Military

Paying for college is quite a challenge, and with the amount of debt that most students accumulate, findign any source of income is helpful. I have recently taken the ASVAB recruitment test which demonstrates what military jobs and branches I'm applicable for. I need to start contacting recruiters to see who will offer me the best deal. My hope is that someone will ofer to pay for my entire college experience, regardless of where I decide to go, private college or not. Nowadays most schools are asking for about 200,000 for the whole college experience, and that's no low number. I'm looking at Roger Williams University and Worcester Polytechnical Institute, both of which are extremely nice. I cannot wait to see what I'm offered, and hopefully it will be a good deal!

Schoalrships

It has recently come to my attention that I can obtain a scholarship for simply demonstrating my work in Engineering class. This scholarship that Mr. Connors has showed me will offer me up to $5,000. If this is the case, and I obtain the money, it would greatly help me pay for some of the school debt I'm about to amass.  I'm going to send in my recommendations and some of the work I've done aling with a written description of my project. With help such asa this, I hopefully won't need to resort to other resources. However, if a branch of the military offers to pay for my entireschooling, I may have to take them up.

MIT Workshop

So, as of last weekend I decided to attend a workshop at MIT with professor Leah Buechley called Interactive Monsters. A few years ago, a group of computer science majors asked why their studies could not be literally implemented into every day life. They sought out a way to implement their projects in the every day occasion, usign technology as a way of fashion or status. They wanted a computer on your person that kept track of conversions you hve throughout the day, people you've talked to, places you've been; Take the simplicities and make them noteworthy. This sparked the revolution of tech being integrated into every day objects without technology and the creatio nof this MIT program, High/Low Tech.
Run by professor Buechley, this program focuses on integrating fashion and art with technology. By merging simple things like sewing and wiring, an electronic piece of clothing is accessible to all people. This also includes things like teddy bears that may have a circuit board in them that makes the eyes light when its hand is touched.

In this particular instance, we sewed together stuffed animals with arduino circuit boards in them based on a program called Modkit, designed by graduate students themselves. With only a few glitches, the program worked pretty smoothly as we wrote code that would light up, vibrate, or make our stuffed monsters speak or sing. A creative propostion to a 2 day work shop over the weekend, it was quite fun. Great people and great ideas. Check out the pictures below!

Pics of the Mercedes in Progress!

Leavign space for the wheels so i can implant an axle made out from a straw!

Steps for Slice Model plugin in Sketchup to Roland Cut Studio

The steps to cutting these objects out go like this

1)      Make a model in sketchup

2)      Use the SliceModel plugin to have the object cut into pieces determined by the interval between each slice. (The spacing between each slice really depended upon the object, its size, and whether it was sliced by X, Y, or Z)

3) Right click on the object and click export. A series of spacing options come up from which I just continue to click OK through.

4)      Once done, the file is saved and exported into GIMP.

5)      Once opened in GIMP, fill in the area with black, and save it as a .jpeg

6)      Then, your file should be verified within Roland Cut Studio and ready to cut!

Current project

As of right now, I'm continuing to work with Slice Modeler. I think the potential of transforming 3D designs into laser cut 3D objects is an ideal that will become very prevelent among architects and engineers alike. Anyways, my newest project is designing a car, that I hope to slice both X and Y. Then, designing a small axle system, making it rollable like a real car. I'm not just dedictaing this design to any cat though, it's a Mercedes SLR.
This car is the world's fastest automatic car to date. There are few truly amazing astonishign things in this world, but watching an absolutely beautiful car fly by like that is one of them. Hopefully, the Sketchup model I design is worthy of  recognition and identifiable as the SLR.

http://www.google.com/imgres?q=mercedes+slr&hl=en&gbv=2&biw=1128&bih=571&tbm=isch&tbnid=Gtd9zjpcBGdYIM:&imgrefurl=http://www.automotivescycle.com/category/mercedes-benz-slr/&docid=9hB3BaYGKg8MHM&imgurl=http://www.automotivescycle.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/mercedes-benz-slr%252520(2).jpg&w=1600&h=1067&ei=93nnTpilD6X40gGI-qCFCg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=587&vpy=285&dur=967&hovh=183&hovw=275&tx=140&ty=156&sig=106691367866645323918&page=4&tbnh=163&tbnw=238&start=24&ndsp=8&ved=1t:429,r:6,s:24

Kickstarter

After having this website brought to my attention, I checked it out and saw the incredible projects being done. The concept of the website is to post peoples' ideas and projects in hopes that other people viewing their ideas will literally donate money to fund production. Mnay projects are movie  concepts , but there are a multitude of cool ionventions that could really become big hit sellers among consumers.

Mr. Connors pointed out a simpler makerbot design that consisted of as base and platform, hence being capable of sellign for much less than current Makerbots. I also viewed a waterproof iPod nano case that served as a wristband as well. The inventions demonstrtaed on the website really make you think, and leave an utter feeling of wantign to develop an invention to post on there. Who knows, your product might just be the next best thing!

Check it all out at :kickstarter.com

Faneuil Hall Sliced!!

After finishing the previous building, i finally laser cut my faneuil hall after transferring it from sketchup, to gtimp, to roalnd cut studio. I made two files, one small, and one large. I hope to make a hollow one that will connect together, but this will most certaainly do for now!

Sketchup to Laser cut!!!

Finally got the knack for the file down, spaced each slice at about 1/12 of an inch apart. It came out pretty good for a test file considering i really had no clue as to what i was doing. For some reason, it took me forever to get it right but that's ok. I designed a very simplistic version of the Empire State Building.

Sketch-up to SVG

I have done a lot of work with Sketch-up, and i love designing the 3D models. What i have at my disposal but have done little with is the laser cutter. It has come to my attention though that through a plu-in called slice modeler, you can take a sketch-up model and transform it into a laser cut model doen in slices and then can be put/ glued together. This opens up an entire newe world to me, considering i use to work with open office when dealing with the laser cutter, and i truly hate that program, but hey, its all free right? Anyways, i plan on laser cutting the faneuil hall i have made and putting it together. That file would really bre something spectacular. I can't wait to get it right, although it would take a little bit of tweaking, i plan on getting it done right.

On to the next one!

Just finishing up faneuil hall, hope to print it out on the makerbot sometime soon. Not sure if it will come out correctly, but its definately worth a try. But, now is the task of attempting to laser cut the building in slice form! We'll see how this goes haha. I am going to have to attempt multiple methods of cutting this, as people have done this many different ways. I think rastering it will work the best, but now converting the fiels into something that can be laser cut is my primary task.

More pics!

Thougth id finally upload some pics of work I've done!

First 3 are Makerbotted items designed in google sketchup which i highly recomend considerign its completely free and works with both Macs and PCs.
The followign tw are pictures of laser cut designs I managed to find in my pile of files.
Then, lastly is my current design project, Faneuil Hall! I have invested a lot of time into this file and by the time I finish it completely and publish it I hope peopel download it off of thingiverse under my profile! Need a link? I think so! http://www.thingiverse.com/MJCbull

Price range of a makerbot?

Been a few days since my last blog, been very busy. But recently, I have been in deep thought about purchasing a Makerbot. I feel as if it is an oportunity for me to really progress in the next step of my ventures of hopefully being noticed by a school and helping me pay for my tuiion. The price range on these Makerbot kits is higher than i originally thought they were though. For about $900 you can purchase a makerbot kit that you must put together. This was kind of a disapointment to me, seeing that i cannot amass that amount of money in a small amount of time. This would take quite a while to save up for, and although i believe it to be a good investment, I'm not completely sure if this hobby and practice can be justified with that kind of pricetag. I hoep to find a Makerbot with a somewhat cheaper price, and if so, plan to become the proud owner of one of these beautiful machines.

The past

Been looking back on some of the projects ive done in the past year or so, and am reall7y happy with what ive acco0mplished. I have goen from havign no idea to what this world offers to beign deeply indulged in not only my studies but a career in engineering for my future.
Throughout the time that i have been making things, many projects have  come about, including a life size catapult built with a few of my peers, a mouse trap powered car built with laser cut pieces and makerbotted items, vinyl custom designed stickers, the outline for building a mendocino motor from 3D printed items, and last but not least, miscellaneous makerbotted items and parts for universal use. The makerbot i must say has been my absolute favorite item to tweak with, and i beleive its the future of businesss for engineers and architects alike. I hope this blog serves as some sort of portfolio of the work ive done, and will continue to do even after graduation. I hope and intend to buy a makerbot sometime soon, and with that investment i believe lays a great deal of my future.

College (Cont.)

Acquiring help from outside sources never hurt anyone, and I have gotten it from both my teacher and guidance counsellor. Checking out multiple proffessions, I 5thin k ive finally found one that suites me; material engineer. They find new uses for previously constructed materials or create new materials for particular customers. For example, material engineers made the teflon now put in pans and pots that keep materials from sticking in them. Surprisingly, there are a good number of schools that offer programs for this specific kind of engineering. Normally, it takes anywhere from 4-6 years to obatin a Bachelor's and eventually a Master's. Im goign to check out both WPI and Wentworth.

Colleges

I have recently started looking into colleges seeing as I am a senior in high school. Im not afraid to admit that up until last week, i didnt have even the slightest clue as to what i wanted to do haha. My family has a history of successful engineers and tradesman, but i've still been unsure as to exactly what i wanted to do. Living in MA. i have a lot of options for schol in my area. Prefferign a suburban setting, i have recently been looking into schools in the city or urban enviornment. I've visited Suffolk, Mass Maritime, and Umass Amherst. My final decision has yet to be chosen and i also want to look into the military. My cousin joined the Air Force and leaves for boot camp at the end of this month. I wish him luck, he's a smart kid, he'll do just fine.

More Sketchup!

As of right now im in the middle of some 3D designs i started on Sketchup. I love architecture, and therefore like the designs people 3D print off of Thingiverse that are like actual real objects. Ive printed a few Empire State buuildings and ive seen some aircraft builds. Id like to print out that B-17 that G.E. made; i must admit the design is impressive. It's all put on one file so the print is all in one process.

Anyways, what im getting at is that im in the process myself of designing Faneuil Hall. Designign it accurately is proving to actually be quite difficult. Im having an issue measuring the windows out correctly. There's 7 windows on both the front and back of the building, and without evening it out, I believe each of the windows width on a 1" scale is about .0875. Depending on the outcome, i will be able to determine the printability of the scaled model.

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba

This book was brought to my attention by Mr.Connors, my teacher. The magnificent story tells the tale of a young boy in a 3'rd world country within Africa called Malawi. A great famine is occuring and throughout the entire ordeal he strives to create a windmill. Finding it in a 6'th grade science book, he designs a full scale windmill within 4 months to create electricity in his house.
The story depicts how William gathers materials and makes this insane project come to life. Everyone around him claims his insanity, but he eventually does complete his goal; powering his home.
William was offered a scholarship in the U.S. and now attends school here. Learning physics and english all by himself, he hopes to become prosperous and worldly in his time here.

PICS

This is just a few pictures of the GCode and layout of how i set the MkakerBot before printing an item. In this pic, im getting ready to print the NewEra hat sumbol i designed. The print actually came out beautifully and is one of the best ive ever made. I was very happy to see its success. This was as of yesterday though, and as of today i was having extreme difficulties getting the process down pat. After 4 misprints, i ran out of time. Ill pick it back up tomorrow though for another run.

The Future

Tech is rotated out of my scheduale today and all i can think about is finishing my 3D cube puzzle. I started it at the end of last year have not yet finished it. The files were downloaded from thingiverse, but it takes forever to print all the pieces and put them together. I had soem issues printing a few of the pieces though, as the MakerBot i am using has difficulties leaving the small amounts of plastics in the space its needed. The base of the gear seems to get messed up a lot of teh time becase the star shape that is at its bottom has tiny angles that end up gooped up  over. I beleive i have printed about 6 pieces successfully for this cube already and have only about 2 or 3 left to finish it.
Tommorrow morning i hope to finish the project and finally get my cube operational with the help of a few screws stuck in the middle.

Link to cube gears by Emmett: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6073

MakerBot

Yesterday i began working on the makerbot once again. After a littel bit of tweaking, i successfullly got it up and running. For some reason the axis' get inverted, havent yet figured that one out. My friend fixed that for me, then I really got to work.
Before getting a successful print out, I was just testing the MakerBot out a bit, making sure the machine efunctions properly. I have found however that the surface that the material sticks to can either make or brake your process. The special plastic covering that goes over the base of the platform is talcom i believe? it kinda reminds me of vinyl for those of you who also you laser cutters, but its much smooother upon the surface. The plastic filament was refusing to print out upon duck tape palced over the talcom so i simply ripped it off and began my first print of the season! The empire state building came out quite awesome! (Ill post pics)

P.S.- Immediately after the print, Mr. Connors showed me that Bre Pettis, the inventor of the makerBot was on the cover of Make magazine with the same print! http://www.brepettis.com/

Thingiverse

I am completely new to the whole blogging idea and because of this I have decided to make my first post about a website my teacher Mr. Connors has showed me; thingiverse.com. Its a leading website in regards of new technologies, new cocnepts, and new people all collecting their ideas. It displays many pieces of work ranging from laser cut projects to 3D printed items.

The ideas shared among people that create projects on this website open up an entire network of possibilities for many different individuals. I'll upload a few of my projects that i have done in the past year to give everyone a sense of what exactly is being done.
http://www.thingiverse.com/