Reflection 6: More research opportunities with 3D printers

Out of interest, I went back to the lab to meet Joe to work with the 3D printers on March 16th for 3 hours. We were still in the process of building parts for the 3D printer which had to be rebuilt. So we were asked to start working on the rods for the x-axis of the printers. We were given a replica of it and asked to make it the same way.

We took some time to figure out how it should be built and where we should start first. So we eventually started making it. The biggest difficulty we faced was to put the screws through the parts. The parts were brand new so the holes were approximately the right size but not exactly big enough to put the screws and bolts through them easily. So we had to put in extra efforts to squeeze through the screws and make the screw imprints on the parts. But we were able to do that. Sometime we figured out that we forgot to add washers. They are really tiny pieces so we forgot to put that in before the screws many times.

But eventually we were able to put together almost about 3 fourths of the whole piece. We hope to finish it up the next time we get to the lab. And I already know that it will feel very rewarding to see that I built a whole part of a 3D printer fro scratch. 

Reflection 5: Viewpoint on Carbon 3D printer

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UpH1zhUQY0c" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Carbon 3D is the world's first carbon fiber 3D printer. I saw this video in class an I was intrigued about it's workings. I went back home and saw the video to understand it better. I found out that the machine picks up the liquid in a certain shape and a laser light is shone across the layer of the liquid. The laser removes the unwanted parts of the liquid and makes the other parts stay, which causes it to cool and become a solid. That's all I have been able to find out about the mechanism.

But what intrigued me was the purpose of this invention. Obviously this will be able to print small objects. But as I indicated in my first blog, I am an ardent follower of F1. The chassis of an F1 car is also made of carbon fibre. This made me ponder if someday, an F1 car can be built by a larger sized Carbon 3D printer as it would make the production of the car much faster.

Cost wise, this innovation is obviously very expensive because, firstly, the material for the liquid would be expensive. Secondly, the cost to keep heating the liquid, to make it stay as liquid, would also be a recurring cost. So as of now, it might be a very new and innovative creation but personally, it might be too expensive to run this for small uses. 

Reflection 4: THON experience

I visited the BJC when THON was going on. I went in on the Friday night and stayed there for 2 hours. I was amazed by the energy and the atmosphere that I experienced there, and most of that energy was coming out from the dancers. I was shocked to see that none of them were nervous or scared since they had to stand for 46 hours straight. They were rather happy at the cause for which they were dedicating their time to. I really enjoyed my time there since it was something I had never experienced before, but I had to leave since my friends were getting bored.

As an engineering student, I would obviously analyze the engineering behind the event. And the first thing that would come up spontaneously to mind is the speaker and sound system. Without that, the event wouldn't have been so huge. But apart from that, I was amazed at the engineering of the building. I felt that the building's engineering was done in such a way that a lot of the noise and vibrations could stay within the building. This would definitely help to improve the atmosphere inside the building. And this would obviously be even more helpful if there is a musical concert in the building. Not sure if it was intentionally built that way or it happens to be a coincidence, but I liked that part of the planning. 

Reflection 3: Research opportunity with 3D printers

I had gone over to my professor's lab with 3D printers about 3 times, towards the end of January and beginning of February, and logged a total of 6 hours. I thought it was great fun and it was an excellent learning opportunity. I met 2 graduate students, Nathan and Joe, who taught me the workings of a 3D printer. They taught me how to use a software called Pronterface, which operates the 3D printers by giving various commands. The second time we went, we actually got to print printer parts, by ourselves. Those parts were printed to be fixed into another 3D printer.

Meanwhile, we started removing parts from the other printer so that we could fit in the parts that we had just printed. Removing the old parts from the printer was the toughest part since we had the parts were fit in really tight and the screws were very small.

The greatest bit of this was learning the use of Proterface. It was very complicated in the beginning since there were a lot of things to be adjusted before it would actually make the 3D printer print. I had to make sure the axes, the temperature, the slicer settings were right so that it would print properly. I thought adjusting the slicer settings was the toughest bit but I seem to have a hang of it now.

I hope to print more thing next time and make sure it all goes well without requiring help from other at the lab. 

Blog 6: Scenario Thinking

Scenario thinking is when you have a certain situation at hand and you have a structured thinking process to anticipate what's going to happen in the future. This helps to predict what's going to happen in the future if the situation persists. This also helps to determine if the situation would become better or worse when a solution is implemented.

I think this scenario thinking might not be common as a term or concept but I feel it's one everyone uses for their own uses. I think I myself would have used this sometime in the past to fix a certain situation.

I think a good example of this is the situation with cars. Cars have traditionally been running on fuel,
but fuel is a nonrenewable source of energy and it is progressively becoming extinct. So as a substitute to that, companies have
invented electric cars. Electric cars are still under a lot of speculation and tests but soon I believe they would be the future. So in this situation, the solution is electric cars and it is being observed over a period of time to see how it would better the situation.

Reflection 2: Tinkering with 3D printers

My group and I have been tinkering with 3D printer for the past 3 classes (which is a total of 4 and a half hours). It seemed a daunting challenge since none of us had any prior experiences with 3D printers, yet we knew it would be fun. When we started using it, we couldn't even figure out where which cable had to be connected. But soon we could figure all of that out and we made a quick design on solidworks and started to print. We were really excited that it was starting to print since we were the first team to actually design something and get it to start printing. But just when we started printing, it all took a turn to the worse. One of the 2 rods for the z-axis fell right into our hands because the tube connecting the frame and the rod shrunk. So we had to get a new tube and fix it up again. But we still couldn't get it to print.
In the next class we figured out that we attached a tube which was slightly too long so we took out the screws and cut a small part of the tube off. And we tried to print something again. But then something else happened and we figured out that the thermocouple wasn't working so we couldn't measure the temperature of the nozzle. By the time we could fix it, class was up.
So we cam back next class and tried fixing the thermocouple. We had to remove the whole nozzle and remove the thermocouple. We tried attaching another thermocouple to the nozzle but we were not successful with it. By this time, every other group had started printing their designs after fixing their printers. We started to become really frustrated at this point so we put the original thermocouple back in place and tried to see if it worked or not. But sadly, it didn't so we decided to give up on the printer.

Blog 5: Reflection of Blog 3 and 4

Justin Geedy-

• I agree with his definition of Design, in which he states that it is the ideas and actions used to create something. It is a very effective and complete definition of design. I also really liked his project for his EDSGN 100 class. I liked the idea and the design his team had. I believe that it is one which would be very effective in cars since driving is becoming very dangerous these days. I think he deserves extra XP for the idea of his project. 
• http://jlg5929.blogspot.com/

Dylan Combs-

• I really liked his definition of technological disobedience. He says it is "a new design to be used for a completely new purpose in which the original product was never designed to be used for". I completely agree with that definition because technological disobedience is when you use a product for something else with a slight design change. I had also described technological disobedience in a similar way.
• http://psudrc.blogspot.com/ 

Nichole Doherty-

• I thought her definition of technological disobedience was very thoughtful. I liked how she broke down the 2 words and thought about the definition separately. That requires some great thinking. I also really liked her example where students use their ID cards to wipe the snow off their cars. I think she deserves extra XP for her creative thinking and great examples.
• http://nicholemdohertysblog.blogspot.com/

Yupeng-

• I really liked how he cleared out the common misconception that design and creation are same. I agree with him that many people think they are the same where as they are very different. I also like his project design for his EDSGN class. Drinking coffee out from a mug with 1 finger is really tough. Making it possible for handicapped people is a really great objective. 
• http://iamliguangming.blogspot.com/

Justin Nowosielski-

• His definition of technological disobedience is described very well in a nutshell. I agree with his definition. His example of jailbreaking a phone is pretty smart. Everyone knows jailbreaking a phone is a form of technological disobedience but it doesn't pop up to mind easily. 
• https://justinnowosielski.wordpress.com/page/2/

I read many other blogs too and I have to say that everyone has done a really good job on it.