I was a little nervous coming into the summer because I don’t have a lot of experience in the OEDK and did not really know what to expect. But to my surprise and pleasure, I have learned a LOT this week. The OEDK boot camp has been invaluable and beyond what we accomplish this summer, I know the knowledge will be great for senior design next semester!
To start off the week, Eckharie (one of the Poly interns) and I worked together to deconstruct an old slushy machine. Usually at home, my brother, mom and I put furniture/appliances together so this was a new experience. My hands were pretty dirty afterwards, but I learned a lot! Eckharie described how the motor worked as we got creative in order to take out all the old screws and interesting parts in the machine.
The learning continued on Tuesday and Wednesday with a PCB workshop and an introduction to Adobe Illustrator and the powers of the laser and plasma cutters. Wow! To keep myself from staring at the laser (it was enchanting, but I would like to keep my retinas intact), I took a snapchat video (below) while Nehuwa etched a lion into a piece of plywood. For the PCB workshop, we only etched the top layer of a board, but I’m really excited to design more circuits and work with the mill again. I have only ever worked with big, bulky breadboards, so making a more compact circuit will be cool.
The fun continued on Thursday with more laser and plasma cutting. We learned to use different tools including the Dremel, file, and wire brushes to finish plasma cut metal pieces. I sprayed a clear coat onto the Texas I made and sanded it for a smoother texture.
Finally, today we tinkered around on TinkerCAD to learn a little about computer aided design. I definitely want to learn more about using all the software, especially more 3D modeling programs.
We also had our first big Friday meeting today during which we learned about the projects we will be working on this summer. As always, it’s interesting to hear about the motivation for the projects as well as how they will benefit people back in Malawi. I am impatiently awaiting my project assignments! I can’t wait to see how I can incorporate what I have learned this week into our work this summer.
On another note, we are all looking forward to a Torchy’s excursion sometime soon to introduce our Malawian friends to the beauty that is Tex-Mex cuisine. We’re also hoping to use our Rice IDs for some free trips to the zoo and all the museums around. This will definitely be an exciting summer!
Thanks for reading!
Whitney