Week 10: Gearing Up and Wrapping Up!
Sumin S -
Hey everyone! I can’t believe I’m already writing the final blog for my Senior Project. It feels like just yesterday I was nervously stepping into Dr. Sun’s lab for the very first time. This last week has been a whirlwind of 3D printing, fine-tuning designs, and some creative problem-solving that involved baking clay… yes, really!
So, this week, I finally completed the microscope bracket that I’ve been designing! This bracket uses a rack and pinion mechanism, which basically allows for smooth, precise vertical movement of the camera, kind of like how a microscope lens moves up and down to focus. To make it all work, I added a special holder that could securely mount the camera right in place. When I printed the whole structure, it was almost perfect… except for one tiny issue: the gear.
The gear’s teeth weren’t locking properly with the linear actuator. It was just slipping instead of turning the way it should. After scratching my head over it for a while, I decided to make the gear using polymer clay! Once shaped, I baked it in the oven to harden it, and believe it or not, it actually worked. Definitely not something I thought I’d be doing during an engineering project, but it was definitely fun to work with!
After getting the microscope bracket fully functional, I moved on to the big task I’d been building toward for weeks: printing out the body of the spin coater. I had been developing the design for nearly three weeks, so watching it finally printed was so exciting. It took nearly 9 hours to print the entire structure, which felt like forever, but it was totally worth it.
But once again, the engineering life threw me a curveball. While the spin coater printed beautifully, I realized that the design didn’t leave enough room for the wires, especially those connecting to the screen that will display results from the camera. I tried my best to use the main part that I already printed out; I even melted and cracked the filaments on the body part of the spin coater. So, back to the drawing board I went. I updated the design and added extra space for the screen and wiring components. Problem solved.
However, since the updated design turned out to be a bit too big for the 3D printer in Dr. Sun’s lab, I had to look for other options. Thankfully, Gabe came to the rescue and introduced me to the Maker Space on the first floor of the Science and Engineering Building. It’s a super cool place with bigger printers and tons of tools. Since it’s not owned by Dr. Sun’s lab, the printing process takes a bit longer. It’ll be about a week until my final version is ready. But the great news is that the final product will be here by Thursday.
Even though this is technically the final week of Senior Project, I’ll be continuing the research with Gabe for the rest of the week, and I’m so excited to see everything finally come together. This whole journey has been filled with unexpected challenges, hands-on learning, and so much growth. Thank you all for following along with me throughout these 10 weeks!
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