As the end of the semester, and the end of college for most of us in the class, draws closer and closer we are working hard on our final projects as well as learning more about Fusion 360 and other applications beneficial to helping us make different objects. This week we focused on the software Meshmixer. We also worked on finalizing our project designs and began working on prototypes. Unfortunately, we did not have a guest speaker this week, but still learned a lot of exciting things in class!

Scanning Ourselves

In the beginning of class, we learned a little bit about how to use scanners from a company called Sense 3D. First, we all made scans of our busts. Unfortunately, we ran into a problem when we tried to share them on the cloud which would allow us to edit them in softwares we are educated in like MeshMixer and print a 3D model. It was going to be too expensive to do it for all the students in the class, so Vishal worked on finding a new application. Towards the end of class, a couple students were able to print a bust of themselves. It was exciting to see how we could scan something with a camera and turn it into a physical object just a couple hours later.

Similar to how we were able to scan ourselves and print a bust of ourselves, we watched a video of Jay Leno in his garage scanning an object, sending it to the computer, and then 3D printing a replica of the object. This sort of technology can be very useful, especially for objects that are hard to find or expensive to buy. Overall we achieved our objective of learning how to scan, refining the scan, exporting a cad model, and setting it to print.

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Here is an example of a man who scanned himself and was able to 3D print himself. Although not all of us were able to 3D print ourselves due to time constraints we did have a few classmates print a bust of themselves and those of us who could not print ourselves were able to watch others.

Attached is a video that dives deeper into understanding 3D scanning.

Final Project Progress

This week was also a big week for all the groups in class to make progress on our final projects. There are a lot of great ideas this semester including a person tracker to aid businesses in keeping track of foot traffic at their business, a coffee pour over assistant, a steering wheel knob to help people with physical ailments drive a car, and many others.

In class, the groups worked on creating a clearer design for their products as well as a physical prototype. Another objective we had this week was to identify any materials we would need to order for our final project if they were not available to us in the Maker Lab or FabLab. Additionally, we were required to start a testing plan for our projects. We pick at least two subjects and develop a testing protocol. Essentially, this covers things that need to be done before the test and instructions for the test.

As for my group individually, we are working on a coffee pour over assistant. This will allow users to pour water into a reservoir and it will slowly drip through the coffee. This eliminates the need for a human to pour the water, saving them a lot of time. We have decided to make it in two parts, making it easier for us to divide the work between the three members in our group. I am making the base of the assistant, and my biggest task is making it adjustable, so it can fit over assorted sizes of cups. We will be making a trip to the FabLab to acquire material that can withstand contact with hot water and will not leak any toxins into the water. Overall, all the groups are making a lot of progress on their projects and will have a prototype this week.

Summary

Based on the updates of each groups’ project, everyone seems to be in a good place on their project. We all have a clear idea of what materials we will need for our objects, a specific design for the ideas, and what the next steps are that we need to complete for our projects. Also, all the students were excited to learn about 3D scanning and attempt to do it on our own by scanning ourselves and 3D printing our busts. We are all looking forward to everyone’s finished projects!