Checked my Tesla account this morning, part of my daily routine when I arrive at work now. I was shocked to find that I had been given a VIN and new estimated delivery dates. My previous delivery date was between April 12 – May 14, however my new dates have moved forward to March 23-27. The tighter window plus inclusion of a VIN I think means that this is really going to happen. I originally ordered the car on on October 15th, which is 146 days ago. A long time to wait.
In a bit of excitement, I had Ashleigh immediately begin work on insurance for the car, however, after talking to a Tesla representative, they recommended waiting until I receive a text message and schedule the actual delivery date and time. Hopefully, all works out and I will have my new car within the next 2 weeks or so.
Junior student Clark B has been working on circuitry to control an actual Stop Light that was donated to the shop a few years ago. Many students had thought about working on a project with the Stop Light, but nobody truly took on the project as Clark has done. So far he has written a program for an Arduino that will allow the light to turn on to reflect the daily class schedule. Green light for when we are in class time, yellow for 5 minutes before the bell, and red for time between classes. Along with his Arduino, he has a relay to control the AC voltage that turns on the light.
Additionally, we repurposed an old rolling television stand that was being dumped in the trash. The wheels were broken so we drilled new holes in the steel frame, tapped the holes for M10 bolts, and used some new casters we had in our storage room. To connect the light to the stand, another student, Senior Daniel R, 3D modeled and printed a connecting element that rests on the poles of the TV stand, and allows the Stop Light to slip onto the top of the connector. It’s coming together very well at the moment, and just a little more wiring and finalizing the coding should complete the project. Will post again when completed. For now, some photos below.
It’s been a few days since my last post, was a bit derailed from the February break here at school among other things. Over the weekend, a student had started a 3D print of a Y shaped connector for our dust collecting system for our 2 Bantam PCB Mills. It was printed upright with support for the legs that make the top part of the Y. I’m not always available when students begin a 3D print, and most have my permission to print without me needing to micromanage their files and how they get sent to the printer. One thing I do try to instill in my students, however, is understanding how a CAD object will be manufactured before they even begin working on the computer. That is, they should know whether or not they are going to 3D print, lasercut, or mill that part because that has ramifications as to how the part should be created in Fusion 360. Below you will see the print I saw when I arrived at school on Monday morning.
Now, there is nothing wrong with this print – it actually came out quite nice. Yet, our 3D printers have the capability to print angles up to 45 degrees without support. Which means this print could be printed without the support structures – which saves us not only filament but also time. I corrected the file in Simplify3D and reprinted it to demonstrate to students the advantages of understanding their method of manufacturing in order to model more appropriately.
There is nothing wrong with this student’s model, and it printed out fine without support. We try and teach students, especially with 3D printing, to try to design without the need for support in order to save time and material. Below is a quick video the the printer managing the overhangs in this print.
Since this is our February break, and yesterday was my birthday, I decided to treat myself and go flying with Carl from our club. Wanted to get some approaches in and get back in the air, since it was December 21st when I last flew. We had a solid day of flying planned – first we headed to Nantucket and flew an approach there, while on the ground we did a VOR check so we could do some VOR approaches into Hyannis and then Chatham. We had lunch at Chatham and then flew back to Marshfield to pick up another passenger and fly them to Hyannis to pick up the other club plane which was receiving maintenance. We then flew back to Marshfield, which allowed me to get 6 approaches done in one day! All in all it was a fun day, but I need some flying time where I don’t spend the duration of the flight under the hood. Some photos below.
Well, today was my birthday. 43 times around our star Sun. I spent the day working the Mustang Camp – teaching elementary and middle school students how to code and do CAD. Actually, the middle school students did not show up, so just taught the 3rd graders in the morning. In the evening I went home, worked out, and hung out with the chihuahuas on the couch. Ash and I have plans to go to dinner at the Grand Tour on Friday evening, so we just laid low tonight. Important birthday photos below.
