Role

Industrial Sales and Manufacturing Engineering Intern | Focus on product R&D

Problem

The customer reached out to ISM with a problem. Their technicians were being bottle-necked by the chamber cleaning of their regular maintenance routine. This was primarily due to the large size and cost of the original chamber cleaning system of choice.

Scope

• Develop a fully self contained system to autonomously clean a chamber

• The system must fit inside of the chambers and operate for 60min from a commercially available battery.

Customer Requirements

• Wet walls with 100% coverage of chamber using a customer specified aqueous mixture

• Cycle duration set to no longer than 30 minutes

• Powered off of commercially available power-tool battery

Role

Gannon Makerspace - Senior Lab Technician

Problem

NFI Empire a local full service automotive garage specializing in "tricking out cars" reached out to the Gannon Makerspace with a proposition. They had been asked to develop a dream hot-rod branded for the Brett-Boyar foundation to gift to the foundations annual charity auction, and they needed help with fabricating some of the custom branded parts. The car of choice was a 1932 Ford Highboy Roadster.

Scope

• Create an eye catching unique design for a shift knob

• Develop a stainless steel shift-knob specifically designed to be manufactured on a DMLS 3D printer (Direct Metal Laser Sintering).

• Manufacture the shift-knob

• Manufacture other components (I was not involved with)

Customer Requirements

• Include Brett Boyer Foundation branding on every component

• Needs to securely mount to the per-existing shift knob screw mount.

Operations

Designed a spherical shift knob with integrated threads for mounting. To reduce the weight of the printed object, a honeycomb pattern was carved out giving the bottom part of the sphere a honeycomb aesthetic. Embossed the bee logo onto the top of the knob. 3D Printed on DMLS. Delivered to customer.

Project Status

Completed project as of November 2023.

Role

EPA Machining - Private Contractor

Problem

The company is a startup looking to modernize the typical machine shop so common to the Erie Pennsylvania region. One way they intend to do so is through a through set of documentation for repeat jobs as to dynamically assign shop operators to complete jobs with little prior knowledge to the job. To assist with this, parametric vise models needed to be developed with a dual purpose of showing documented setups and ease the burden of modeling soft-jaws.

Scope

• Develop parametric models in Fusion 360 of the 2 types of common in-house Orange vises, each with a soft-jaw and mitee-bite configuration.

• Defined model component interactions for almost-drop-in soft-jaw generation.

• Utilize parametric models in process documentation to for future repeat orders.

Customer Requirements

• 4x Fusion 360 parametric vise models

• Jira documentation for 2x repeat shop jobs.

Operations

I designed all required vise configurations in Fusion 360 with parameters for adjusting the model based on stock/work-piece size as well as the constraints to complete successful partial-automation of soft-jaw design.

Project Status

Project completed. 

Role

Gannon Makerspace - Senior Lab Technician

Problem

A local fortune 500 company reached out to the Gannon Makerspace with a problem. They had some 50-year-old plastic clips failing on their stairwell window framing resulting in large metal pieces falling below.

Scope

• Assess the problem to determine root cause.

• Create a cost-effective solution to manufacture 1600 pieces.

• Test solution to ensure product reliability and performance.

Customer Requirements

• 1600 Total Pieces

• Manufactured within the Gannon Makerspace

• Securely hold the window framing such that the frame will stay attached for years to come.

Operations

We visited the customer campus immediately to assess the root cause. After analysis of the window frames in question. It was determined that the plastic, in the severe whether conditions of Erie PA, were becoming brittle and failing in the wind. It was also determined, that if the four framing pieces around a window fail, the window is fully released and it is possible that the window may fall below. This was determined to be an urgent issue and preventative safety measure as the window framing pieces were often above walkways or roads.

It was determined that the FDM print-farm at the Gannon Makerspace would be the most cost-effective way to produce the parts. This is because of the clips simple design, a single shape extruded with no overhangs. a first batch was produced. The customer completed application testing and determined the new printing process with a slightly different material to the original were failing on installation. Through further part analysis and testing in the lab it was determined that with the different properties of PETG to ABS resulted in a less stiff part. This meant we could "put the material where the load is" and strengthen the part without inhibiting installation efficiency. The design was modified with the change and produce in full.

Project Status

These clips are now holding up windows today across the fortune 500 company's campus.

Role

Gannon Makerspace - Senior Lab Technician
I was responsible for the creative idea to scan through the mirror and capture the bottom half of the bridge. I helped bring thr model through the Makerspace to finally be 3D printed in full color on our Color-Jett 3D printer. Please see the following video to see the process unfold (I was behind the camera and edited the video).

Role

Gannon Makerspace - Senior Lab Technician

Problem

A startup company came to the Makerspace looking to solve a problem that effected their life. They needed a catheter valve to restrict backflow of liquid. They came to us with a design, but needed help redesigning for resin photo-polymerization 3D printing manufacturing. Furthermore, they wanted to have an initial batch of prototypes developed for lab testing. These prototype needed to be certified skin contact safe for humans.

Scope

• Refine model for additive manufacturing capabilities

• Prototype model to reach a functional state

• Produce a small batch production run to complete lab testing.

Customer Requirements

• A model that completes their backflow prevention needs.

• Prototypes out of a clear material to be able to observe and confirm full device operability.

• Batch production within the skin-contact specification for lab testing.

Operations

I helped redesign the model for the limitations of resin additive manufacturing. This included minimum wall thickness, avoiding internal overhangs where support material would be not possible to remove. 

Calibrated resin 3d printers to new type of clear resin capable of producing skin-contact safe. This involved following the resin manufacturers strict pre-processing and post-processing guidelines to ensure skin-contact safe.

Project Status

Prototypes successfully developed for operational functionality, batch produce and sent to lab for testing.