There is this really cool place at the very bottom of the Mechanical Engineering building called the MakerStudio. You may have heard of MIT's FabLab? Well they legitimately copied us. There are 14 3D printers available for use to any Engineering Student free of charge. There is a plethora of tools hanging from the walls, like hammers and pliers to soldering irons and drills. There are sewing machines, a Tormach CNC Mill (extremely cool, check them out), a CNC plasma cutter, 3D Scanners, laser cutters/engravers, and even sewing machines available for use from 9 am to 10 pm week days and open until 7pm on the weekends. Anything you want to build they have the tools for it, and you can use them. One whole floor of the Civil Engineering building is dedicated to the brand new MakerSpace Woodshop. I haven't been there yet (I mean to though because my dad wants me to build him a set of Adirondack Chairs), but I have read the extensive list of tools they have available there table and band saws, and a wood lathe to just name a few things.
Earlier tonight I printed several pieces for a spiral chess set.
Which brings me to my final point, I went ahead and made accounts on:
http://makezine.com/ (Make Magazine, great place for DIY ideas)
http://www.instructables.com/ (very similar to ^)
https://www.arduino.cc/ (if you haven't heard of Arduino check it out, the possibilities are endless! You learn about the hardware and how to code for it in C)
Last Friday for work I made an Ultrasonic Distance Measuring System. It looks a little rough, but works pretty well. I'm going to optimize and design/3D print a compact box for the components to sit in (really just a power source, a sensor, and the arduino.) Attach a magnet on the outside, and you will be able to place that on the fork lift to get notified when the sensor is four inches away (you can change the distance at which it alarms you.)
I recently purchased some accessories for my arduino board, I'll let y'all know how that goes!
