UAWC3 Lab (Page 24)

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 →

Hello everyone, Several of us from Wayne College made a trip to Case Western Reserve’s “ThinkBox” initiative last Friday.  ThinkBox is possible through numerous generous donations.  And what an exciting time we had!  They have all sorts of equipment for making and building things.  For those who like to creating objects, there are high-end 3D printers for printing plastic parts and 3D scanners for copying physical objects into the computer.  For shaping and cutting, there are laser engravers, vinyl cutters, and a computer controlled router.  There is also a wood shop and metal shop for crafting things by-hand.  For those who like working with electronics,Read More →

Hello everyone, Our trip to Case Western Reserve’s 25 million-dollar ThinkBox was a rousing success.  Their facility has two $40k 3D printers, a MakerBot, laser cutter, laser engraver, circuit board creator, computerized sewing machine, complete metal and woodworking shops, vinyl cutter, and even construction paper and Play-doh!  It is an amazing facility.  We took lots of notes and pictures and will post those soon.  The most amazing fact is that all of the machines are open to the public for free use; folks only need to pay for materials used such as wood or plastic.  Be sure to check it out at: http://engineering.case.edu/thinkbox/ We planRead More →

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 →