SolidWorks, FabLabs and ShopBot

Dassault Systèmes SOLIDWORKS Corp. offers complete 3D computer-aided design (CAD) software that engineers, designers and other technology professionals use to create, simulate, publish, and manage their data. The FabLabs are an international community of over 300 fabrication laboratories, complete with an array of digital fabrication equipment, electronics components and molding equipment so that the community …

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A Day Without “Bells”

 

Whether it is woodworking or robotics, one of the challenges of teaching in a public high school is that the bell rings for the next class just as the students/teachers have really settled into their projects. So it was a privilege to have 3 students from Kelvin Hasch’s woodworking program at Greely High School …

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ShopBot Training, Aug 2014: Life Long Learning

In TJ’s training at ShopBot this past week, of the 10 entities represented, 6 were involved in education in some form or another. Another 3 were “life long learners” with the idea of using their new ShopBots in a career change because they had been laid off from their old job, or were creating a …

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Digital Fab at the Maker Faire, Paris

Paris’s first Maker Faire took place in late June at the Centquatre Center.

ShopBot had a presence there, thanks to Sallye from ShopBot putting a Handibot in a suitcase and flying it over for the event and leFabShop from San Malo bringing their Desktop. LeFabShop has a variety of digital fab tools and classes …

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TEC Hub’s Handibot goes to work in FIRST Robotics pit crew

The roar of robots racing, kids shouting and general mayhem filled the air as the FIRST Robotics 2014 Virginia Regional Competition got underway in April. FIRST Robotics’ mission is “to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders, by engaging them in exciting mentor-based programs that build science, engineering and technology skills, that inspire …

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Creating a Jig for the ShopBot Handibot

This week, I’m getting ready for a number of upcoming STEM-related conferences and festivals. I’ll be taking both a Desktop and a Handibot, and want to have attendees get the thrill of running a ShopBot.

I use what I call the “3 min demo” that lets someone design a sign in CAD software, prepare it …

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What can you teach from making a sign?

Bill Young brought in this sign, made from acrylic that has been V-Carved, plywood that has been pocketed and cut out, and a peg that was 3D printed. At the bottom of the sign is a strip of LEDs, their changing colors programmed with an Arduino. While it is a simple enough project, it contains …

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Florida State U. informs and inspires with digital fabrication techniques

Professors at Florida State University in Tallahassee are helping to prepare their students for a multitude of career possibilities, by exposing them to the techniques of digital fabrication. They’re making use of digital fab from many angles, and it’s fascinating to learn about.

Windham Graves is a studio technician who heads up the Multi-Modal …

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A Gavel for MUN (Model United Nations)

School’s out but lots of things are going on with my students over the summer… One of the things we are working on with our ShopBot Desktop is fabricating about a dozen award plaques to give to exemplary delegates at Sewanhaka High School’s Model UN Conference next year. We wanted to decorate each plaque with …

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Secondary Operations and Machine Calibration

One of the tasks at which the ShopBot excels is processing sheet materials. I love that I can slide a sheet of melamine or plywood onto the table and a few minutes later pull off a small pile of parts, ready for edgebanding and assembly. If you have done your design and programming …

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