Take Four!

The resin pool is obviously a very important part of the 3D printer, seeing that it has to contain the resin that a part is printed from. Recently advancements have been made in its functionality and its aesthetics. The aluminum "exoskeleton" for the pool is now made from an aluminum sheet that is 1/8th of an inch think instead of 1/16th thick. Also, the C-Channels that support the glass walls have been switched out for...

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Money Money Money

With the final stretch to our end of the year deadline quickly approaching, the marketing team is looking for opportunities to get our product on the market. We have recently contacted an artist to finish our logo, and we should have samples in the next few days. There is still time to continue fundraising, and it is necessary that we continue to have an income of funds, through fundraisers, grant applications and local company donations. There...

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Smoking Hot

With the machine's core components being assembled and integrated, the electronics team is now focusing on safety mechanisms. This includes limit switches for the Z-table arm, laser indicators in our resin pool, and smoke detectors to be installed inside the machine. Similar to the devices you might find in your ceiling, these smoke sensors will shut off the machine if something inside starts burning (which might be a sign of trouble!).However,...

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Finally Good News

Yesterday the class made tons of progress with our printing process. We tested curing a new type of resin (MakerJuice brand, cool indigo color) and it cured within seconds, much faster than the stuff we had been using before. Also, the smell on this resin is a lot less severe than the Solarez. When the resin was done, a 5-10 minute butanol bath finished up the job removing any excess oily resin. As soon as the resin was tested, the projector began...

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Lighten Up!

For the Z-table, arm and tower our goal has been to even further lighten up the design and improve the overall sturdiness.  We have moved away from our wooden design to a more professional looking aluminum one.  The whole Z-tower has been redesigned to work with aluminium.  This has improved helped improve the stiffness of the tower so when the actual z-table is attached it will not wobble at all.  The Z- tower arm has also...

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Upcoming Vision

The past two weeks have been great for the EYE team!  We have been working to plan for the April as well as the June program by ordering the necessary supplies and gathering volunteers. We launched registration for our April Program and have already filled all 150 available slots! We also have a growing waiting list (60 kids and counting!). In addition to implementing additional elementary engineering programs, we are working on evaluating...

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LEGO Playground

Here's a cute little video from the EYE group of a LEGO playground some of the kids made. Sometimes work can be fun t...

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Resin the Bar

Today in class was a fairly productive day for the build and electrical teams.  We (as the electronics team) wanted to test the accuracy of the infrared distance sensor that will be used to find the remaining amount of resin.  We have been doing some tests using water instead of resin, and they showed that our sensor may not be accurate enough.  Just to verify, we brought the current prototype into a darkroom, and tested the machine...

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Charlie Takes 3D Systems

Currently, the Marketing Team is researching how to successfully market a 3D printer. The market is very competitive and our product has great features that will offer new opportunities to current printer users. We have been studying our biggest competitor, and leading 3D printer developers, 3D Systems, and how they are so successful with each of their products. We are also researching our other main competitors and learning what their consumers...

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Mid-Year Build Team Report

After the midyear presentation, the build team got inspired to create a video of our completed progress thus far. The video above was made by Matt Dauphinais and Mackenzie Banke...

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