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

DIY Inkjet Printer

This quarter at the UW we produced some documentation on the development of a DIY inkjet printer.  This was partly in response to the fact that there are no DIY inkjet kits available.  There was a kit available from Parallax however it is no longer made and the main book that was written to go with it is now out of print.

The goal of this project was to develop a low cost, open source inkjet printer utilizing standard inkjet technology, for personal use. This project was partly in response to the fact that there are no DIY inkjet kits available. There was a kit available from Parallax parallax.com/dl/docs/prod/robo/InkjetKitDocs-v1.0.pdf. This kit is no longer made and the book amazon.com/Inkjet-Applications-Matt-Gilliland/dp/0972015930 that was written to use that kit is now out of print.
The prototype design used a carriage assembly constructed from steel rods that were assembled using connectors that can be printed on an FDM machine. The entire carriage system is driven along the x-axis by a belt attached to a stepper motor. The print cartridge, taken from an HP point of sale printer, is driven along the y-axis by another stepper motor belt drive. The electronic controls use an Arduino Mega to run all of the printing systems.
The design resulted in a working prototype that fulfills all of the design constraints. The rod frame carriage design is lightweight, easy to assemble and easy to integrate with the other systems. The Arduino used in the electronics has a large library of resources available to perform things like LCD, SD card, and stepper control.
Areas where future work should be focused include making molds and casting printable parts to bring down the overall cost, developing host side software, and optimizing the speed.

The documentation is being released as a thing on Thingiverse, a photo album and a video.

The McCormick Code - help the FBI

The FBI currently is asking the public for help in deciphering these paper that were found on Ricky McCormick's dead body in 1999.  I first read about this on PhysOrg and then read the FBI's original write-up.  I felt that maybe I could crack the code but that the chances would be much better if a very large group of people worked together to solve it. Therefore I chose to start a wiki as a tool for collaborative work by anyone and everyone. It is my hope that this will allow us to help the FBI solve this decade old mystery.

This wiki site was started to have a central location to discuss and work on decoding the McCormick Code.  I have setup a Forum and a Theories page to start. I would like to see a page setup for any theory that is come up with. From there it will evolve and grow.

If you think you can help or are just curious please visit, sign up, and help crack the code.  If you have information and want to contact the FBI directly they have a dedicated tip line.

The history of AdderFab

For those interested in more information about AdderFab and what led up to its creation there is a write-up on Open3DP.

AdderFab is the combined result of three separate Capstone student design teams over a span of over four years.   The original name of the project was P3P (personal 3D printer).

I have also created a picture set on flicker.

A new species is born!

We would like to share something we made:

Patrick Hannan, Jared Knutzen, Nicholas C Lewis, Joy Markham 

AdderFab
ME495 - University of Washington
March 9, 2011
Open3DP 

Stay tuned for more details...

Machining Brass & More Electronics - OpenSCAD Workshop

It has been a while since my last post.  I have been rather busy this quarter with my senior capstone project (Stay tuned for that later...)  One of the things that I have been working on for another class is machining a power cylinder for a Sterling engine.  I changed the design to include machined letters.

I have also been playing around with a number of electronics things.  I bought an Open Bench Logic Sniffer which is very cool but comes without a case.   I found a design for one on Thingiverse but wanted to have cutouts for the optional headers so I modified it (here).

 

I also bought a Freeduino which is a very nice little thru-hole Arduino clone kit.  It was very easy to assemble.

I wanted a case for it as well so I designed and printed one.

This case will also be one of my examples at the OpenSCAD workshop I am teaching at Metrix Create: Space on Sunday, March 27 from 2-4pm.