Tag: 3D Printing

  • Tommy Waters

    Tommy Waters

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    MEMBER SPOTLIGHT – TOMMY WATERS

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    A self-described chronic dabbler, Tommy Waters does it all. Tommy is Generator’s Electronics Lab Lead, a software and electronic engineer, avid woodworker and creative learner.

    Inspired by his brother’s mechanical engineering pursuits and an enthusiastic digital electronics professor, Tommy found electrical engineering. Throughout his high school days in Saratoga Springs and college years at Clarkson University, Tommy honed his craft, and joined GlobalFoundries upon graduation in 2017. As a test engineer, Tommy tested wafers and modules in semiconductors (the circuitry developed on the silicon of semiconductors). Although his work was fulfilling, the monotony of his job and the lack of access to a creative community led Tommy to explore Burlington’s creative landscape. “I was really looking at ways of pushing my personal projects to another level.” After taking some time off from GlobalFoundries, and with life on hold during the pandemic, Tommy joined Generator. His technical skills and creative itch found their home, and his journey towards expert dabbler had begun. [/vc_column_text][divider line_type=”No Line”][image_with_animation image_url=”12709″ alignment=”center” animation=”Fade In” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”][divider line_type=”No Line”][vc_column_text]Tommy’s introduction to Generator was in large part due to Ezra Ranz-Schleifer, an artist and creator whose mechanical engineering background complemented Tommy’s software and electrical engineering expertise. Their collaboration has led to the creation of “BLOOM” kinesthetic flower sculptures that were designed by Ezra and brought to life by Tommy. Currently, Tommy is designing the circuits and programming the stepper motors which move the flowers’ petals. As Tommy describes it, this project is: “focused on the interaction of people and flowers coming together… The stepper motors are controlling the actuation of flowers to show life and dynamic movement that one can see with blooming, ebbing and flowing of flowers across seasons.” The pair hope to complete the project by February of 2023 in advance of displaying at Burlington City Arts.

    Tommy’s curiosity and desire to grow his skill sets have propelled him to pursue projects across Generator’s shops. He enjoys hopping between hobbies, recently picking up the fiber arts (sewing, crocheting and macrame) to complement his woodworking passion. His studio space is proof of this exploration. “I wanted to bring that to my space here in Generator and create a place where I enjoy working in.” Macrame plant hangers, a floating wooden shelf and a carved monitor stand de-clutter his space and curate a creative yet clean studio. His personal projects are a meditative way to ease his mind while constantly learning: “I’ve been trying to push myself to try to find new ways to learn and make mistakes and bring new perspective to new projects.”[/vc_column_text][divider line_type=”No Line”][image_with_animation image_url=”12707″ alignment=”center” animation=”Fade In” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”][divider line_type=”No Line”][vc_column_text]Beyond just dabbling, Tommy’s time at Generator has been all about curating spaces that enable safe, fun and productive creation for himself and for other members. As the Electronics Shop Lead, Tommy is responsible for the maintenance of the space and the collection and distribution of materials. With donated electronic hardware of all qualities and ages, this is no small task. Tommy’s principle objective is creating an intuitive space where safe, dedicated stations allow for ergonomic and creative workflows to flourish. As Tommy sees it, simple organization will help “spread the creativity.”

    As for what lies ahead, Generator’s upcoming renovations open up the possibility to design a more advanced electronics curriculum. “At the moment we have a base level curriculum intended to get people into the space to use it safely and correctly.” Looking forward, Tommy has plans to design a more project-focused curriculum, where members can be invested in the breadth of learning with real application opportunities[/vc_column_text][divider line_type=”No Line”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

  • Member Made: Elliott’s capper/decapper mod

    Member Made: Elliott’s capper/decapper mod

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    Our Operations Director Elliott Katz was able to solve their problem with a little 3D modeling, printing, and rubber mold making.

    Want to learn how to use the 3D printers? Sign up for one of our trainings or classes here.

     

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  • Member Made: Aidan’s 3D Printed Nerf Gun

    Member Made: Aidan’s 3D Printed Nerf Gun

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    He downloaded the files for this print from Thingiverse and printed it using our line-up of Josef Prusa 3D printers.

    When asked why he wanted to make this, Aidan shrugged and said he loved nerf guns growing up and didn’t have anything better to do.

    Cheers to embracing your inner kiddo and diving into funny pandemic projects. 🥂 🤷‍♂️[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default”][vc_column_text][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default”][vc_column_text]If the video isn’t appearing, click here.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

  • Maker in Residence: Colin Gaunt

    Maker in Residence: Colin Gaunt

    Meet our current Maker in Residence: Colin Gaunt.

    Colin Gaunt Sipping Safe Maker in Residence

    Colin is a recent Saint Michael’s College grad developing an affordable, portable device using ultra-efficient LED technology to disinfect water on an individual or family-sized scale.

    From Saint Michael’s:

    “Gaunt said the market niche he is trying to fill with the Sipping Safe is ‘a family unit essentially,’ explaining, ‘there already are products that can give water to 1,000 people really well or to one person fairly well, but there isn’t a product that can give water to a family of 6 to 12 without a plumbing network of some kind.’ His device would not need to be pressurized like many existing devices, which is another big advantage. ‘I’m thinking of any developing nation or city that doesn’t have access to a steady plumbing system,’ he said.”

    Colin Gaunt Maker in Residence Sipping Safe

    Colin is also a Jump Start Collegiate cohort member, so he’s been spending a lot of time here making his first prototype using the Prusa 3D printer and Epilog laser cutter. Next step? Make the thing! 

    Follow along on Instagram to see Colin’s progress.

  • Member Made: Anonymous’s 3D Printed Frog

    Member Made: Anonymous’s 3D Printed Frog

  • Member Made: Stephanie Zuppo’s 3D Printed Cartoon

    Member Made: Stephanie Zuppo’s 3D Printed Cartoon

  • Meet Alex Constatino: August/September 2017 Maker-in-Residence

    Meet Alex Constatino: August/September 2017 Maker-in-Residence

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    Meet Alex Constatino

    Early this summer, I had an idea to create a very small town on an island in a lake somewhere in rural Vermont. My inspirations were not only my experience of parts of the Northeast Kingdom, but also of other less-populated parts of Vermont, such as the farming town where I teach in Franklin County. At the time, I was first thinking of it as a series of paintings or drawings, but as I tried to think through it, I found that my imagination was running into challenges, and that it was best to try to create the town first in three dimensions. I decided the best way to see the project through would be to create it, to scale, as a sculpture/set, and I knew I couldn’t do that on my own, with my limited resources. This is why I applied for the Maker in Residency at Generator.

     

    Artistically, I’m a painter, a printmaker, a sculptor, a potter, and even a sometimes animator and photographer. It’s important that each medium be valued on its own terms, but I am much less bound to any particular medium than I am to the ideas that the medium lives in. My transition from the painting and previous work to the high-tech approach to sculpture and set design I’ve been pursuing through my residency has more to do with determining the best methods to translate my ideas into fruition. The residency at Generator enabled me to learn to use 3D scanning, 3D modeling, and other aspects of computer aided design to use tools I had previously felt out of reach- 3D printing, 4 axis milling, and CNC routing.

     

    My basic plan for my residency was to create an environment that could be used for photographic, video, and other projects as a preexisting world based on a mythical version of Vermont, with its beautiful environment, its relative isolation, and the push and pull between self-sufficiency and dependence on the outside world. My residency was the first step on a multi-step process to create and establish the island of Avalon. Over my residency, I designed and built two major landforms of the islands, and build all the structures and flora on the smaller island. The landforms were created from 3D scans of plasticine models I created and then scaled up. I CNC cut foam panels that I then laminated, finished, and painted. Most of the structures and trees were 3D printed from models I designed in CAD/CAM software. I set these all into a backdrop painted in acrylic on canvas using methods and techniques I brought from my previous painting work. In the future, I will be developing richer and larger backdrops, building more landforms, and filling them with structures, flora, and other components using techniques I learned over my residency and equipment and tools from Generator.

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  • Alex Consantino- Mini Landscape-3D Printed, CNC Milled, and Painted

    Alex Consantino- Mini Landscape-3D Printed, CNC Milled, and Painted

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  • Mud Houses from 3D printers

    From Yahoo! 3D printing is now being used to produce anything from personalized action figures to tactile maps that help the visually impaired navigate. Now, Italian social business WASP is developing a full size portable 3D printer which prints bio-architecture houses — combining one of humanity’s latest technological developments with one if its oldest building materials, mud.

    In many parts of the world where affordable housing shortages are a growing problem, mud remains the most affordable and widely available raw material. However, building with it is an arduous and labour-intensive process. WASP intend to produce a commercially-available three armed, 20ft portable 3D printer which can be assembled on site. Read more…