The start of a wedding dress...

I have officially started cutting and fitting my soon to be sister in-laws wedding dress.

We also have received the tartan so kilts will soon be in work...

With the changes to the Community Transit schedules and my schedule for summer classes I am walking over 1 mile a day.  It is nice to have a little extra motivation to walk (since I have to) but this week has been very hot and I can't wear shorts to work.  I may have to start changing before I go to school and after I get back to work.  Tomorrow I think I may try my zip-off pants.

Everyone be sure to drink lots of water on these hot summer days.

Watch for more pictures of the dress and kilts in the next few weeks...

A short break...

I get a break this week before summer quarter starts.  I chose to take classes over the summer so that next year will not be so heavy (only 362 more days to graduation!).  I am taking two classes "Intro to Mechanical Design" and "Finite Element Analysis."  I hope they do not consume too much of my time as I am still working and I am helping my brother get ready for his wedding.  I am making the wedding dress and helping make kilts. Yes, I said kilts...  I will be wearing one in the ceremony.  And my wife is making the cake.  Maybe I will post pictures of all the wedding stuff when it is done.

I have been enjoying tinkering with my new printer over at RepRap Breeding.  If you have not been there you should check it out.


I have also been finishing up the video I am doing for the Hall Health Center on campus.  I will post a link once it is done and up on the UW web site.

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...

The end of another quarter and fun things from the lab...

As the quarter comes to an end I am reflecting back on all the cool things I did.  I am also looking forward to the projects that I have planned for next quarter.

Here are some of the highlights...

The plastic frog (lower left) was scanned then printed life-size and milled from foam bigger than life.

These heart rings are printed in glass...

A few da Vinci drawings made 3D...

This began as the following picture available under a Creative Commons License

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/captbrando/ / CC BY 2.0)

And next quarter I am planning to make my own 3D printer (a reprap Mendel), I also have plans to make a informational video for the clinic on campus.  Both very exciting, I almost can't wait but I am also glad to have a little break, even if I still have to work.

And just as a final note for all those who have always wondered "How many feet of toothpaste is in a tube of toothpaste?" (A question our professor has posed several times)

Approximately 15.5 feet of toothpaste in a tube... (At least with the size bead I was able to consistently make)

From 3D Scan to Moai (think Easter Island)

Here is a combination of several projects in one.  I started with my recent experiments with 3D laser scanning, and the portable rig I built. (Based on a design from the David 3D scanner web site.)

For more detailed picture of the setup and assembly see my YouTube video.

I was inspired to take a scan of my face and morph it into a Moai after seeing some of the Moai Madness going on in the lab (over at Open3DP).

Here is the initial scan of my face:

Using AccuTrans 3D to re-orient and scale (stretch lengthwise) gives this result:

The important thing to note here is that I tilted the surface up (notice the axis in the lower left corner).  This was for two things.  First it minimized stretching the underside of my nose and second it gives the final Moai the right shape.

MeshLab was then used to clean the edges:

Then back to AccuTrans 3D to extrude:

Back to MeshLab to smooth (Laplacian Smooth, several times in different areas until it looked nice and even):

Finally some "mesh aging and chipping" in MeshLab:

Here is a 3D print of the final model:

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)