new d2l content

I posted new documents on welding and powder coating recently on D2L. Make sure to print these out and put them in your notebook. Some of you also may be interested in anther document that I posted in the Rapid Prototyping section on basic jewelry modeling in Rhino. It gives some great tutorials that will help you learn the program.

hammer time

It's time to start thinking about making your hammer. You should be working on this any chance you get, so you don't have to save this until the end of the semester. Here are some images hammers that I drew in my sketchbook and that I am planning on making. Remember, you are free to make as many hammers as you would like, think about your hammer(s) being a one of a kind object that represents you or your ideas in some manner. We will be displaying these in the annual Metals exhibition.

kenilworth open house

RP Links

thingiverse

ponoko

make magazine

shapeways

desktop machining

Wednesday we covered a lot of information about desktop machining. I showed you the lathe made by Sherline and I showed you the machines made by Taig.

I promote the Taig as it is built very well and is cost effective for those people who are just starting to machine. The nice thing about these machines are their compact, yet sturdy construction. With having them mounted on a board you can take them almost anywhere. Upon graduating with my first grad degree, Jill and I had just gotten married and were living in a small studio apartment. Many times after dinner, I would often clear the kitchen table and get my mill out of the closet and work on the table - of course making sure to clean up my chips when finished!

I later purchased and put my lathe together from parts. I ordered it and still order from Nick Carter. He has a simple yet effective website that explains a lot about the machines, contains a current price list, gives tips and info on using the machines, and has tons of pictures from current Taig users. He is a Taig dealer and has always had the best price on the machines and parts. He will match any price that you can find on the purchase of Taig tools.

Here are some links to sites dealing with the above mentioned items:
Tabletop Machining book

Taig tools

Taig users group

hydraulic forming

Thanks for your attention when going over hydraulic die forming. Here is a diagram of form of press die that would be simple to make in addition to what I showed in class. I have also posted additional handout in the Content section of D2L under the hydraulic press heading.
Hydraulic Forming Discussion

Here is a good discussion group on die forming on the bonny doon website. There is a wealth of info on die forming here including pictures.

sarah's scans + prints

Sarah wanted to scan a clay model that she made today, so we gave it a go. They scanned easily and then we decided to export directly to an "stl" without fussing with the file like you normally would if you were going to make a cad drawing from it. We printed the "stl" on the uPrint tonight and it tuned out great. It was cool to go from clay model directly to plastic part with no messing around. In the future, I'm going to have to do some more pieces in this manner. I was glad Sarah wanted to try this, as it was something I was curious about; and she got some plastic molars out of the deal.

laser cutting and etching

As I mentioned, we had to give up the 3d printer and laser cutter. Steve, Christof, Sam, and Sarah were able to get some things made before giving it back though. We all learned a great deal and I'm anxious to see things materialize as these pieces become part of future work. Thanks to those of you who took the time to play around with this technology. It helped me learn a great deal and I thank you.


Steve made some acrylic discs that will be tapped in the center.
Sam etched some blue tinted acrylic with an original image that he drew (this may get colored LED's). Also it casts a great shadow when light is shown through it.
And Christof cut some tinted acrylic hexagons that are going to be a part of his messenger bag.