Three Weeks to 3d: NU Students’ Prototype on Track

We are now less than three weeks away from The Realities of 3D Printing on March 30 and the BuiltWorldsNU team is sitting pretty. While its impending classroom presentation is yet to come before the show-and-tell in BuiltWorlds Studios, our favorite future mechanical engineers have aligned themselves successfully to debut their new concrete extruder creation.

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When we checked in with our team this week, they played the “busy card,” like the college kid with no time even to call home to check-in with mom and dad. But our team wasn’t busy training for spring break by partying all night. They were honestly working on their project.

So, give them a break, and check out their latest diary entry below:

Dear Reader,

What a week! Holy manoli! (What is a “manoli?”) This week was one of the busiest thus far. From a sixty page report (hold the applause) to developing a new prototype to forgetting what bed feels like, we accomplished a bunch these past seven days. Our new prototype makes use of a plunger that pushes out the concrete. Tim created a computer program that, when connected to a solenoid, pressurizes and depressurizes the pressure vessel. What would we do without him?

Connie and Annie conducted a concrete formulation experiment in order to determine what the best combination of mortar mix and water would be. If you want the deets, the ideal combination was 95 mL water and 1 lb mortar mix.

As mentioned, we wrote a lengthy report that the professors said may be at the “point of diminishing returns.” Womp womp. But fortunately, we submitted it at 11:58 pm, well in advance for the 11:59 pm deadline. The assignment shaved a cumulative two years off all of our lives but, hey, you win some, you lose some.

Best,

BuiltWorldsNU