We’ve added a new machine to the lab: an Inventables X-Carve. I scheduled a build day this coming Friday. We’ll see how far we can get in 2 hours!
Update:
Build Day, Part 1
Build Day 2, Part 2
Build Day, Part 3
Helping students rig the balloon, with the 3D printed picavet in the foreground:
Lowering the rig to clear the canopy:
Nothing better than doing real science in the field with students (plus wearing a sweet safety vest):
Additional photos and datasets at the project blog dolookdown.org
Max Mahoney (Chemistry) and I have been collaborating on a volumetric display for the 3D visualization of molecular models. We developed a pretty sweet prototype, and then Max had the idea that instead of one big monitor, wouldn’t it be easier to just have 4 identical small monitors?
Indeed I think it would be.
The video can be sent from the computer to a 4 way HDMI splitter, then sent to 4 identical monitors – maybe 7″? – each rotated 90 degrees. No special software to deal with, no creation of a special 4plexed version of the video. An elegant volumetric appliance, at least on paper…
Jennifer Kraemer (Early Childhood Education) was in the lab today, printing up some new connector pieces from the Free Universal Construction Kit. I used the K’NEX-to-Lego connectors in a workshop over the summer, and Jennifer is planning on printing many more pieces for use next week for activities with her ECE students.
Side note – I’ve been really impressed with the performance of the Printrbot Simple Metal. It’s been getting a fair amount of use lately, with the aquaponics nozzles and Max’s molecules and molecular visualizer and the picavet parts, and it just seems to go and go without being fussy. That said, I have my eye on a Formlabs Form 2. I’m especially interested in the castable resin. It would be great to get a metal pour going in the fall!
Working with Max Mahoney (Chemistry) on a molecule visualizer, and we had the opportunity to throw the prototype on a 30″ monitor. The results are encouraging!
Next up: Max is going to render a custom molecule video. We’ll format that for the system, and assuming all goes as planned, work out the enclosure issues, which will likely involve some CNC work.
After addressing the venturi challenge, I was able to get the second chain of recycled bottles for the drip aquaponics system set up:
It ran all weekend without a hitch, and the science fish seem pleased. I’ve planted the bottles with cuttings of mint, oregano, yerba buena, and lemon balm, and hopefully they’ll all root.
Max Mahoney (Chemistry) and I have been talking about using volumetric display technique like the one below for use in Chemistry classes to help students understand molecular structures.
Max has done a fair bit of research, and recently ordered up some acrylic pieces to scale the idea up. The pieces arrived, but the angles of the mating surfaces were not quite right, so solvent welding was looking iffy. Today in the lab we brainstormed some solutions, and Max got to work modeling a connector in SketchUp.
After some heroic calculations having to do with the angles in play, Max hammered out a model and we printed a set. The setup seems to be working so far, but we ran out of time to print a set for the top. Stay tuned!
Still waiting for the power and some other critical infrastructure pieces for the library aquaponics system to line up, so I’ve been working here and there on an open source, 3D printed drip system that uses recycled soda bottles as plant containers.
I was never quite able to get the venturi – the piece that uses air from an aquarium air pump to push water up a tube to water the plants – to work properly. It would work for a few hours, and then quit, I think because of clogs in the tiny air courses, so I set out to explore other solutions. Working off of an idea I found on Instructables for a bubble lift hydroponics setup, I headed to the hardware store for a few items, and was able to cobble something together. Science!
It’s been running all day, and seems stable. I’ll let it run overnight just to be sure, but I felt confident enough to stick some mint cuttings into the bottles, and hope they’ll root.
Stalwart champion of innovation Jason Pittman (Professor, Geosciences) – he of the long-term Innovation Center/Geosciences KAP/BAP/Quadcopter collaboration dolookdown.org – and I have been discussing uses for 3d printing in geology, geography and GIS. Most recently we’ve been looking at Terrain2STL (http://jthatch.com/terrain2stl/), which generates an STL from a selected area in Google Maps. Haven’t had time yet to print from there, but we did have a chance to print this sweet pre- and post-eruption model of Mount St. Helens (CC BY-NC-SA, by Tree_House_Fire:
The venturi in the tower aquaponics system doesn’t seem to work reliably. I’m guessing that the inner pathway keeps getting blocked, either by artifacts of the printing process, or with gunk pulled in from the water. In any case, I’m going to try a different approach. Specifically, I’m going to put a small pump in the tank, and have that on a timer, periodically flooding the bottles. To do that, I need to connect tubing of various diameters. I poked around on Thingiverse and found this hose barb adapter and manifold (CC BY-SA, by papergeek).
A few tweaks in the Customizer, and I’m able to print essentially any barb I need. Using a 3d printer to print objects to demonstrate 3d printing is one thing, and using a 3d printer to print useful objects for immediate use in a project is something altogether different – something like a miracle.