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Hello everyone, It’s a busy day at the Wayne makerspace.  Students are beginning to design and print model rocket parts for launch day on the 23rd.  Dusty and Andrew are tutoring engineering students how to design rocket bodies and nose cones in Creo, AutoCAD, and SolidWorks (thanks, Dan, for getting SW at Wayne!).  Students are learning not just how to design objects in CAD, but objects that will print well on a 3D printer. We are also trying something new, printing room labels that affix to brackets outside some rooms in the Student Life Building.  These placards are dual-color, an engineering challenge that involves creatingRead More →

Hello everyone, We had some accomplishments the past couple of days.  Our third 3D printer has been ordered, another MakerBot that works with PLA plastic (instead of ABS that we currently use).  This will allow us to print more complicated parts.  Thanks to the Romich Foundation for funding this purchase.  Second, Dusty printed more parts for the automatic parts rinser machine for the Chemistry Lab.  This machine will rinse parts 30 times without human intervention, based on his own original design: We also printed a different wrench design from Thingiverse.com.  This wrench prints as one piece (no assembly nor glue required).  Just take it outRead More →

Hello everyone, As we gear-up for printing model rocket designs for the engineering classes next week, the 3D printers have been busy.  Dusty is in the process of designing a “parts rinser” based on the Pythagorean Cup that we printed for Dr. Vierheller.  There are instruments in the Chemistry Lab that are difficult to clean; they must be rinsed in a solution 30 times.  To simply this procedure, this idea was created: Basically, as solution enters a container in the lower-left corner, the container slows fills.  A vertical tube on the right side of the container also fills.  When the solution reaches the top, thenRead More →

Hello everyone, We’ve been busy this week at the Wayne College Maker Space.  We printed 3D models for two local companies.  The first was a cup to hold liquid resin to see if PLA plastic can hold up to its heat.  The second were a couple of objects to see how a 3D printer could reproduce them. On the local front, students Dusty and Josh are creating new CAD designs.  In the Chemistry Lab, there are glass implements that have a difficult time being dried out due to their shape.  Dusty created an air distributor that evenly applies airflow to the glass implements: What wasRead More →

Hello everyone, We had an exciting time on Saturday.  Six Wayne College students and staff carpooled early Saturday morning to Case Western Reserve’s Think[box] to tour the facility and use their laser cutters & 3D printers.  Barry Romich also visited us, offering advice and encouraging us as we worked on projects.  Thanks, Barry! Sadly, both of their MakerBots were not functional because of various problems, but one worked well enough to print a mouth harmonica for Josh.  Stephanie and Chris learned how to use the laser cutter/engraver, while Andrew cut his chops on SolidWorks.  It was a busy place with lots of students and communityRead More →

Hello everyone, Since the college building is closed on Saturday because of Spring Break, we will meet in the main building front parking lot by 8:15 that morning. Sounds like we have a good sized crowd going, so it should be a lot of fun!  If you have any questions, please let me know. Thanks! TomRead More →

Hello everyone, We are having an exciting time learning how to use “Polly” our portable 3D printer.  The quality of prints is amazing.  We printed three sample bunny objects as we learned how to use the printer. What is nice about this printer is not only the high resolution of the prints, but its advanced features in the hardware and software.  This printer supports automatic bed leveling and nozzle height detection, so no more messing around with bed leveling screws and checking nozzle height!  The printer is very easy to use. A couple of weeks ago, a student brought a part for an old exerciseRead More →

Hello everyone, Black seems to be the color of the week.  We started by printing a black wrench for a staff member, a Darth Vader pen holder for a teacher, and another Ocarina for a student.  We have two more orders to design parts in CAD to replace broken items.  One is a deck table pole collar and the other is a replacement part for an old exercise machine.  Dusty and Andrew are busy honing their CAD skills, to be sure.  And more engineering students are interested in improving designs, too. But the real news is the arrival of our portable 3D printer!  Through aRead More →

Hello everyone, We have been busy with the 3D printer and CAD work over the past couple of days.  The wrench for Dr. Vierheller came out superbly.  A couple of weeks ago, we printed a two-part “heart gear box” from ThingiVerse.com.  One author designed the spinning heart, while another created a hand-crank system beneath it.  We found that the hand-crank did not work well; its gear system did not mesh properly.  So Dusty designed a stronger support system for the crank in CAD and now the heart rotates perfectly!  Come to A-120 to try it out. We are making another road trip!  The Cleveland MiniRead More →

Hello everyone, After a brief hiatus, we are back to printing interesting things with the 3D printer.  Today’s object is an adjustable wrench requested by one of our teachers.  The wrench is a multi-part design, so we will print it as pieces over the next couple of days.  Come see what is printing so far! Last Wednesday, Dusty put the finishing touches on the plastic collar for the standing floor fan (the original collar was broken).  We printed the design which works perfectly with the fan!  We are quite pleased with the result as we were able to reproduce a complicated object with the sameRead More →