Recently, I had the pleasure of
stopping by UC San Diego’s first annual Make-A-Thon. I wasn’t entirely sure of
what I should expect, but I was excited and knew I would be amazed. Upon entering
the room, I could feel something special—you know, that buzz and energy only a
room full of driven and tenacious people working with grit could create.
The student organization Triton 3D-Printing
Club (T3D), new since January of this school year, arranged a 3D printing
hack-a-thon event with the hope of encouraging students to learn how to
approach problems in a team setting and exposing them to experiment with 3D printing.
The competition was split into two categories: novice and advanced, with
participants ranging from first years to graduating seniors. I had the
opportunity to speak with winning advanced team.
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| Shake and Bake's award-winning design |
The four members of the winning
team, Shake and Bake, were awarded their own 3D printer for their design, which
resembled the pod racer from Star Wars. The team consisted of
graduating seniors Narek Geghamyan, Daniel Ip, Victor Long and Glen Padilla,
all studying either mechanical or aerospace engineering, and most of them had
no prior experience with 3D printing. It took the team about thirty minutes to
brainstorm, and four to five hours of pure design before they were ready to
print. They each made their own individual designs before reconvening to take
the best aspects of each idea and build prototypes until they knew each part
was entirely functional and efficient. They described their experience as a
“very enjoyable process,” and praised 3D printing for its rapid prototyping ability.
As one Shake and Bake member said, “You rarely have the ability to build an
entire device out of scratch in one sitting.” And I believe the event’s lead
coordinator, Andy Kieatiwong, would vigorously nod his head in agreement.
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| Andy Kieatiwong |
I also had the pleasure of meeting
and speaking to Kieatiwong at the event. He is a third year aerospace
engineering student, and, as one of the co-founders of T3D, he is no stranger
to 3D printing and the many opportunities it offers. He described 3D printing
as a “new way to solve problems in scientific fields” such as aerospace
engineering. For example, 3D printing enables engineers to make lighter materials,
lower manufacturing costs and “democratize the act of making things.” For the
future, Kieatiwong says he and T3D will mostly likely collaborate with other organizations
to expand the event to twice its size, moving from fifteen available printers
to thirty or even forty. As for the future of 3D printing, he said, “3D
printing is not an answer within itself. It’s just a tool, but a very powerful
tool.”
For some of us, this tool is still
very new. I also spoke with one of the novice teams; the group consisted of
freshmen Zenas Heng, Emilee Kang, Kasey Li, and Joe Wong, all students pursuing
– or at least interested in – some form of engineering. None of them had any
experience with hack-a-thon-type events, nor did they have much experience
working with 3D printers. They learned a lot – miscommunication and technical
errors prevented them from printing on time, leaving them with very small
models. Despite the drawbacks, none of them regret having participated in the
event. As a freshman myself, I agreed with them that the Make-A-Thon is one of
the many opportunities that contribute to our above-average engineering
experience here at UC San Diego.
Beyond the grandeur and promise 3D
printing holds, the Make-A-Thon offered experience to those without the means
of obtaining it. Furthermore, the event was less about competitive feelings and
more about having fun. The novice team I spoke to chose to participate in the
Make-A-Thon after having heard about the event from their friends. One of the
Shake and Bake members even called his group the “all-star team.” Perhaps he
said that because they all had extensive experience with modeling software, but
I’d like to believe it was because the accomplished something else – they simply
made memories with friends.
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| Some 3D printers! |
This
event was sponsored by ARRK, Forecaset 3D, Pixologic, Polymaker, and
XYZPrinting. ARRK and Forecast3D attended the networking event. As prizes,
Pixologic donated ZBrush licenses (software for design) and XYZ contributed a
smartwatch and lanyards. For the competition Polymaker donated filament
(PolyFlex, PolyMax, and Plywood), and XYZ loaned printers. Also, special thanks
goes to Adrienna Yan and Joe Wong for photographs from the event.
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Shake and Bake
(From left to right) Narek Geghamyan, Daniel Ip, Glen Padilla, and Victor Long |
