Richards, R. F., & Meng, F. S., & Van Wie, B. J., & Spadoni, F. L., & Ivory, A. L. (2015, June), MAKER: Very Low-cost Experiments via 3-D Printing and Vacuum Forming  Paper presented at 2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Seattle, Washington. 10.18260/p.24458

\bibitem{asee_peer_24458}
  Richards, R. F., \& Meng, F. S., \& Van Wie, B. J., \& Spadoni, F. L., \& Ivory, A. L. (2015, June), \emph{MAKER: Very Low-cost Experiments via 3-D Printing and Vacuum Forming}
  Paper presented at 2015 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, Seattle, Washington.
  10.18260/p.24458

Robert F. Richards, Fanhe Shamus Meng, Bernard J. Van Wie, Franco Louis Spadoni, and Angelo Laury Ivory.  "MAKER: Very Low-cost Experiments via 3-D Printing and Vacuum Forming".  2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Seattle, Washington, 2015, June.  ASEE Conferences, 2015.  https://peer.asee.org/24458 Internet.  11 Feb, 2025

\bibitem{asee_peer_24458}
  Robert F. Richards, Fanhe Shamus Meng, Bernard J. Van Wie, Franco Louis Spadoni, and Angelo Laury Ivory.
  "MAKER: Very Low-cost Experiments via 3-D Printing and Vacuum Forming".
  \emph{2015 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, Seattle, Washington, 2015, June}.
  ASEE Conferences, 2015.
  https://peer.asee.org/24458 Internet.  11 Feb, 2025

@INPROCEEDINGS{asee_peer_24458
author = "Robert F. Richards, Fanhe Shamus Meng, Bernard J. Van Wie, Franco Louis Spadoni, and Angelo Laury Ivory"
title = "MAKER: Very Low-cost Experiments via 3-D Printing and Vacuum Forming"
booktitle = "2015 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition"
year = "2015"
month = "June"
address = "Seattle, Washington"
publisher = "ASEE Conferences"
note = {https://peer.asee.org/24458}
number = {10.18260/p.24458}
}

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - MAKER: Very Low Cost Experiments via 3-D Printing and Vacuum FormingWe demonstrate a new approach to build very inexpensive fluid and thermal experiments forstudent use. The approach showcased here is based on design for manufacture, leveraging newmanufacturing tools such as 3-D printers and vacuum forming machines to produce an array ofsimple, inexpensive, easy to use experimental hardware.         This poster will present severalexamples of experimental devices designed in this way to be very simple in concept and design,to take advantage of the specific strengths of new manufacturing routes, and to be built frominexpensive materials and components.The experimental devices to be demonstrated here have been fabricated using a four stepapproach. First, commercial CAD software is used to define the geometry of an experiment.Second, a rapid prototyping machine is used to 3-D print a plastic mold of the design. Third, avacuum former is used to form thin plastic sheets around the 3-printed mold. Finally, thevacuum formed sheets are assembled together to produce multiple copies of the experiment. Theresult is an approach that allows the development of experiments that are robust and inexpensiveenough to distribute individual copies to small groups of students with the cost to each student inthe class comparable to the price of a textbook.This poster will present two sets of experimental hardware developed: (1) a set of VenturiNozzle experiments conceived to exercise students’ understanding of the Bernoulli equation and(2) a set of Pipe Flow experiments designed to help students master principles of head loss. TheVenturi nozzle and pipe flow hardware design were developed using SolidWorks CAD software.Once optimized the SolidWorks models were exported to a Stratasys 3-D printer, and theresulting 3-D printed solids were used as molds to vacuum form 0.20” thick sheets of transparentPETG. Each nozzle or pipe was assembled by gluing two mirror-image halves together. Watermanometers, fabricated as an integral part of the hardware were used to indicate differentialpressures. Air flow and water flow through the devices was provided by inexpensive batterypowered pumps. Fully functional vacuum-formed plastic Venturi nozzle and pipe flowexperiments will be available at the poster for audience members to experiment with forthemselves.Fabrication Route: (1) CAD Drawing, (2) 3-D Printed Mold, (3) Vacuum-Formed Venturi
AU  - Robert F. Richards
AU  - Fanhe Shamus Meng
AU  - Bernard J. Van Wie
AU  - Franco Louis Spadoni
AU  - Angelo Laury Ivory
CY  - Seattle, Washington
DA  - 2015/06/14
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - MAKER: Very Low-cost Experiments via 3-D Printing and Vacuum Forming
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/24458
DO  - 10.18260/p.24458
ER  -