{"id":11183,"date":"2019-02-25T11:20:35","date_gmt":"2019-02-25T15:20:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.uakron.edu\/waynec3\/?p=11183"},"modified":"2019-02-25T11:31:21","modified_gmt":"2019-02-25T15:31:21","slug":"watering-plants-space-with-3d-printing-laser-engraver-repair-and-a-visit-to-lincoln-elementary-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.uakron.edu\/waynec3\/2019\/02\/25\/watering-plants-space-with-3d-printing-laser-engraver-repair-and-a-visit-to-lincoln-elementary-school\/","title":{"rendered":"Watering plants space with 3D printing, laser engraver repair, and a visit to Lincoln Elementary School"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Hello everyone,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s hard to believe that the middle of the Spring semester\nis just a couple of weeks away.  Mother Nature can\u2019t make up its mind with\nwinter; one day its relatively warm and pleasant, the next has a flash snowfall\nthat closes roads.  The weather hasn\u2019t hampered the camaraderie and\ndiverse projects happening in the 3D Lab.  It\u2019s been a particularly busy\nplace this semester with plenty of students and community members alike hanging\nout, learning, making, and generally having fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week, Kei and his father visited the lab to begin work\non a fascinating project that involves NASA, long-duration space missions, and\n3D printing.  Future long-duration space missions will require crew\nmembers to grow their own food, so, understanding how to water plants in\nmicrogravity<\/a> is an important step toward that goal and for understanding\nhow plants behave in such an environment. A key factor is that the plant\u2019s\nroots need both water and air for the plant to grow well. This presents a\nchallenge in the apparent absence of gravity because water and air do not mix\nwell in “weightlessness.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Kei\u2019s current research design challenge is to design and\nbuild a device that allows air to penetrate towards the bottom on at least one\nside while liquid climbs along a different side. Since there is effectively no\n“weight” in  microgravity, forces that we would deem minuscule or\nineffective on earth is magnified in space. Hydrophobicity, hydrophilicity, and\ncapillary action are a few of these phenomenons. The designed objects will be\ntaking advantage of these properties to accomplish the objectives of this\nresearch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Three objects are being created through 3D printing at the\nWayne College 3D Lab. SLA resin printers are being utilized to create\ntransparent objects for ideal experimental observation. The completed objects\nwill then be coated with hydrophobic sprays at specific locations on the\nobject. Finally, the objects will be tested at the NASA GRC drop tower where it\nwill experience 2.2 seconds of microgravity while partially submerged in water.\nIf the results qualify for the final stage of the NASA\nDrop Tower Challenge<\/a>, they will be presented at the ASGSR conference at\nDenver, Colorado later this year.  We are excited for Kei and glad that\nthe 3D Lab can realize his ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The week before last, our trusty laser engraver went\non-strike from frequent use.  The motor that moves the laser head left\n& right froze-up.  The motor would have cost almost $200 to replace,\nbut lab staff Chris found that the motor was serviceable.  He purchased a\nreplacement bearing (under $2), disassembled the motor, removed the frozen\nbearing, then carefully reassembled it.  It was quite a delicate operation\nwith arranging the brushes and springs inside!  We are so thankful to\nChris for getting our laser engraver back online.  He\u2019s an interesting\nfellow and is into drones, laser engraving, and other R\/C planes; stop-by the\n3D Lab on a Saturday morning to chat with him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Last week, the 3D Lab was invited to Lincoln Elementary School<\/a> in\nWadsworth to talk about 3D printing and how it enables young minds to consider\ncareers in engineering.  It was quite a crowd with well over 100 children\nquietly sitting on the gymnasium floor, fascinated with the 3D printer and full\nof questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The students had so many questions that I couldn\u2019t deliver\nmy full presentation, but that was not a problem!  We talked about how 3D\nprinters work, how we use them at Wayne College, and gave students ideas and\nencouragement to create and invent for themselves.  We also talked about\nthe upcoming Wayne County Mini\nMaker Faire<\/a>, thankful that Lincoln Elementary was part of last year\u2019s\nfaire.  It was a great experience and the children were so polite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stay tuned next week as we introduce more interesting folks\nwho participated in last year\u2019s Maker Faire!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Until then,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tom<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Greek City Locals Help Design Street Furniture 3D-printed From Their Plastic Waste
https:\/\/newatlas.com\/new-raw-print-your-city-zero-waste-lab\/58090<\/a>

Russian Company \u201c3D Bioprinting Solution\u201d Prints Organs in Space
https:\/\/all3dp.com\/2\/for-alexei-russian-company-3d-bioprinting-solutions-printed-human-organs-in-space<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Like LEGOs?\u00a0 Check-out These 40 Fantastic Lego Parts and Minifigs to 3D Print: https:\/\/all3dp.com\/1\/3d-printed-lego-bricks-heads-pieces<\/a>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn how to make these beautiful Portuguese Azulejo tiles:
https:\/\/all3dp.com\/1\/weekend-project-how-to-3d-print-portuguese-azulejo-tiles<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Wayne County Mini Maker Faire is coming soon!\u00a0 May 18, 2019 from 10:00-3:00.\u00a0 Sign-up soon<\/a> to participate as space is limited at this huge community event.\u00a0 Deadline is April 1st. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Don\u2019t miss the next Maker Monday on March 18th. \u00a0Find out more at www.schantzmakerspace.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We offer a free \u201clistserv\u201d that allows to you ask questions to members in the makerspace. It\u2019s great for sharing ideas, forming friendships, and helping & advising each other. To join, send an email to listserv@lists.uakron.edu<\/a> with “SUBSCRIBE MAKERSPACE-GROUP” in the subject line.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hello everyone, It\u2019s hard to believe that the middle of the Spring semester is just a couple of weeks away.  Mother Nature can\u2019t make up its mind with winter; one day its relatively warm and pleasant, the next has a flash snowfall that closes roads.  The weather hasn\u2019t hampered the camaraderie and diverse projects happening in the 3D Lab.  It\u2019s been a particularly busy place this semester with plenty of students and community members alike hanging out, learning, making, and generally having fun. Last week, Kei and his father visited the lab to begin work on a fascinating project that involves NASA, long-duration space missions,Read More →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1250,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10004],"tags":[],"class_list":["entry","author-tjh1-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2","post-11183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-articles"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uakron.edu\/waynec3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uakron.edu\/waynec3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uakron.edu\/waynec3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uakron.edu\/waynec3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1250"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uakron.edu\/waynec3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11183"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uakron.edu\/waynec3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11183\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11251,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uakron.edu\/waynec3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11183\/revisions\/11251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uakron.edu\/waynec3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uakron.edu\/waynec3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uakron.edu\/waynec3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}