Gannon University: GUBotDev Hosts 3D Printing Crash Course Event in IHACK
On Friday September 16th, Gannon University’s Robotics and Development (GUBotDev) club hosted a 3D Printing Crash course for students on campus. This is GUBotDev’s second official event of the Fall 2022 semester following their previous “Slow Drop Challenge” event.
Members of GUBotDev produce projects and fulfill contract work orders out of the MakerSpace lab currently located on the third floor of the IHACK building. The current makerspace has multiple 3D printers with capabilities to produce multi-function project pieces out of a variety of materials and resources.
While this event was led by current members of GUBotDev, their advisor Nick Devine began the event by speaking to the students that attended about what 3D printing is and how the building currently uses its 3D printing capabilities. Nick is the Design and Fabrication Engineer for the upcoming Center for Manufacturing and Technology on the 6th floor of the IHACK building that is predicted to be completed in Summer of 2023. While Nick spoke to the students about the types of 3D printers currently on campus, he also was able to discuss the new 3D printers and new equipment that will be available on the 6th floor once it is fully operational.
Sophomore Bio-Medical Engineering/LECOM Pre-Med student Austin Lippert taught students how to prep 3D models for 3D printing using PrusaSlicer in a short presentation. After learning how to prepare their projects, students either headed to the MakerSpace lab to 3D print their model or they could attend another presentation led by Junior Mechanical Engineering student Daniel Rutkowski on how to design their own models for 3D printing.
Students worked both in the Cyber Innovation Lab and the MakerSpace lab for hours learning how to 3D print safely and efficiently while also gaining practical application experience in a controlled environment. Both advisors and GUBotDev students supervised and assisted students in 3D printing their own projects and encouraged the students to attend more GUBotDev events or submit their own project proposals to make in the MakerSpace lab in the future.