Graduation or "now what?"

Last Friday, June 3rd, I took the last test for my Bachelors of Science in Mechanical Engineering.  It went well and I then went to a wedding on Saturday followed by a week of just work.  I am used to a week off between quarters but this time it was different.  This time it was not just a week off, it was the first week of the rest of my life after my college degree.  It has been strange...

I can think of some other words to describe it (although none quite fit):

• Surreal
• Happy
• Sad
• Freedom
• Clarity
• Confusion
• Relief
• Pressure
• and many more...

It has clearly been an emotional week with many contradictions.  But that all led to two amazing graduation ceremonies.  The first was the huge ceremony at Husky stadium and the second was a much smaller Mechanical Engineering department ceremony.  Both were unique and I am glad to have participated in them.  I then had a party at my house with family.

Now as I settle in to this coming week I am starting to ask myself "now what?"  I have been doing this for a long time.  I have many things that were put on my "after I graduate" list and know generally what I am doing now but it is still very strange...

I will leave you with the list of things I am doing in the next few weeks and we will take it from there:

• I plan to clean up my house and reclaim my yard (it is looking like a jungle out there.)
• June 19th I am teaching an OpenSCAD workshop at Metrix Create: Space (they are having a 3D printing makeshop after) http://metrixcreatespace.com/calendar
• July 6th I am talking at Dorkbot about the DIY inkjet printer.  http://dorkbotsea.org/

UW Relay for Life 2011

Last night I participated in the UW Relay for Life.  It was a fun experience, however it would have been better if more people I knew had been there.  I raised $80 and walked 60 laps (15 miles).  I did not end up staying through the entire event because I wore myself out walking so much.  I was there from 2pm-midnight.











More pictures here

Arduino and an Inkjet Cartridge

I have started experimenting with Arduinos and electronics.  This involved buying a Arduino Mega, breadboard wires, PCBs, and some other assorted goodies.

I have managed to get my Arduino to talk to a inkjet cartridge and spray ink.

This is going to be a part of my senior project at the UW, more on that later :-)

Snow!!!

Monday we had snow at the UW.  I was 20 minutes late to class and then after lab it took almost three hours to get home....

Some fellow students were even making a snowman. :-)

This turned into two snow days on Tuesday and Wednesday...

Approching the End of Another Quarter

As I work to finish up the last of the things for this quarter I realized I had not made a post here in a while.  I have been making many posts over on my RepRap blog, but none here.  I have been spending most of my "spare" time, when not working or at school, either working on my Mendel or working on a film for the UW Hall Health.  It has been a very bust quarter.  I have started looking forward over the next year to determine what classes I need to take each quarter to graduate next spring.  I am also planning the things I need to do to support my brother's wedding in August.

This next year will still require a tight schedule but will go by before I know it.  I will try to post a little more regularly here, but also be sure to follow the progress of my Mendel and the ongoing exploration of its capabilities.

RepRap Mendel, Metrix Create: Space, & Engineering Discovery Days

It has been a little while since I last posted.  I have been busily working on getting the Solheim Rapid Prototyping Laboratory RepRap Mendel completed for the UW Engineering Discovery Days.  We got it working after several problems with our electronics and a lot of help from the people over at Metrix Create: Space.  Be sure to check out the pictures (here) of us working on it down there.

Here are some additional pictures of the Mendel and the first prints that we were able to get from it.

Now we are going to work on improving the print quality, repairing the electronics better and starting construction of a few more bots...

Some designs on the University blog and scanning my face.

Some of my work has now appeared on the university blog, Open3DP.
You should take a look, there is a lot of cool stuff over there.
http://open3dp.me.washington.edu/?p=502

I have been spending a lot of time exploring the DAVID laser scanner software.  I have built a scanning rig that hold the calibration boards and lets them open so you can scan through the middle.

 This design was adapted from a similar design I found on the DAVID discussion board.  The way mine is constructed allows it it collapse down to flat boards.  This should make it relatively transportable.  I am also working with my lab partner on making a version that does not need the boards to scan.

Here is my latest scan (my face):

It can pick up an amazing amount of detail. (and this is the free version, the pay version is higher resolution)

The End of Fall Quarter 2009

This week was finals week for fall quarter.  All the finals went about as expected.  I got grades lower than I would have liked in two of the three classes (Math 464 & ME 331).  I got a 4.0 in the other class (ME 480).  Overall reasonable grades for such an ugly quarter.

This quarters schedule was horrible.  I had to get to work at 6am and work till 8am.  Then catch a bus to get to school by 9:30 for my first class, Math 464 (Numerical Analysis).  Then I had ME 331 (Heat Transfer), a hour break, and then ME 480 (CAD Technology).  I then caught a bus to get back to work at 2:30pm and work till 7:30.  Tuesday and Thursday were a little different but I still got to work at 6am, went to school in the middle and back to work till 7:30pm.

Of these classes the one I liked the most was the ME 480.  In this class we had labs where we got to make parts using rapid prototyping machines.  This is very exciting, you can design and "print" a part very quickly.  I have posted a video of some of these parts on You Tube.

I have chosen to make next quarter a little lighter and only take two classes. The first is a follow-on class to ME 480.  This class (ME 498, Advance Topics in Rapid Prototyping And Rapid Manufacturing) will be more hands on allowing me to actually use the machines myself (in ME 480 the TA operated them all).  I will also be taking ME 373, Introduction to System Dynamics.  This is a required core class for my ME degree.


Overall I am glad to have a break and am looking forward to what is coming in a few weeks.