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Hello everyone, Things are happening in the mini “MakerSpace” here at Wayne College in A-120.  Representatives from the Shantz Organ Company arrived for a 3D printer demonstration and how the technology could impact their business.  A representative from the Daily Record was here as well.  Knowledge of this technology at Wayne College is spreading around the community. We also received the remainder of the original order, so now we have red, green, blue, black, and white.  We also have dissolvable filament for printing complicated objects.  This requires limonene solution for the dissolving; so stay tuned as we attempt a dissolvable part soon! Today’s object isRead More →

Hello everyone, Yesterday’s objects for The Wilburt Company printed perfectly.  Please stop-by A-120 if you would like to see them.  These objects were designed in the Creo CAD program and meant to be produced on an expensive CNC metal machine.  Printing a prototype part on that machine could cost up to $200, but on a 3D printer it cost about 50 cents! Today’s object is a Klein bottle, an example of a non-orientable surface; informally, it is a surface (a two-dimensional manifold) in which notions of left and right cannot be consistently defined.  A Klein bottle has no boundary (for comparison, a sphere is anRead More →

Hello everyone, We’ve been in-touch with Andrew Hartman and David Stoll from The Wilburt Company.  They produce telescopic masts, video towers, tubes, poles, shelters, etc. here in Orrville. Currently being printed is a prototype parted that they created in Creo.  Our first part printed for an outside company!  Come down and take a look. David is also working with us with Stephanie’s text necklace.  We successfully imported it from Adobe Illustrator to Creo, then extruded it to a 1/4″ thickness.  However, we cannot save it as an STL file that is valid for printing.  David may be able to help us with that. Interesting thingsRead More →

Hello everyone, Andrew, Dusty, and I are giving a presentation on the 3D printer to the Orrville Exchange Club today at 12:15.  We are meeting in the Student Life Building, Room 109 (the lower level, across from the restrooms).  You are welcome to come in and watch the presentation if you like.  Please join us! Thanks, TomRead More →

Hello everyone, As we learn how to use CAD programs to design objects, our students and staff are beginning to create objects that we can actually visualize and print!  One of our faculty has a chair with a missing leg floor protector, so Dusty designed a similar shape in CAD and printed it out… Next on the print queue for today is an iPhone stand that was also custom designed by Dusty.  It is unique in that there is embossed lettering on the -side- of the object, a special challenge for the printer.  It will print with temporary plastic “supports” up to the lettering, whichRead More →

Hello everyone, We didn’t have time to print Dusty’s custom designed door stopper; hopefully we will print the first revision of it today.  Dusty also designed a custom iPhone stand for Daniel in the Business Office; it is amazing how quickly he can crank-out designs in Creo.  We will print that this afternoon. Until then, we are being challenged with “taping” our print build plate.  This is Kapton tape that becomes sticky when heated.  This allows the first layer of plastic to adhere to the print bed.  Applying the tape is challenging, as it is difficult to remove air bubbles and prevent creases from forming. Read More →

Hello everyone, Today’s printing projects are a Minny Mouse cookie cutter and a custom designed doorstop. The former was found on Thingiverse and involves two pieces, an outer cutting shell and an stamper that impresses an image on the cookie.  The stamper was not printed as shown on the screen, the designer did not extrude the outline properly in CAD.  So instead of a frame on a thick substrate, the substrate is cut-out where the frame was extruded from it, making for a difficult print.  It’s difficult to explain, but come see how the printer fared! The next object being printed is a custom designRead More →

Hello everyone, Things are moving along with the 3D printer.  At the beginning of the week, we finished printing the parts for our first model rocket, the engine lock ring and the fins.  The rocket is fully assembled now and ready to fly later this semester.  Come to A-120 to take a look! Dusty perfected the art of applying acetone to smooth and “shiny up” our objects.  Instead of heating acetone to a vapor, it can be soaked into a rolled up paper towel and brushed onto an object.  This saves a lot of acetone and produces similar results.  Good job! Yesterday we printed aRead More →

Hello everyone, The rocket nosecone printed perfectly yesterday.  The piece is thin, symmetrical, and ready to fly.  The cone features an attachment beam for the parachute, printed by strings lines of plastic in mid-air to each side of the cone.  It is amazing to see the printer print plastic in mid-air, like a spider building a web.  We also printed a guitar string winding tool. Today’s print is the rocket’s payload mid-section.  It has a threaded base which prints automatically as part of the mid-section.  Also in the dock is a Wonder Woman’s tiara!  You never know what some of our students, faculty, and staffRead More →

Hello everyone, Today is our first attempt at printing something for the engineering students.  A student requested not just a sample nosecone from Thingiverse.com, but an entire model rocket.  We will print a part of the rocket each day, starting with the nosecone this morning. The nosecone is tricky, as the base has six “teeth” that do not provide much adhesion to the base.  For this job, we are printing the nosecone on a “raft” of temporary plastic to allow it to stick in its early building stages. Come over and take a look! TomRead More →