UAWC3 Lab (Page 24)

Hello everyone, Students are having all sorts of fun and discovery with the CAD software and 3D printers in A-120.  There is never a dull moment (nor a moment of peace for yours truly), but that is a good thing. In the engineering department, our student Jonny is designing a new way for his model rocket to land.  Instead of deploying a parachute, his system will open the rocket body like flower petals, then the rocket will (hopefully) slowly descend to the ground.  His CAD skills and design are amazing! In the Chemistry department, our very own Dusty Ball solved a problem with the sinksRead More →

Hello everyone, On a cold, windy day, Dean Deckler and engineering students assembled in the softball field to launch model rockets, many of which were made from the College’s 3D printers.  Some rockets had 3D printed parts (such as nose cones, body shafts, and fins) whereas other rockets were entirely 3D printed.  Students used molded balsa wood, PVC tubing, and even machined aluminum.  It was an exciting day with one rocket exploding in mid-air thanks to an overly thin walled 3D printed rocket body.       Waiting for launch 3D printed rockets     A machined aluminum rocket Ralph’s rocket with a custom 3DRead More →

Hi everyone, It’s a busy week at the Wayne College makerspace.  Rocket launch day is Wednesday the 23rd (tomorrow), so students are busy designing and 3D printing rocket parts.  If you are free tomorrow morning at 9:30, come to the softball field to watch the launches. We find that designing a shape does not necessarily guarantee that it will 3D print!  The larger MakerBot printer works well with designs made in Creo, while the portable printer works better with SolidWorks.  This is because each printer uses a different “slicing engine” software program to process the student designs before printing. The MakerBot currently is printing fins,Read More →

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 →