This was definitely one of my favorite weeks, as we got to use some cool 3D scanning technology and discover how it works. A former student of the class, Ariel, was nice enough to demonstrate how these machines work. We made 3D files of a watch, a keychain, and even ourselves! I had a lot of fun not only getting scanned, but also learning how to scan my friends. If you would like to learn more about 3D scanning, I found a pretty helpful link here.
Playing with the scanner was very fun, and I hope that I can use technology like this in the future. However, our project does not require the use of a 3D scanner, so we only played around with it for a little while then got back to work.
Our hydroponics project is making great progress, as we have made our first two prototypes and hope to have our finalized product out within the next couple of weeks. As you can see in the picture below, the second prototype we made is much nicer than our first, and we fixed some structural problems we had with the first design.
After we had finished creating a basic prototype of the overall structure of the product, it was time to start 3D printing prototypes of the containers that the plants would be held in. At first, the pieces that were supposed to connect the containers together didn’t initially fit, so we had to make the holes bigger and print again. The result is shown below.
The thickness and strength of the containers turned out awesome! However, we made the holes slightly too big when we modified our design and on two of the containers the printers ran out of filament before finishing. This means that we are going to have to print at least one more version of our containers. We created a file that just contained the cylinders of the container that fit together, so we will pick them up in class this week and hope that everything fits well.
Even though our containers didn’t come out perfect, we still have made a tremendous amount of progress in the past couple weeks, and I am very proud of our team. With any luck, this week we should be able to print a stable version of the containers and assemble our fish tank using material from the Fablab. We will then begin to incorporate the fish pump into the design, and possibly even get some plants for us to use as well. I am very excited and can’t wait to see our finished project, as well as the progress that other teams have made on their projects.
I think the 3D scanner is such an awesome device that can sometimes simplify the whole CADing and printing process. It can be difficult to make adjustments on the software and just easier to build it by hand. Which for you, since you had already built a physical prototype, the scanner worked in your favor! I am looking forward to seeing the finished product!