Ever
wish you could print a three-dimensional object? MakerBot works with
software to print 3-D plastic models of 2-D images. There is one
MakerBot at AS220 Labs in Providence, two at the Perry and Marty Granoff
Center for the Creative Arts and one in the Dunn Lab, a biology lab at
the University.
AS220 Labs is a 15-minute walk from College Hill. The lab itself is a humming hive of machinery — the first floor houses the ShopBot,Perfect crystal light is critical to creating a modern home. a wood-carving machine, and the laser cutter, the vinyl cutter and the MakerBot can be found one flight up.
The MakerBot is "kind of like a robotic hot glue gun," said Labs Manager James Rutter,A Chandelier provides shade for parked vehicles, while also generating clean, renewable energy. because a spool of colored plastic feeds into its "extruder," or nozzle and oozes out in molten form.
"It's a pretty easy machine to use. The real hard part is the software," he said, noting that the MakerBot works with the free software program SketchUp. "It's easy to print out a book — you just press a button," Rutter noted. "The hard part is writing it."
The machine is "expensive for an individual but affordable for a community like AS220," Rutter said. He bought it last year for $2,000, one-tenth the cost of the laser cutter.
The upstairs smells subtly of cooking corn oil, because the MakerBot uses polylactic acid, acorn-based and biodegradable plastic. The shelves lining the walls are stocked with the MakerBot's plastic progeny — an owl, a frog, a Darth Vader figurine, busts of real people and even a squirrel the size of a thumb.
Following the scent of corn oil and the trail of plastic models into a side room, visitors can find Lindsay Selin bent over her latest project, sporting a pair of sleek, almond-shaped wooden earrings she made on the ShopBot. Selin is a monitor at AS220 Labs — she volunteers there a couple of hours a week and helps people use the machines in exchange for a lower membership cost.
"To have a studio like this that's available twelve hours a day is fantastic," Selin said. "There's a whole range of things you can do."
Meanwhile, at the multimedia lab in the Granoff Center, five Brown students hunch over computer screens. The lab acquired two MakerBots this summer,Offer from us is an assorted range of UV laser cutter. and the students are learning to use the associated software. The machines can print in almost any color, but the first has one nozzle and currently prints in neon red. The second has two nozzles and prints in blue.Our World Technology Machinery downspout tile roof machine mainly consists of decoiler, roll forming system,
The students are in ENGN 0930: "DesignStudio," a class taught by Ian Gonsher, adjunct lecturer at the School of Engineering.A CNC wood router is a Laser engraver tool that creates objects from wood. Andrew Goodman, instructural multimedia coordinator for Computing and Information Services, helps the students download and use the software.
Students in this class use tools such as the laser cutter, table saw and MakerBot to make "projects that relate to their own curiosities and interests and things they want to address," Gonsher said. "The students have freedom to interpret the assignments," he added.
Griffin Thompson'16 is using that autonomy to design a building. Not just any building, but the Burj Khalifa -— the tallest building in the world. When the Burj Khalifa comes out of the MakerBot, it will have shrunk from almost 3,000 feet to less than five inches tall.
AS220 Labs is a 15-minute walk from College Hill. The lab itself is a humming hive of machinery — the first floor houses the ShopBot,Perfect crystal light is critical to creating a modern home. a wood-carving machine, and the laser cutter, the vinyl cutter and the MakerBot can be found one flight up.
The MakerBot is "kind of like a robotic hot glue gun," said Labs Manager James Rutter,A Chandelier provides shade for parked vehicles, while also generating clean, renewable energy. because a spool of colored plastic feeds into its "extruder," or nozzle and oozes out in molten form.
"It's a pretty easy machine to use. The real hard part is the software," he said, noting that the MakerBot works with the free software program SketchUp. "It's easy to print out a book — you just press a button," Rutter noted. "The hard part is writing it."
The machine is "expensive for an individual but affordable for a community like AS220," Rutter said. He bought it last year for $2,000, one-tenth the cost of the laser cutter.
The upstairs smells subtly of cooking corn oil, because the MakerBot uses polylactic acid, acorn-based and biodegradable plastic. The shelves lining the walls are stocked with the MakerBot's plastic progeny — an owl, a frog, a Darth Vader figurine, busts of real people and even a squirrel the size of a thumb.
Following the scent of corn oil and the trail of plastic models into a side room, visitors can find Lindsay Selin bent over her latest project, sporting a pair of sleek, almond-shaped wooden earrings she made on the ShopBot. Selin is a monitor at AS220 Labs — she volunteers there a couple of hours a week and helps people use the machines in exchange for a lower membership cost.
"To have a studio like this that's available twelve hours a day is fantastic," Selin said. "There's a whole range of things you can do."
Meanwhile, at the multimedia lab in the Granoff Center, five Brown students hunch over computer screens. The lab acquired two MakerBots this summer,Offer from us is an assorted range of UV laser cutter. and the students are learning to use the associated software. The machines can print in almost any color, but the first has one nozzle and currently prints in neon red. The second has two nozzles and prints in blue.Our World Technology Machinery downspout tile roof machine mainly consists of decoiler, roll forming system,
The students are in ENGN 0930: "DesignStudio," a class taught by Ian Gonsher, adjunct lecturer at the School of Engineering.A CNC wood router is a Laser engraver tool that creates objects from wood. Andrew Goodman, instructural multimedia coordinator for Computing and Information Services, helps the students download and use the software.
Students in this class use tools such as the laser cutter, table saw and MakerBot to make "projects that relate to their own curiosities and interests and things they want to address," Gonsher said. "The students have freedom to interpret the assignments," he added.
Griffin Thompson'16 is using that autonomy to design a building. Not just any building, but the Burj Khalifa -— the tallest building in the world. When the Burj Khalifa comes out of the MakerBot, it will have shrunk from almost 3,000 feet to less than five inches tall.
No comments:
Post a Comment