UAWC3 Lab (Page 14)

Hello everyone, Summer break is finally here.  With students rushing about the halls and studying hurriedly last week, it seems like a quieter, different world this week.  Students and community members still come to the Wayne College 3D Lab to finish-up personal projects, though. One exciting announcement is that we now support printing with rubber!  3D printers typically build objects out of plastic, so this is major news.  Our Taz 5 printers (generously provided by the Wayne County Community Foundation) supports this upgrade.  Our students are really excited about this; now they can print plastic parts with rubber bumpers, wheels with rubber treads, gaskets, andRead More →

Hello everyone, With Finals Week upon us, the spring semester is coming to a close.  What a ride it’s been this semester.  We’ve seen a homemade CNC built in a student’s garage, a 3D printing workshop at Heartland Point, two wheeled skateboards, an Arduino bicycle brake light system, numerous offsite presentations, the birth of our Electronics Station, and our affiliation with the new Route 30 Corridor Makerspace Ecosystem (courtesy of The Schantz Organ Company). It amazes me with how far the Wayne College 3D Lab has come in two short years.  When I walk into the room to find students talking animatedly about inventions theyRead More →

Hello everyone, With Finals Week approaching in two weeks, students work on final projects for various classes.  Engineering students in particular are finalizing their model rocket designs, some of them made on 3D printers.  The official Launch Day is Wednesday, April 27th at 9:15 a.m. (barring inclement weather).  If you have time in your schedule, stop-by our soccer field that morning to see rockets launch, made from wood to metal to plastic! Ben makes amazing progress with his home-built CNC machine.  The entire project comprises of donated and purchased parts, totaling a mere $200.  A few weeks ago, he invited a small group to hisRead More →

Hello everyone, It’s been another busy week in the 3D Lab.  Throughout the day, there is almost always someone in the lab, but when classes let-out, it becomes a bustling place with various projects being worked / talked about.  Students discuss mathematical equations on the whiteboard, fashion plane parts from foam board, complete homework assignments, and continue work on personal and class related projects.  The energy in that room is amazing. We are thankful for the six 3D printers in the lab, provided by the Laura B. Frick Charitable Trust – PNC Bank Trustee, the Romich Foundation, and the Wayne County Community Foundation.  It seemsRead More →

Hello everyone, Being Spring Break this week at Wayne College, the building has been quiet with students mostly staying home.  But some still wander into the 3D Lab to work on projects, use the 3D printers, and socialize a bit.  It was a good time to do some “spring cleaning” as the lab becomes quite messy from the constant activity. A couple of months ago, we met Kelly, one of our community members, at an business event at the Buckeye Event Center.  Being an an avid woodworker, he uses his machines heavily.  Kelly wondered if the 3D Lab could replace a broken accessory for hisRead More →

Hello everyone The 3D Lab has been quite busy lately.  In a week’s time, we made a road trip to Alliance, taught a 3D design and printing workshop in the lab for The Schantz Organ Company, promoted engineering at the Wayne College annual Milkshakes & Majors event, and provided lab tours for faculty.  And that’s not including the crazy projects that students are working on.  The lab is a non-stop room, full of creative minds with machines to turn ideas into reality. One of our students is an avid skateboarder and uses the 3D Lab to create original inventions, notably a two-wheel skateboard that feelsRead More →

Hello everyone, On a quiet Friday afternoon, it’s not so quiet in the 3D Lab.  As the community discovers what Wayne College has to offer, folks trickle in continuously, having heard about the lab from fellow students, the website, our offsite demonstrations, and general word-of-mouth.  For instance, the below photos are what’s happening in the lab right now: Heat pressing vinyl onto t-shirts Wiring an automatic brake light system Modifying a box for R/C airplane parts CAD designing and 3D printing   Speaking of projects, one of our Akron campus students uses our new Electronics Station to work on his latest invention, a velocity-dependent slowRead More →

Hello everyone, It’s a quiet Friday at Wayne College, but not quiet at all in the 3D Lab.  A half dozen or more students are doing homework and working on various projects, from automatic bicycle brake lights (powered by an Arduino microcontroller) to a bulldozer model complete with moving treads.  The beauty of the 3D Lab is that half of the projects are related to classes, while the other half are projects that students are building  and learning on their own steam.  One of our students is excited to spend the entire Spring Break in the lab; what is wrong with him?  😉 The UARead More →

Hello everyone, As of late, the 3D Lab has been a popular hang-out place for students.  Not to just to take a break from their studies (although many collaborate and complete homework there), but to relax, socialize, and make things together. With mid-semester quickly arriving, students are just beginning to experiment with model rocket designs in lab.   One particular student is researching ways to formulate his own rocket fuel (thankfully not in the 3D Lab!).  We remember Dusty’s fascinating attempts at this a year ago.  When the snow clears and the surrounding fields begin to green, we look forward to another launch of interesting rocketRead More →

Hello everyone, With the heavy snowfall from a couple of days ago, why endure cold weather when you could be inside a warm, cozy 3D lab?  That’s what our students are doing.  Engineering students are designing model rockets for launch later this system.  Another student is inventing a two-wheel skateboard with impressive CAD designs.  We are also printing car parts for the University of Akron’s Electric Vehicle Race Team using the resin and HIPS 3D printers.  There is always something going on in the lab. In our offsite adventures, we recently completed a collaborative activity with Heartland Education Community in Orrville, Ohio.  Wayne College offeredRead More →