makerspaces_wm_edu, Author at The Makerspaces at William & Mary

Happy April Fools!

We hope you all had a happy and safe all fools day today! A big thank you to the gifter of printer plants 🙂

Dr. Donglai Gong of William & Mary’s School of Marine Science at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science stopped in yesterday to quickly prototype a nylon based, carbon fiber infused mounting component for an upcoming experiment using advanced drone based instruments. An hour or so after he arrived, he had designed and printed an ultra-strong, lightweight custom fit bracket embedded with continuous carbon fiber and was able to leave equipped to continue pushing the edges of marine science.

EPAD Capstones Head to the Finish Line

In case you’re not familiar, EPAD stands for Engineering, Physics & Applied Design and is a relatively new track developed as a venture between Physics & Applied Science. At the conclusion of a Physics-EPAD degree program the students have to undertake a year long engineering capstone project as a team that comes in a variety of flavors. As we head into the end of the AY20-21 year you can see some students working hard on their capstones.

Let’s make a button!

We’re at Swem Library, LIVE, making pin-back buttons using various materials. Join us!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8Brx5RtSko

Let’s make a Uke!

Have you ever made a ukelele using a CNC router? Want to learn? Take a look as one of our own goes through the process and makes his own! Here’s a video of the top being carved out on the router:

Pumps Galore

There comes a time during every semester of APSC251, Introduction to Engineering Design, wherein the students are expected to design, print and assemble working, fully 3D printed, water pumps. Some recent examples provided for them include a piston-style water pump and a centrifugal-style water pump as seen below. Checkout their operation and more videos on our YouTube channel here.