Our new iMacs are up and running!

We've got these beautiful computers with giant 27" screens.

As part of our MOREnet Public Library Transformation grant project, they've both got Final Cut Pro installed and are perfect for editing video.
They're also great for surfing the web.

Robolions

 The University City High School Robolions stopped by the Library  to show off their competition robots and give a talk about the joys and frustrations (but mostly joys) of robotics.

We hope to have members of the Robolions come in and help us with workshops on working with Lego Mindstorm robots this Fall.

 Thank you very much to all the kids and adults who made this program such a success at the University City Library. There were a lot of young audience members, and they all had a good time!

3D-Printer Woes (continued)

UPS picked up our Makerbot 5th Gen 3D printer today to ship it back to New York. Only this wasn't really ours. Makerbot notified us that they had shipped back the freshly fixed machine, but when we opened the box, instead of the UCPL printer with a repaired gantry, we found someone else's printer. We're shipping the "someone else's printer" and Makerbot has promised us a brand new machine soon (our original machine is somewhere in the wind). Here's hoping we're 3D printing out in the Library before August!

Computer exploration

Youth Services hosted kids for a program asking "Do you have the guts to gut our computers?"  26 responded with an enthusiastic "YES!" and had a great time learning the parts of the computer checking out the inside. Keyboards and mice were also available.  Participants had a great time and are looking forward to another session.  

Lucky we got this picture early.  The motherboard was out of this machine in less than 15 minutes:

We had 5 stations each with their own equipment to work on:

Lots of teamwork, some due to the sharing of tools:

All tables ended up looking like this:

Three of the five stations:

 

3D Printer Woes....

On Wednesday, we performed a firmware update as directed by the MakerBot desktop software.  After successful update, we proceeded with printing a previously printed small object, just to test.  The carriage had previously stopped at the top-left corner of the build plate.  When the job was submitted, a grinding sound was heard and the carriage did not move.  The printer started extruding plastic in the same corner, no movement, just a glob.  No errors had been displayed up to this point.  We stopped the job and when the printer attempted to move the carriage, the below popped up on-screen:

Turns out the belt had seemingly fallen off track (don't know why) and didn't look to be user serviceable.    We called MakerBot Support (which was very easy and accessible) to help with this issue.  After submitting the pictures below, MakerBot advised that the unit would need to be returned for service.  Now awaiting arrival of the pre-paid shipping materials and will be sending off for repair....

3D Printing Now At UCPL

                                       

On Wednesday, 5/7, we dove into our brand-new 5^th Generation 3D printer, taking pictures along the way.  Unboxing the unit was very easy, as the printer itself does not weigh much.

Front View:

Top View:

Instruction Card:

“Natural” color filament that comes with the printer:

The Smart Extruder connects directly to the printer without any clips, screws, or other attachments.  It’s completely magnetic!  Following the instructions, attached the filament, fed through the guide tube, and powered on the unit.

Turning it on:

Following on-screen directions:

Leveling the build plate:

Keep your hands on the knob and don't remove until directed.

Heating the Extruder:

Close-up of screen:

(notice the target temperature is 230 Celsius.  That’s 446 Fahrenheit!)

On subsequent screens, we load the filament into the extruder and now ready to print.  Connectivity comes in multiple options: USB Cabled, Ethernet, USB Flash, and coming soon Wireless. 

MakerBot software and documentation is available for download from the MakerBot website. 

We proceeded with following the steps for printing the Queen Anne Coffee Table found on Thingiverse:

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:18982

The mascot for the library is the University City Lion, we searched for a lion head to print next and found one here:  http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:215420.    BTW, it turned out great!!

One question arose in regards to whether or not the filament needed to be removed from the extruder after each print or if it could stay loaded.  I didn’t see anywhere in the documentation that addressed the question, so after calling MakerBot support directly, I learned that the recommendation is to leave the filament loaded. 

Washington University supports UCPL's Public Library Transformation grant from MOREnet

The University City Public Library would like to thank Washington University for their generous donation of $5,000 as a match for our MOREnet Public Library transformation grant.  The MOREnet grant, along with Wash U’s donation, will help the University City Public Library offer area residents a chance  to explore, create, invent, and learn, using our 3D printer and scanner, a variety of audio / video editing software, and a suite of online training videos from Lynda.com.

We’re grateful for the support and excited about the future.