{"id":36864,"date":"2014-06-01T08:30:36","date_gmt":"2014-06-01T13:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/?p=36864"},"modified":"2016-07-28T14:36:19","modified_gmt":"2016-07-28T19:36:19","slug":"makers-mark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/makers-mark\/","title":{"rendered":"Maker’s Mark"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"3Dphoto\"<\/a>Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in the spring 2013 Ole Miss Alumni Review<\/a> magazine which is published by the Ole Miss Alumni Association<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

OXFORD, Miss. – Not so long ago, engineers\u2019 use of three-dimensional modeling software to render an object viewable on a computer screen was considered novel and exciting. Today, the computer rendering is becoming fully realized as it is now possible, and increasingly commonplace, to create individual 3-D objects with the advent of 3-D printing.<\/p>\n

At the Haley Barbour Center for Manufacturing Excellence, on the University of Mississippi\u2019s Oxford campus, students now have the opportunity to use this exciting new technology for themselves.<\/p>\n

The CME was founded in 2010 and combines the disciplines of engineering, business and accounting to prepare students for careers in manufacturing. The center boasts a fully functional factory floor replica, where students can acquire hands-on experience in a factory setting.<\/p>\n

Students in the schools of Business Administration and Accountancy can obtain a minor in manufacturing through the center, and School of Engineering majors can earn an emphasis in manufacturing.<\/p>\n

A computer-aided design (CAD) modeling course is a requirement for CME students, and now those students are able to see the physical manifestation of objects they dream up and view on the two-dimensional space of a computer monitor. That simple task is a great learning tool, helping to foster creativity and prepare students for the emerging marketplace.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt could be something just to visualize the part and then be hands-on and touch it,\u201d says Ellen Lackey (BE 90, MS 92, PhD 96), professor of mechanical engineering and director of composite materials research group test facilities. \u201cOr it could be something useable. Most recently, I had a student print a mouthpiece for a trombone.<\/p>\n

\u201c[The course] is for the CME students who are engineering majors, and it\u2019s required,\u201d Lackey says. \u201cBut there\u2019s another mechanical engineering CAD modeling course that is a technical elective course that any engineering student can take.\u201d<\/p>\n

The technology is moving fast. Six years ago, the center purchased a printer inscribed with a serial number of \u201c2,\u201d meaning it was only the second one made.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat one has a pool of liquid. You shine a layer on it; it cures with the light,\u201d says Jimmy Palmer (BSCS 02, MSESC 05), information technology coordinator for the CME.\u201cYou shine the next layer, it drops down, then it rises up out of the bath. It\u2019s ABS plastic \u2014 very hard, rigid plastic.\u201d<\/p>\n

That machine is currently in need of maintenance, the cost of which would equal the cost of a brand new desktop printer such as the one most recently purchased and in use by Lackey\u2019s students.<\/p>\n

The newest machine works by taking the computer model and pouring a small tendril of heated plastic in the shape designed by the model. Then it follows with another layer, another and yet another until the object is complete. Depending on the resolution (a higher resolution prints the objects with more and smaller tendrils), an object can be produced in a matter of hours.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust like with any other printer that has various resolutions, the higher [the] resolution you print at, the longer it takes to print,\u201d Palmer says. \u201cIt depends on how thin the layer is. The thinner the layer, the better the quality is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

3-D Advantages<\/strong><\/p>\n

Today, the implications of on-demand manufacturing in a desktop setting are far-reaching. Applications in health care, manufacturing, research and development, and military arenas are all in the works. 3-D printing has been used to create props for blockbuster movies. It\u2019s even been used to create food products.<\/p>\n

CME students use the printers to help them hone their 3-D modeling skills. Whereas previously they could only look at a 2-D print of their creations and rely on their imaginations to learn what any particular widget they designed would look and feel like, now they can design it, print it and, in a matter of hours, hold it in their hands.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe students can now build prototypes of their designs that they created with CAD software,\u201d Lackey says. \u201cThat\u2019s beneficial.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one thing for a student to take and generate something in a 3-D CAD program like Pro-E or TurboCAD,\u201d Palmer says. \u201cIt\u2019s quite another to physically see that. Historically what happened was if they wanted a physical representation, they would\u2019ve had to take raw stock down to the floor, machine it out by hand, or put it on the CAD machine and do it that way. Here they can tell it to print, let it run overnight, and come back in the morning and it\u2019s done.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the workplace, 3-D printing has clear advantages.<\/p>\n

\u201cPrototyping is the big thing,\u201d Lackey says. \u201cDoes the customer like the appearance, the look and feel of [a product]? Does it fit? Some of them, depending on the application, are strong enough to test. Some of the metal printers \u2026 you [can] manufacture with it. It might be small-scale manufacturing, but it is manufacturing.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a timesaver too.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some engineering firms that are making pieces for internal and external clients, and one engineer in his office will have four of these printers,\u201d Palmer says. \u201cThat increases his productivity many times. Normally the way that would [work] is [the engineers] would design the piece, model the piece, make sure that it works in their virtual design. Then they would have to send it to the factory floor, to the technicians to actually manufacture it, and they might have to wait a week. They may spend [$10,000] or $15,000 a piece on the printers. But in the amount of time it takes five or six people to manufacture that one part, they save money in normally the first year.\u201d<\/p>\n

The technology isn\u2019t new but is progressing fast enough that the cost is decreasing to make it feasible for students and small firms to use it. Home models are even coming out now that cost barely more than $1,000.<\/p>\n

\u201c3-D prototyping has been available for well over 20 years,\u201d says Lackey. \u201cIt was commercial and very expensive. But getting it to the consumer prices \u2013 it\u2019s been the past year or so.\u201d<\/p>\n

Part of the surging interest and use of the technology is due to other reasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2014, a lot of patents are running out,\u201d Palmer says. \u201cA lot of companies are able to get in now because they don\u2019t have to buy the patents. They\u2019re starting to run out from 20 years ago. There\u2019s been a lot of industry consolidation too.\u201d<\/p>\n

The machines are helping students to be more creative as well as keep up with technology trends.<\/p>\n

\u201cAllowing them to be creative, be able to create something that they can think about is the biggest advantage,\u201d says Jim Vaughn, interim director of the Center for Manufacturing Excellence. \u201cThey can turn their thoughts into an actual 3-D object. They can do it on a computer, and that\u2019s all well and good, but then they can take that to the next step and actually create the object.\u201d<\/p>\n

Timothy Steenwyk, a freshman mechanical engineering major with an emphasis in manufacturing, took Lackey\u2019s class and was soon producing his own objects. His first attempt, a heart-shaped keychain he made as a Valentine\u2019s Day gift, required several attempts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the best way to learn 3-D printing is to just interact with it,\u201d he says. \u201cThe way we imagine something is much different [from] the reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steenwyk says that holding a solid object also gives him a good idea of its scale.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can manipulate it with your hands, and you can see if it\u2019s going to work. You get a good estimation. Before, you\u2019d have to know how to input to view things and manipulate it. But in real life, with your hands, it\u2019s just natural. You have a solid prototype in front of you. You already know how to handle objects.\u201d<\/p>\n

Innovative Applications<\/strong><\/p>\n

Injecting more creativity in the engineering sector is drawing more people into it. Artists are using 3-D printers to render sculptures. The worlds of graphic design and engineering are colliding in ways that before now were unimaginable.<\/p>\n

For the blockbuster movie \u201cIron Man\u201d and its sequels, prop masters simply printed objects such as weapons and parts of the Iron Man costume rather than individually sculpt them.<\/p>\n

The gee-whiz, cool-gadget factor of the technology is drawing more students into engineering. A few years ago, the CME conducted a series of camps for high school students. Seeing that technology at work, many of them steered their career planning toward engineering and manufacturing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was the idea behind the summer camp \u2013 to show them the cool technology and encourage them to go into areas of STEM and engineering,\u201d Lackey says. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty common these days, but it\u2019s still kind of a wow factor. We were doing summer camps before the CME started. We were exposing high school and junior high kids to 3-D printing, and that was six years ago. Nobody had ever seen anything like it, and now people are reading about it in popular magazines.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for potential uses of 3-D printing in the workplace, the military is using 3-D printing in the field to replace machinery and parts on the fly. GPS sensors, drone equipment and other technical equipment can now be replaced in the field in a matter of hours instead of days or weeks. And older, outdated equipment that previously was unable to be reconditioned due to infeasibility can now be updated, thanks to 3-D printing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI read about an old military plane they couldn\u2019t get any parts for, and now they were able to just manufacture it,\u201d Lackey says.<\/p>\n

One of the most exciting areas is in the health care industry. Scientists and doctors have already used 3-D printing to make artificial organs. Prosthetics is also a growing field for 3-D printing. In an industry that relies on individual fit more than perhaps any other, tailor-made limbs are now obtainable.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, we have straight-to-consumer prosthetics,\u201d Palmer says. \u201cUsed to, it would take months and months to get correctly. Now you can print your own, and as you grow, you just print bigger ones. It\u2019s essentially an overnight process. They scan where it\u2019s going to attach the piece exactly the size you need it. Yes, it\u2019s expensive to print, but it is still cheaper than the alternative. You\u2019re going to see this proliferate.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201cscanning\u201d that Palmer speaks of is the true horizon of the technology. In addition to being able to print a 3-D object, technology is emerging that will allow for objects to be scanned by a 3-D scanner, then rendered into the modeling software and printed as an exact replica. While this development will undoubtedly present a myriad of legal issues concerning copyright, the ability to physically replicate an object on a desktop machine at home seems like something out of \u201cStar Trek,\u201d yet it is already becoming a reality.<\/p>\n

As with all emerging technologies, the application ranges from the critically serious to the whimsical. Chocolate 3-D printers are already on the marketplace, with chocolate and other confectionaries replacing plastics and metals. Crafting food products is constrained only by the imagination of the designer. Following Hewlett-Packard\u2019s naming system of Inkjets and LaserJets, 3D Systems\u2019 new line of 3-D chocolate printers is called Chefjet.<\/p>\n

While sci-fi-sounding as well as mundane applications of 3-D printing are on the horizon, this technology is also a tool to be used now. Teaching Ole Miss students how to use it is not just a novelty; it\u2019s a necessity.<\/p>\n

\u201c3-D printing is going to become the new way of making a lot of components in the next few years,\u201d Vaughn says. \u201cThe concept of additive printing is going to make a fundamental change to manufacturing. We\u2019re making sure students are aware of its upcoming role in manufacturing and giving them the option to do it and explore their creative ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in the spring 2013 Ole Miss Alumni Review magazine which is published by the Ole Miss Alumni Association. OXFORD, Miss. – Not so long ago, engineers\u2019 use of three-dimensional modeling software to render an object viewable on a computer screen was considered novel and exciting. Today, the computerRead the story …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[765,1297],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nMaker's Mark - Ole Miss News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/makers-mark\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Maker's Mark - Ole Miss News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in the spring 2013 Ole Miss Alumni Review magazine which is published by the Ole Miss Alumni Association. 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