3d printed gutter inserts

The Rep Rap Prusa that you see above was built by one of my former students named Jon Broadfoot. Jon was in my Digital Fabrication Course last Spring and he finished building this printer as a part of the class (each student walked away from the class with a personal fabrication machine of their own).  I might add that Jon was a Sophomore and had taken my Intro to Jewelry Course just the semester before. Jon worked in the DCRL this summer as a part of our DCR&D team and his contributions and attitude were invaluable. He built three 3D printers (for the lab) besides his own this summer and worked on the Design team for two different design/prototyping projects. Jon is a great person with a great attitude and he's a hard worker. It's rare to come across students who have a work ethic and Jon is one of those people. 

Jon just sent me some images of some of his home experiments in designing gutter inserts. These are designed to catch leaves and debris that typically clog gutters. Jon mentioned that his Dad was looking for something like this and he figured that he might as well design and print some on his new printer. From the looks of the pictures, he's really thinking about refining the design through different iterations. Glad to see that he's thinking this way and putting his printer to use. I thought I would share so you could all see how our students are putting their knowledge to use outside the classroom.

Jon has decided to leave UWM to attend Savanna College of Art and Design to study Industrial Design (since we do not have the degree).  I'm very sad to see him go, but I have a feeling that we'll still hear from him and I'm sure that we'll see more of his work in the future. I wish hime the best and can't wait to see what he accomplishes. His work ethic, attitude, and willingness to jump in wherever he is needed will take him far.