I’m really happy I took this class! I knew a lot of people in the class before taking it from other classes, but I feel like I got to know them a lot better through the course. We became friends learning about all the different tools and machinery. I thought it was so interesting to see people’s interests through the work they created and how they customized all their projects.

I’m not really sure what I was expecting from this course. My knowledge on 3D printing was not very extensive, but I have a lot of friends that use it and I always wanted to learn. I had taken a lot of artistic, creative classes through my time at U of I, but never within the College of Business. I consider myself a creative individual and I knew I was excited to try a new form of expression. I was familiar with a lot of machinery like the CNC machine prior to taking the class, but I had never actually used one and created something with it although I have always wanted to! I expected the class to be very technical and maybe a bit hard. I took an industrial design class my Junior year and I had used CAD software so I was expecting the 3D software to be similar to that.

Looking back now, I think that 3D printing is easier than I expected although it can be challenging at times. I loved using Fusion 360 and I’m very grateful Dan Banach was able to come in and teach us how to use it. It’s so much harder trying to learn these softwares just by teaching ourselves and having a professional come in and teach it made it a more meaningful experience for me. Fusion 360 is easy to use and has a nice, aesthetically pleasing interface which I really enjoyed. It makes me want to go out and learn more softwares through other classes or opportunities I may encounter.

Probably my favorite part of the class was the weeks we went to the FabLab. I had heard so much about the FabLab during my four years here, but I never actually ventured there myself. It’s an amazing place! I loved doing digital embroidery. I didn’t ever know that was a thing until we went to the FabLab. I have friends who are clothing designers and they always hand stitch all their embroidery so I was under the impression that was the only low-cost way to do it. My grandma also stitches clothing for fun and I think about all the time and effort she puts into her beautiful designs that could also be done using the machinery. I feel like I could easily make my own designs now leveraging the digital embroidery technology. I also loved learning the CNC machine and seeing it in action was very cool. My dad is a carpenter and I’ve seen wood being worked in all sorts of ways, but he doesn’t need a CNC machine so that was the first time I actually encountered it. It’s so cool! I want to go back and make a more complicated design with the technology and burn it onto a bigger surface. I’m glad we incorporated the lights into our designs as well. I’ve taken a lot of electrical engineering classes over the years and it was nice to literally weave the concept into our design.

I liked when the Design for America kids came in to talk to us too. I am a member of Illinois Enactus and we work to create sustainable change through entrepreneurial action. We actually have a lot of projects that leverage 3D printing and the FabLab so Design for America is really up my alley in terms of interests. I liked hearing about the different projects they’ve sourced and the ways in which they are trying to improve our community. I think anyone can be innovative and more people should use their creative abilities to help people. It was great seeing the Design for America people be so passionate and willing to teach.

Overall, the course taught me a lot of not only technical skills I will leverage, but also how to think like an innovator and creator. I’m grateful I got to experience the ‘maker’ mentality and I will definitely be 3D printing in the future. I enjoyed how open-ended our project was. We got to pick our idea and really leverage all available tools to make it come to life. It was a great time and I will be sure to recommend it to friends in the future. Thanks for a great semester!

In class on Wednesday we learned about scanning and prototyping. We were shown how to use scanners that are attached to an iPad. We were shown how the technology renders and image of the person it scans which can then be modified and printed. I find the whole scanning process to be very useful as it saves so much time when you want to build off of something that exists rather than create a whole new model. I visited a maker lab in Israel that had amazing scanning technology with capabilities a lot more advanced than the scanners in class. It’s amazing to view the prototypes you can render just from a scan.

The video of Jay Leno’s garage was really cool because it showed the power that scanning can really have on an industry. They showed how they could scan a part they needed and rather than going out and buying it, they could produce it in-house and make it even better than one they would have bought. My dad is a carpenter and works with similar tools and equipment so it was interesting to see how 3D printing and scanning can impact all consumers. I did not get to make a scan of my own, but maybe I will have the opportunity next class.

Norman and I worked on our project for most of the class period. I am in charge of designing the prototype so I hopped on fusion 360 and got a good portion of our model finished. Norman was also able to find some of the parts he needed for the technological aspect of our project. I’m excited to finalize the design and really see it come to life!

Shapeways

This week we heard from a woman at Shapeways, a 3D printing service and marketplace company. She took us on a tour of their facility. Through the webcam we got to see all the different machines and creative space they have at their location. Shapeways has a great deal of talent working to make people’s ideas come to life through the use of around 60 different materials and over 100 different colors.

In a brief video, the CEO of Shapeways explains the benefits of 3D printing and how it can really change people’s lives. He also talks about the  importance of creativity and really making your own ideas come to life. I will definitely leverage Shapeways in the future.

In Class

In class, we had the opportunity to work with our team to create a prototype for our project. It was great to have class time to talk through our vertical garden and exactly how we think we want it to look. We split our group into three roles of which I got the task of designing the vertical garden. I spent the class period looking at various vertical gardens for inspiration as well as taking in my teammates ideas to create the first version of our vertical garden.

We have a base for our vertical garden to catch water, then we have the first pot, there are two columns holding up the second pot, and a box where the wiring for the Arduino sensors will go. We are hoping to grow herbs inside our garden. We quickly realized we would have to grow small plants that fit within the dimensions we came up with.

David Kelley says designing is meant to be messy and rapidly changing. Usually your first prototype is not so good and it evolves from there. I have known this to be the case, however, I always try and make each prototype as best and as close as I can to my original idea.

This week we went to the FabLab again. This time it was to design a small wooden box! Clinton took us through the process of firing up the software and the basic capabilities of the program. I found it pretty easy to use and get into. We made some changes to the template of the box so that it fit our original design with the embroidery. We then had the opportunity to choose images that we wanted lasered onto our box. I am going for a retro space theme for my project so I chose images relating to the study of astrology. It took me a long time to find images that I wanted and the position in which I wanted them. We were able to choose more complex pictures than when we were doing the digital embroidery which I appreciated. I am very excited to see how my box turns out!

The CnC machine is AMAZING! Watching images get etched onto the wood was so satisfying. My dad is a carpenter and I know he would love using that machine for designs. I am used to etching wood with wood burning tools. I have been able to make complex designs on wood, but they have taken a long time to accomplish and were not nearly as perfect as the laser etched images. I’ve wanted to use a CnC machine for some time now! I am definitely going to the FabLab to use the CnC machine again.

The last step in our box endeavors is to add LED lights. I am going to try and place the lights in a way that makes it look like they are stars. So far, I’ve really enjoyed working in the FabLab with all the machines and all the people. Digital embroidery was so cool. My mother and grandmother use sewing machines a lot and I have used them as well. The digital sewing machines were so easy to use and they made beautiful designs so fast. I want to use them to etch patterns into caps.  I wish I would have ventured into the FabLab sooner!

http://a360.co/2nYSmc2

I decided to make a makeup organizer as it was one of the items I previously mentioned I wanted to create.