3D Printer

Training Session Information for 3d Printer: Friday, October 5^th @ 5:00PM

By: Kyle Miller

In the DFL we have two new Makerbot Replicator 3d printers. The first of the two Makerbots is a single extrusion head which can print one color. The printing bed is 6”X9”. The other has a two extrusion heads which can print two colors at the same time. It is also 6”X9” printing bed. Right now the Makerbot is not going to be used. But there is a Training Session at the DFL for Friday, October 5^th at 5:00 p.m. For the session you will need to have either Google sketch up and/or Rhino. Export as an .stl file. You can invent whatever you would like. The image below is what the Makerbot Replicator looks like and something you can make.

Materials

                                       

·         Works with ABS, PLA and other materials

·         Filament diameter: 1.75 mm

Printing

Build envelope			225 x 145 x 150 mm | 8.9 x 5.7 x 5.9 in
Build volume			About 5 liters
Layer thickness			Choose 0.2-0.3 mm with stock nozzle
Stock nozzle diameter			Stock 0.4 mm
Speed			40 mm/s
Flow Rate			Approximately 24 cc/hr
Extruder Temperature			Recommended Maximum 230 C
Heated Build Platform		120 C Maximum
Positioning precision	2.5 micron on Z axis 11.micron on XY axis

http://store.makerbot.com/replicator.html#psupport and http://www.thingiverse.com/image:67733

Time Management

TIME MANAGEMENT

By: Lucas Shubert

          The rigorous study of architecture is commonly referred to as architorture among its undergraduate students at Southern Illinois University. This kind of mindset is to be expected when they are required to spend an almost unbelievable amount of time out of class doing class work. This seems to be a universal condition for architecture students. I’m not sure why no one has ever tried to come up with a reasonable justification (other than saying “that’s how architecture school is”) for this; or perhaps tried to adjust the program or courses therein to match the time requirements of other ‘full-time student’ programs.  

       The whole idea of students enrolled in a school of architecture, or studio classes in general, spending many times the effort on their studies as students in various other programs has never made very much sense to me. But seeing as I’ve finished the undergraduate portion of my architecture career, my interest in reforming course-load is waning quickly. Instead, it seems much more productive to outline some of the (successful) ways I’ve tried to meet deadlines and keep on task over the last four to five years.

       The most important thing to me has been to have as clear a picture as possible at the beginning of the class what will be required of me throughout the class. Instructors attempt to create an outline of their expectations in the syllabus. But most of the time (especially in architecture classes), deadlines are shifted and whole project goals are left intentionally ambiguous. This can be problematic for a student trying to figure out what will be happening in his or her non-major classes at the time architecture projects are due. So it’s valuable to harass a teacher as much as possible as early as possible about exactly what he or she will be expecting twelve weeks from now.

        Working steadily day in and day out has never been a very successful strategy for me. I tend to be most productive over short, focused work sessions. The results of both methods can be the same, but someone working in bursts will most likely have a harder time fighting off procrastination as a deadline approaches if too much time passes between work sessions. Therefore, some early planning over when I intend to do large portions of my work has been beneficial throughout the years.

       And one thing that seems to plague architecture students is getting caught in the trap of choosing a design solution that he or she really doesn’t believe in and working on it for several weeks before deciding to change it. Doing this is always devastating to the workflow. The more time that passes before deciding to change a design, the less time there is afterward to complete the solution. However, knowing when to change a design concept is most likely only something one can learn through experience. That is all the time I have to talk about time management. Get it?

Queen of Structures

Queen of Structures

By: Megan Gebke

As an architecture student, you quickly realize that you don’t really have too much time for a social life.  Your social circle becomes your classmates.  Your classmates are the people you see more than your own family and after spending so many “all-nighters” together they know entirely too much about you.  Ever since I was younger, I have always been competitive by nature.  Well since our architecture class is mostly guys with a few girls, I think that almost made me even more competitive to show that I do belong here and I am good enough.  Being competitive with your classmates helps to push each other to be the best and achieve your own personal best.  When I started writing this post, I thought it would be about how I beat Andrew in structures III and became the Queen of Structures but I guess it has shifted to how important your classmates really are going through architecture school.  There are so many new softwares that are being invented and updated annually.  It is so hard to tackle learning a program alone, so that is where your friends come in.  Questions are constantly being asked and at least someone in studio will know the answer.  For design projects, it is nice to bounce ideas off of someone even if it doesn’t give you new ideas.  It allows for you to speak out loud about what you are thinking.  (Even if it is 4:00 AM and the other person gives you an idea and you interpret that idea totally wrong but it still made sense to you… that is how all-nighters work lol)  Undergrad structures classes were always enjoyable.  Everything made complete sense in class and then you get the homework problem and try to figure it out on your own and it was nothing like the sample in class lol.  As a team, we worked through the problems and taught ourselves what we thought was right.  Like every assignment, when we got our grades back we would show each other and always be happy to be a different person.  I know you are always told to keep your grade to yourself, but c’mon professors… we are human and of course we show each other our grades.  Last year’s structures class was particularly enjoyable for the simple fact a couple of us were almost tied in our grade for the better half of the semester.  So for our final exams we were all struggling on some super easy problems we learned in structures I.  After finding out our grades, I learned that I beat Andrew by less than a point for our final grade, which means like the title is called, I was the Queen of Structures! Haha  This must kill Andrew to post this on the blog, too.