When I was young I made a ski jump in our back yard using popsicle sticks on toy army men for skis and pinched off branches of our evergreen to populate the mound of snow with its own forest. After lots of smoothing of the ramp and the apron, I eventually had plastic men jumping and landing successfully. Wish I had a picture, both of the little mountain of snow and the pride of success I felt inside. I will share here some of my other favorite ‘makes’.
Neuron Cell
A teacher in the psychology department asked if I could print a neuron cell model for one of her students who was blind. I used Rhinoceros 5.0 to make the design. It is currently available for free download at https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2973158.
Planetary gear system model
One day when I was washing crud from the laser’s cutting table in the automotive shop, one of the teachers there asked if I could 3D print a model for teaching how planetary gears were used in transmissions. After some interaction we decided to laser cut something from acrylic instead. I designed the small ones shown below for students to handle and one large one for the teacher to use in class demonstrations. Later we made one for our Vocational Technology department dean to use during his high school recruitment trips.
