No Breaks on Break

While on break, the class has come back in for a full day of work. The class started their morning at 9am and each group gave their 2 week progress report presentation. We used these presentations as a dry-run for our midyear presentation on January 14th. Working all together in the school allows for intergroup communication that would be harder to achieve at home. The other reason to work in the school is for the use of the laser cutter...

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The Presidential Address

These last few months have been nothing short of difficult for the Saratoga InvenTeam. The class has faced challenges and setbacks nearly weekly as we strive to complete our printer by the end of the year. From botched stepper motor drivers, to shoddily made wooden mockups, our lows have been down there. However, we have had our fair share of achievements: the class has programmed the stepper motor, completed part of an amazing graphical user interface...

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Stepper Motor is Working!

At long last, the stepper motor is finally working!  Using the new driver that came in, we were able to have the motor successfully spin at regular intervals.  Our work day will be spent improving this, hopefully implementing microstepping and the z-table if possible.  We've also been busy testing out each of the sensors that we will be using.  The infrared sensor was tested the most thoroughly, and the temperature sensor also...

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Code for Kids

Throughout the month of December, the Elementary Engineering group has been working to further develop the programs that we have instated in the local elementary schools. In Geyser Road Elementary School, the students have been working on using the LEGO WeDo programming to make their creations come to life. To help the students bridge the hardware and software aspects of LEGO Engineering, we created physical blocks to represent the blocks on the program. These blocks were laser cut out of Lexan and engraved with the name/ function of the block....

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The Beagle Bites Back

Currently, half of the programming team is working in collaboration with the electronics team in order to getting the stepper motor working with our program. We have run into several problems, but now we have narrowed it down the possible causes for glitches and are working on fixing it. One major change that we have decided to make is that we are now using an Arduino board instead of a Beaglebone. Recently, the Beaglebone has been temperamental...

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Bookfair Fundraiser

Come one come all to the EDD Book fair at  the Saratoga Barnes and Noble, this Sunday, 11/15, to help support the production of our 3D Printer! For any purchases make on site that day, 15% of the profits will be donated directly the Engineering Design and Development class of 2014 to aid in our continuation of our 3D DLP Printer. A few of our students are also musically talented and will be playing throughout the day and more of our students...

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3D Makeover

Today, a major decision had to be made regarding the aesthetics of the first prototype for our 3D printer. Up until this point, the design we had been going with was simple and over used. We wanted our machine to stand out, so it was time to once again hit the drawing board. For homework, everyone on the build team had to design and sketch up a 3D printer based completely on aesthetics. Our team leader, Deirdre, compiled our ideas...

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Incoming!

A huge goal for the Marketing team is to end the year with more money than the initial value that we started with. Fundraising is a huge asset to our success and we have been doing very well making the funds to stay on top of our "bills." In the past month, we had our 99 Restaurant fundraiser which consisted of dining profit and some locally donated raffle baskets. Most recently, we just concluded a Spa Day raffle (donated by one of our student's...

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Retracing Steps

While the stepper motor control software is functioning correctly, we are encountering technical problems in trying to actually run the motor. We have checked and double-checked all of our wiring and we decided that the problem may lie in the driver chip itself. A fresh new chip has been ordered, so we will soon begin retesting, rewiring, and keeping our fingers crossed. In the meantime, the electronics team will be starting to work on configuring...

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Murphy's Law

For the last few weeks, the programming group has been working on a variety of tasks. Several members of the team are already working on GUI related programming to create a more user friendly interface for our rapid prototyper. On top of that, we have also written a script to test the stepper motors and a stepper motor class to be used in later programming. Working with close association with the electronics group, we have been trying to get the...

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Working Overtime

Today, half of the build team got together and did a little extra work for our skeleton prototype. No session is complete without a trip to home depot, roaming the isles aimlessly looking for bolts, wood, and nails. After purchasing all the things we needed, we got to work. Although we didn't have all the tools needed to work, we made headway on our Z table and on a DIY vacuum former. The vacuum former will be used to help the process of molding...

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Mounting Suspense

The AutoCad team has completed the first milestone! The preliminary prototype drawings were due on November 20th and the team had them done just in time. Since the prototype drawings are now completed, the build team came together once more, only to split off again into various partnerships to work on different aspects of the prototype. These groups have the tasks of working on: a Z mock-up with parts, the machine base, resin pool, and projector...

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All Eyes on EYE

Throughout the month of November the Educating Young Engineers (EYE) group has been working to gain funding to optimize the elementary engineering programs that we are establishing. In early November we were asked by Kara Rosettie to give our “Why LEGO” presentation at the Dorothy Nolan HSA meeting. The presentation was a great success and the parents and teachers were very excited to be piloting the LEGO Club in their school. As...

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Software Progress

Over the past few months,  the software team has made exceptional progress. We have added many features to the user interface such as a file chooser, a custom spin control for touch applications, and a gear generator. The gear generator takes in user parameters and then can determine the exact shape of a gear with various types of teeth. With this feature, we hope this that this will now help to both improve ease of use for basic things and...

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A Sticky Situation

Recently, the focus of the materials subset of the build team has been developing an auto-refill system. The team has spent a lot of time testing a peristalsis pump in order to efficiently use left over resin in an automatic refill system. The pump is hooked up to a power supply and by reversing the motor, can easily transfer liquids from one area to another, something ideal for an auto-refill and drainage system. The strongest...

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Fundraising, Food, and Fun

On November 4, we had our first successful fundraiser for the Saratoga Inventeam! This was held at 99 Restaurant who allowed us to have 15% of the proceeds from the bills of people who came in with one of our fliers. Also, to raise extra money, many local companies donated items for raffle baskets that we raffled off that night. It was so fantastic to see local Saratoga business's helping us out in reaching our end goal. Overall, the event...

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Keeping the Current Flowing

In the past month, the electrical team has made terrific progress. All of the parts we ordered have arrived and they have all been working smoothly. With this step now done, we have started some prototyping. In conjunction with the build team, we have built a setup that will allow the stepper motor for the z-table to move. We will be able to run this set up when the programming team creates and debugs the code to move the motor as desired....

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Coding Bubbles

In order to make three dimensional printing accessible to a wide range of people, the programming team is working on making software that is both powerful and intuitive. In addition to working on a desktop computer, like most 3D printer software, we want our software to be able to run on the touchscreen embedded in our printer. In order to make an application that was touchscreen friendly, we needed to make menu systems beyond those available...

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A Beagle Without Bark or Bite

Our electrical team has finally gotten hold of a BeagleBone Black, a type of microcontroller that will act as our machine's Central Processing Unit (CPU). Over the next few months, our work will involve connecting motors and peripheral devices (motors, sensors) to the BeagleBone and syncing them up with each other. This will require research into microcontroller programming, field testing the devices, and a lot of collaboration with the build and...

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CAD Team, Assemble!

The CAD Team has been making very steady progress. Over the past few classes, we have been discussing more design ideas regarding the automatic refill/ draining system. Seeing as it was an idea that came about very early while brainstorming, we have recently gone back and evaluated its feasibility and whether this would be a beneficial innovation. After discussion with the rest of the Build Team, we decided that we are going to implement it into...

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Going LEGO

The past two weeks have been very exciting for the elementary engineering group! On Wednesday October 23, we met with the teachers who are participating in the LEGO engineering at Geyser Road Elementary School and trained them on how to use the LEGO WeDo kits and software. With the teachers trained and equipment ready we kick started the LEGO program on October 30th. The LEGO engineering session went amazingly and the students announced that LEGO...

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Making Progress

Due for today, each group had to create a progress report detailing their groups accomplishments, research, and challenges. It was interesting to reflect on what one month of work has brought us to. Looking at all the research we have already completed, it isn't hard to tell why we've made the progress we've made. Of course, there is still a long way to go as we tackle all the challenges covered in this month's progress report write-up. Also, the...

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Break it Down and Build it Up

We on the programming team are busy at work building the basis for the program. Part of this includes breaking down existing code for reference. Another 3D printer on the market is the B9Creator - an open source project that uses many of the principals we hope to use in our design. Because it's open source, we're able to see the various methods and algorithms used. Rather than reinvent the wheel, we plan to examine B9Creator's existing code to...

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Subject to Testing

For the past two classes, the materials team has been testing one of our possible resin options on multiple materials in order to see what material the resin best cures to. We cured the resin using sunlight and tested wood(just for data), aluminum, steel, PVC, PMMA, and Lexan. We found that the resin left behind residue on the non-metallic materials and that on aluminum in particular the resin cured strong, but was removed...

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Legalities

In recent activities, the marketing team has continued it's research on 3D Printers, and started finding consumer feedback from 3D printer users. In the past, a lawsuit had been found regarding a patent issue, and because the patent doesn't expire for three more years, it has been a high priority to find a patent lawyer who could assist in confirming that our product would not interfere with any patents and will work pro-bono. We have contacted...

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Is Two Better than One?

Today in class we debated and discussed the pros and cons of having two projectors in the machine versus one. Having two projectors would set our machine apart from any other machine and would double the build space available for the user. However, by doing this, we would also be putting the programming team in over their heads with having to convert and rewrite all the necessary algorithms to project the image. Also, we run the risk of having the projector mash up to be even one pixel off, ruining the whole printed file. From the hardware and...

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The Basic Building Blocks, Legos

Over the past two weeks the Elementary Engineering group has been working on creating mock lessons to demonstrate to teachers how engineering can be integrated with common core standards. The mock lessons that we are creating are for the fourth grade lego pilot classroom at  Geyser Road  Elementary School. We have assessed the fourth grade curriculum and have planned two pilot lessons. One lesson integrates English and Engineering. This...

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User Friendly

The software team has completed some objectives, and we are now looking through code of an existing open source project to see if there is anything we can improve on, and researching how we can get stepper motors to work with our printer . We are also making a custom user interface that is designed for touch screen. The image seen to the right is the interface we have been designing, using circle buttons to make the the objects on the interface...

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Divide and Conquer

The build team has been split up into two groups to help maximize the efficiency of our work. The first group is dedicated to creating a prototype of our printer on Autodesk Inventor. The second group is in charge of figuring out the actual materials needed for the machine and then purchasing them. The materials team has just purchased a projector to test, some resin, Z table material, and Sylgard 184 (a nonstick coating substance). Once we acquire...

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It's Elementary!

A chronic shortage of engineering students threatens America’s role as one of the world’s leading innovators. Without bright young minds preparing to solve the problems of tomorrow, our country is left without a diverse group of critical thinkers to resolve pressing issues. In addition, countries such as China and India have far surpassed the quality (engineers with advanced degrees and patents) and volume of engineers that America produces. With...

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Evaluating the Market

The marketing team is working hard on researching and understanding pros and cons of certain features of the B9 creator and Formlabs Form 1 machine. Through the use of forums, we can see what current users are boasting about as well as added features they wish the printer could have. This information allows the build team, especially, to have a better understanding of what should be included in our printer. Also, the marketing team is researching the...

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An Electronic Update

The electrical team has just started working on the electronics subsystem of the printer.  As the electronics team, we have to work closely with the build and programming team to make sure our system will integrate with both the hardware and software designs.  We’ve already created a list of constraints and goals for our part of the final design, as well as a list of major parts that we have to order and use in the final product.  We...

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Behind the Scenes in the Machine

The software team is currently researching the software and computer chip we will use to build the prototype. We are looking at different graphics libraries to use and are planning to reverse engineer the rapid prototyping software. The computer chip we plan on ordering is the BeagleBone Black, which runs on Linux. For the project, it seems that most of the programming will be in python, a coding language. As a form of communicating outside...

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Scaling Down

One of the large parts we want to keep in mind for the printer is the size of the machine. We need to make it a reasonable size to increase the marketability of it as a product the average consumer could have. Our target is to keep the length of the printer under 1.5 ft. We have found a smaller DLP projector to use and will not be using a mirror system to project the image onto the resin which will also scale down the size. Knowing these size...

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The Build Board

To help stay organized throughout the course of the year, the build team has set up two different "Build Boards" to help keep us on track. The first board is strictly for any ideas regarding the project. The ideas can be anything under the sun and will stay on the board for us to keep in mind during the year. Currently our ideas include little things about what we might want the machine to be able to do. The next board is a "to-do" list which will...

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A New Face for a New Year

When the blog is updated with class news tomorrow, it be débuting a new look! After some html tweaking, the class will review a new, sleeker blog design in class. Things to check out on the new blog page will be student bios, a photo gallery, a blog search bar, and a front page photo slide sh...

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A 3D World in the Making

Today, our project was set in stone. For the 2013-2014 school year, the whole class will be pursuing a DLP 3D Printer project.  Using open source code and the idea of the already created Formlabs 3D printer, we feel that with our time and resources we can create something even more accessible and user friendly. How we do this is yet to be determined, but with 19 brilliant and dedicated minds working on this, there is sure to be success. We...

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All or Nothing

Even after our decision making survey, we as a class are still not entirely sure where we stand for this year's projects. Today, we were presented with 3 options: to go with a full scale rapid prototyping interface and even market it out to companies, to go with the safer seatbelt and the crutch, or take these three projects and do them all but at a much smaller scale. We spent our time together today debating the pros and cons of...

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