Tag: diy

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Crazy Lights

A few times this week I’ve noticed in the morning that the lighting in my shop is behaving a bit strange. The system is a ‘smart’ lighting platform that recognizes movement within a room. It will automatically turn on the lights when movement is sensed, and then turn the lights out after a set time if no movement is sensed. Usually when I arrive at work the lights turn on automatically, and then after a while of working at my desk they turn off. I then get up and walk a few steps to get them back on again. This morning, I got up from my desk to get the lights back on and then started turning off and on again at random. It was very strange. It lasted for about 30 seconds and then everything was normal again. I’ve put a short video of it below.

In other news, our students have finally decided it was time to create some more permanent name tags for their lockers in the shop. After a few different iterations, they settled on making acrylic nametags. They spray paint the back of clear acrylic whatever color they want, then engrave their names in reverse on the acrylic. It creates a really nice finish. They are measuring and drilling holes into the lockers today, and will probably spend some time next week finishing the job. Each student is responsible for making their own locker tag. Below is an example.

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Support

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.

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Camp Mustang

Today I needed to work on a lasercut project for the Camp Mustang that will be happening next week at the high school. Camp Mustang is a 2 day in school event for elementary and secondary school students within the Medford school district. I will be offering students CAD lessons, lasercutting, and some basic electronics. Several years ago, at my previous teaching job, I created a lasercut bug that could be assembled and then an LED and battery press fit into it so it lit up. I’ve created something similar for students but more of a robot shape. I’m still waiting on some material to cut each one out on, hoping that arrives today – otherwise I will be rushing around next week to get these cut for the students to assemble. For now, you can see the image that is used to lasercut on our Epilog Fusion Pro lasercutter.

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Stop Light

The Stop Light project continues with Junior Clark B. ’23 working fastidiously each day. Clark had the code working on a breadboard, and has spent time using Eagle to create a custom PCB on our Bantam Tools PCB mill. The process of learning how to create a pcb in a CAD/CAM software such as Eagle is very difficult, so kudos to Clark for working through it. As we have found, however, the first attempt at creating a board is usually not the final board – as it tends to take a few efforts before the final working prototype is complete.

When the pcb was coupled together with the relay for high voltage and the light, everything turns on, just now exactly when we want it to. There is probably an error in the code, so Clark needs to spend some time debugging. Still, it’s very close to working properly, ie. following our school schedule, and we have found a stand for it, having repurposed a rolling TV stand that was being thrown away by the Media Tech shop. Hopefully we will be able to present the final version soon. A few in process photos below.

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WaterJet

Today one of my senior students, Myles, began cutting a 5 piece metal sign on the waterjet. Myles has taken it upon himself to become an expert in operating our OMAX waterjet. The machine is a bit old, and has some hiccups from time to time, but he has learned how to make it work consistently, and he is getting really good results from his cuts. It’s great to see him excel in working with this machine, and to see him understand the workflow of drawing his designs into CAD, and bringing them over to the OMAX software and setting up the CAM files for cutting. It’s been a long learning process, but he has really learned a lot. A few photos and video of him below operating the machine today.