What a week.... I know it has been rough for some of you, but it has been equally rough for me and Marc, but in the end, we survived quite well. For those who are not sure what I am referring to, I am referring to our first EM/ER313 class (and a NAOE class as well) that all used are using the MakerSpace in addition to our normal Capstone load. By rough estimates over 100 parts printed this week alone and as I am typing this every single FDM printer except the LulzBots is printing. And we had several SLA jobs today as well. It really is quite an accomplishment.
We have learned a lot this week so I will try to capture the major lessons learned soon. For now I have just a few comments:
- Please continue to keep the MakerSpace clean. We have actually done a pretty good job on this.
- Be mindful and respectful of other users' work. It does help when everyone helps clear build plates clear, loads filament, etc. Me and Marc will help with this but any help is appreciated. Do not remove any tools or equipment from the MakerSpace. No user should ever have to disconnect anything (we had some users that did...).
- I do want students to generally not use SEADEVIL locally (i.e. you can remotely) because Marc and I very often need to sit at SEADEVIL to keep things running. Students can use either workstation in 225 or 226 though.
- Lots of great parts that could make it into the MakerSpace Hall of Fame and also lots of overly ambitious prints, but both are valuable to learning.
I know that there have been numerous issues and many people had trouble printing, but I think Marc and I were able to get anyone printing that really gave it a good shot. The real bottom line comes down to this: when there is a lot of network activity in the MakerSpace - things start to go bad/not work. When things calm down, things generally work fine.
More soon, but overall this was a good and tough week. I am going to post some good, bad, and the ugly pics on twitter, check us out at: https://twitter.com/MakerSpaceUSNA
R/CAPT Baker