{"id":1374,"date":"2024-06-27T01:27:46","date_gmt":"2024-06-27T01:27:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/?p=1374"},"modified":"2024-06-27T01:27:47","modified_gmt":"2024-06-27T01:27:47","slug":"prototypes-come-to-life-in-makerspace-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/?p=1374","title":{"rendered":"Prototypes Come to Life in MakerSpace Challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"
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ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. \u2014 The U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Chemical Biological Center wrapped up its center-wide MakerSpace Challenge to encourage the use of the lab\u2019s unique capabilities. The four-week long competition pitted the CBC workforce\u2019s potential mission-related prototypes against each other, all while leveraging the various 3D printers offered by the lab.<\/p>\n

The competition was touted as a way to promote MakerSpace\u2019s full potential as being the center\u2019s main hub for proof-of-concepts to take shape. All CBC employees were encouraged to participate in creating their own physical or virtual model to be evaluated, as long as it pertained to mission readiness. Competitors were judged by a panel from CBC\u2019s Innovation Council with winners announced in several categories during a Coffee with Colleagues poster session in late May.<\/p>\n

CBC acquired its first 3D printer in 1989, just four years after the first commercial grade printer became available to the public. While those antique, hulking machines cost nearly half a million dollars then, MakerSpace now offers 28 machines encompassing 7 different processes, varying from cost-effective tabletop plastic filament models that retail closer to $1,200, to larger units capable of printing with metals.<\/p>\n

Bradley Ruphrecht, the MakerSpace lead and an engineering technician at CBC, has been working with additive manufacturing for over 20 years. He says that the MakerSpace challenge offers the chance for all employees to try their hand at experiencing the significant advantages that a physical prototype of one\u2019s own design can offer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had an open house this past November to spread the word on what our lab can offer,\u201d said Ruprecht. \u201cWe have a couple of experts here that are always ready to give a quick introduction to our printers to help everyone get started on their first iteration of whatever their trying to achieve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Curtis Kreuziger, a general engineer from CBC\u2019s satellite campus located at Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, was one of several participants and teams selected on the merit of their initial proposals to the competition. Kreuziger had a novel solution to develop a 3D printed, plastic version of the tool that Soldiers use to perform maintenance on their M53A1 protective mask. The valve cassette removal tool \u2014 currently a proprietary part that retails for about $2,500 \u2014 could possibly now be replicated by utilizing a cost-effective and field-ready solution.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe challenge announcement gave me an outlet \u2014 and an excuse \u2014 to go after this prototype I\u2019ve been thinking of for a while now,\u201d said Kreuziger. \u201cThis new tool I\u2019m developing can hopefully cut down cost by up to 90 percent for this tool that gets pretty regular use.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kreuziger traveled to CBC\u2019s Edgewood, Maryland, headquarters specifically for the MakerSpace challenge due to its multiple printer solutions and material types. He also anticipated his prototype to be created using FDM machines due to their ubiquity in the field. These designs can be utilized from a database, thus making them an ever-ready staple that Soldiers can have access to wherever they have access to a printer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ability to print via multiple techniques and materials cannot be understated,\u201d said Kreuziger. \u201cSome portions of my design, such as the smaller protruding tabs, are just inherently difficult for certain machines due to cooling time or their specific manufacturing process. I would never have known about that until physically holding it. Thankfully I have access to all the different types of printers as the intent is to try them all out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013 Courtesy of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) Chemical Biological Center (CBC).<\/em><\/p>\n

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ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. \u2014 The U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Chemical Biological Center wrapped up its center-wide MakerSpace Challenge to encourage the use of the lab\u2019s unique capabilities. The four-week long competition pitted the CBC workforce\u2019s potential mission-related prototypes against each other, all while leveraging the various 3D printers offered by the lab. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1375,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1374","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-army"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1374"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1374\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1376,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1374\/revisions\/1376"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}