Saint Francis University gets new 3D printer at Curry Center
Industrial-scale device at Curry Center available for bigger projects
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Rachel Manack was a little late Friday for an open house at Saint Francis University's satellite campus in the Curry Innovation Center on 11th Avenue, where local high school teachers were getting an early look at the university's new industrial-scale 3D printer.
Manack was late because she was working out a glitch with her Cambria Heights technology education students prior to an event at the Patton school -- advising them how to improvise a fix for a broken chain on a homemade dunk machine, whose design mimics the functioning of a toilet tank.
The impetus behind the effort that held Manack back a few minutes and the impetus behind the university's open house on Friday were the same: to help young people think creatively, develop in them a knack for solving problems and a can-do spirit to help them succeed -- while also helping area businesses get the benefit of such workforce qualities, which in turn could help keep talented individuals like them from leaving for career opportunities elsewhere.
It's all about "real-life problem solving," Manack said after the two-hour event.
Saint Francis acquired the printer on the suggestion of Curry Supply Co. principal partner Mark Ritchey, according to Pete Skoner, dean of Saint Francis' School of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics.
Ritchey's suggestion came after a team of Saint Francis students working with his company had used a 3D printer to create a scaled-down prototype for telescoping boom that could project and withdraw a robot for sandblasting and painting inside a tank car -- helping to eliminate hazards involved when workers sandblast and paint in such confined quarters, according to Skoner.
If there were a larger 3D printer, the team could create a full-sized, usable arm, Ritchey said, according to Skoner.
The new machine can create such a full-sized arm, although the university still needs to acquire some additional material for the task, according to Skoner and Ben Fogle, a technology education instructor at Hollidaysburg who assembled the machine for Saint Francis.
The presence of the new 3D printer will enable users to "dream bigger," Fogle said.
"Not just tiny little prototypes," he told the group.
The idea behind the creation of the downtown campus for Saint Francis was to "invert the classroom" -- to make engineering fieldwork a primary, rather than a secondary, focus to classwork, according to Frank Montecalvo, the university's vice president for student development.
Friday's event signals the university's willingness to share that approach with the secondary schools in the area, a willingness that ultimately can "strengthen the community," according to Montecalvo.
The fieldwork approach and the Curry connection helps ensure the resulting educational experiences remain real, according to Montecalvo.
Reality has intervened for the Saint Francis students, he said.
One team provided an outstanding design for some equipment that Curry could use -- except that it was too tall for the building in which it was designed to be used, Montecalvo said.
Ritchey made it clear that neglecting to account for something as uncompromising as the roof on the building was a fatal flaw, according to Montecalvo.
The same goes for neglecting to account for factors like a project budget or a non-negotiable deadline or HR considerations, he said.
Manack is looking forward to her students designing projects that could take advantage of the big new 3D printer.
Her students currently need to break many of their project designs into interlocking components to accommodate the small available 3D printers, she said.
One student is making an "Iron Man" helmet in his bedroom in two interlocking parts, she said.
Another has made a rocket in such a fashion, she said.
Those projects would be "no problem" to make all in one piece in the new printer, she said.