Saturday at 10Bit

[Don Smeller]

Below is an excerpt from a paper published in the magazine Nature.  Biologists nowadays are in a feeding frenzy to use zebrafish embryos to study all sorts of disease.  The little boogers are transparent, which is cool in itself, but more amazingly they tend to develop tumors and, in this case, cleft palates, in a single day! 10BitWorks got involved because one of the cancer researchers, a postdoc at M.D.Anderson in Houston, George E. Jr, is the son of 10Bit San Antonio member George E.Sr.  This spring, Junior posed the problem: We need an optically clear slide to hold the embryo(s), along with a drop of fluid, for enough time to develop the tumor, and orientated so that the tumor is presented to the electron microscope.  Senior came into 10Bit and together we did it.  All the embryos lay on their sides, looking to the left.  It was a two-piece clear acrylic slide, laser cut, thin bottom, custom pocketed thick top, bonded, no leaks.  

This time, it seems, if a certain gene is removed, or added, I forget which, in a day or so, the little guy develops a cleft palate.  George Senior was there on Saturday asking to hold the embryos in a face-down orientation, like a flotilla of upside-down synchronized swimmers.  The electron microscope will look upward at the slide to see the little faces mis-developing, or not.  

Unfortunately for George’s project, the big laser is down for repairs.  We had been taking our time, setting up the little laser, learning to use the software.  George’s challenge was all the motivation we needed to git-er-done.  So, big step forward, Saturday we succeeded in cutting shapes and engraving in halftones, in the same run.  Designs can be done in OnShape and saved as dxf’s. Next the vector and raster manipulations can be accomplished in Inkscape.  Finally, push the print button in Inkscape, and wirelessly, the laser machine snatches the file out of the air . . . , whir, whir, . . . , chicka, chicka, . . . , see picture of blue-eyed wolf.  Good job, Ken and Ray.

We had 16 folks come through the door on Saturday.  

A homeless woman, Carrie, was waiting at said door when I opened at 9:AM. We struck a deal and she swept and straightened and did a great job.  This could become a regular gig.

Peggy, too, was eager at the door for our art group to begin.  She’s on deadline to finish a series of watercolors of scenes at Mission Espada,

I dazzled the door crowd by magically unlocking the door with an “august” app on my cell phone.  

We ordered strip curtains to separate the main room from the work room.

  

A door closer and (gasp) door handles were added to the one that separates the “hall” from the classroom. These door related tasks are aimed at controlling the flow of people and air and dust and noise, hopefully saving on electricity in the bargain.

An ex-military dude named Raymond brought in a mock-up of a guitar.  He wants to deck-out the guitar with barb-wire for strings.  Say What?

John is on a mission to develop a hot wire cutter for foam.  He consulted with Kevin and Sue on the electronics of his project and they advised him to control the d.c. not the a.c.  I just hang from the eaves and listen.  I have no idea what a.c.d.c. implies, safety-wise.

Kevin brought in a set of brass cups and lids. They hold half-dollars for prestidigitation purposes.  He polished the cups while he polished his act.  There’s more to Kevin than meets the eye.  Someday soon it will be not only professor Kevin but also magician Kevin. 

Randy O learned about ReconstructMe.net where you can download a free program that captures 3D images using an Xbox Kinect. Randy wants to enable his STEM students to make selfies in 3D.  Anybody can make 2D selfies but only the geeky kids can make theirs in 3D. 

Greg brought in his dead garage door opener and took it apart.  It was not a burned out motor as he was told.  Rather it was a chewed up gear.

James battled murky waters.  His aquaponics tilapia fish tank sometimes gets to be too cloudy to see the farm workers below. Filter problems.

Mikel and Amanda cut and glued and bar-clamped wood pieces.  Beautiful wood.  Seems to be a box in the making.  Big enough to hold what? a head of cabbage? a head of zombie?  Stay tuned.

Stevanie, girl next door, did her weekly walkthrough and hello. High heel boots and red streaked hair.  H.S. Senior, she’s on a path to get straight A’s.

Don S

[mike perez]

Sounds like you guys are still making things happen! Fantastic!

[Craig]

 

Randy O learned about ReconstructMe.net where you can download a free program that captures 3D images using an Xbox Kinect. Randy wants to enable his STEM students to make selfies in 3D.  Anybody can make 2D selfies but only the geeky kids can make theirs in 3D. 

 

In the future, could switch to cell phone app so students can have fun after the STEM session is over?
 http://cvg.ethz.ch/mobile/
https://www.inf.ethz.ch/content/dam/ethz/special-interest/infk/department/Images%20and%20Content/Spotlights/CeBIT%202015%20Flyer%203D%20Scanner%20Final%20English.pdf
or
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/mobilefusion-research-project-turns-regular-mobile-phone-into-3d-scanner/

Ummm... some potential follow-up areas:

 ** Create a 3d printed bobble head with scan

 ** Create lenses; cut out/assemble google cardboard; add head scan to vr 3d avitar?
     3d print google cardboard lenses : http://formlabs.com/stories/creating-camera-lenses-with-stereolithography/
     laser cut google cardboard : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Cardboard

Craig

...

Don S