MONDAY

The first thing I did was to at least try to fix the extruder on my 3D printer, because if the extruder didn’t work that meant that I couldn’t print anything to begin with. And I did everything, like unplugging it, rewiring it properly, and unscrewing the nozzle and cleaning it. But nothing worked. However, my mentor told me about a maker space that had 3D printers that I can use in the meantime called the Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen, or ODEK for short. This place had everything engineering-oriented, like of course a 3D printing station, machine shop, wood shop, a wet lab, and much more to be honest. But in order to get in, I had to take a safety quiz and had to pass it with a 89 or higher to do. So I did, and got 95 which was fine. All I had to do was remember the safety guidelines on their website and watch a 6 minute video, and that was it. I was guided by a SURFN internee student who worked in my lab that knew the ins-and-outs of ODEK, and showed me through the ropes of the 3D printing station, and told me which printer I needed to use in order the prints for my model. The ideal printer for it was the Bambu Lab X1 Carbon 3D printer, and it was more sophisticated than the printer I had in the lab, this printer in particular was enclosed, and had a quicker print time by cutting half the time it would’ve taken have I used the CR-10S printer. So the first thing that I decided to print was the ram for the pneumatic extruder, which took about two-and-a-half hours to printer rather than the 6 hours it taken if the 3D printer in the lab haven’t broken down. And while I was waiting for the ram to print, my mentor told me if I wanted to rehearse my powerpoint presentation with her so she can give me pointers on what to say and do when I present, and it went great. And it took long enough to see how my ram to finish printing. And that was it.

 

TUESDAY

Before I went to the GRB building, I had to go to ODEK to this time print the body of the pneumatic extruder, and that would take about 9 hours or so, so basically I had spend all day and then some to wait for it to print completely compared to the 1 day and 9 hour journey it would’ve taken haven’t the 3D printer in the lab didn’t break down. Some things just happen for a reason when I think about it. Because going to ODEK, and using the Bambu Lab X1 Carbon 3D printer is saving so much time that I feel confident in completing my project on time. While that was happening, I went to weekly REU meeting at GRB W212 where a project manager of a startup here at Rice talked about this exciting venture about CO2 capturing, and replacing it with hydrogen in the most effective and cheapest way possible, this intrigued so much that I asked for the presenter’s LinkedIn once her presentation was finished. Then when that was over with, me and a couple of my REU friends headed to the study rooms found in Fondren Library where we would practice our presentations with each other. And this time around I was a little bit nervous because it was a larger crowd. However, my friends told that I did great, and that was all I needed to hear. After that I headed off to ODEK to see how the body for the pneumatic extruder was looking, and while it was still printing I reedited the powerpoint because I forgot to do correctly like how Professor Faiza wanted me to do it, which was fair. Once the print was done, I asked the assistants there if I can print some models overnight, those being all the parts needed for the mechanical extruder, which isn’t a lot. As well as another body, but this time with 80 percent infill density because the body that I already printed was at 30 percent infill density, and looked flimsy and not strong enough. And they told me that I could, and so I did. The last thing that I did was to take out the supports from the body of the pneumatic extruder, and hoping that the prints are finished early in the morning.

 

WEDNESDAY

I headed straight to ODEK to see if my prints were done, and turns out that the body for the pneumatic extruder was, but the parts for the mechanical extruder would have to take another hour-and-a-half to complete. And looking back at it the day before, it would’ve taken 15 hours to print whereas it would’ve taken 1 day 10 hours and 46 minutes to print if the 3D printer in the lab haven’t broken down. While it kept printing, I took down the supports yet again from the body for the pneumatic extruder, and just waited a little bit once I was done with that. Once it was actually finished, I had to do the same thing I had to do for other prints prior, which was taking the supports, and it took over an hour this time around. When everything was set and done, I dropped off the prints to the lab and told my mentor about it, and she told that other materials and parts needed will arrive next Monday the latest. So I am just waiting for that at the moment, and just have a great four-day weekend. And I hope that you guys do so as well.

 

 

Thank you for reading,
Brandon Espinoza.