For my practicum, I worked at Terrapin Works. This is the engineering makerspace here at the University of Maryland and has many locations spaning across campus. I worked in the Research Prototyping Lab in Glenn L. Martin Hall which performs many functions including internal research. I found this site from general word around campus and hearing about Terrapin Works being a popular place that employs student engineering majors. It also had specializations that dealt with 3D printing which was a very interesting topic for me. For future scholars students looking for a practicum site, I would suggest evaluating your interests and looking for places that have opportunities similar to what you want to learn more about.
For my project the RPL and was tasked by another Terrapin Works lab, the Advanced Fabrication Lab (AFL) to figure out if switching from using fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printing to stereolithography (SLA), or resin, 3D printing could improve bulk order efficiency (increase speed, decrease cost, increase print quality, decrease technician difficulty). Currently the AFL uses all fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printers to complete bulk orders but there are some differences between the 2 methods that could lead to changes in efficiency. These differences make it so printing multiple of the same model on an SLA printer does not increase the print time, but doing the same on an FDM printer will increase the print time by a factor of the # you are printing. So printing 1 vs 4 models on an SLA printer would take the same amount of time but on an FDM printer it would take 4 times longer to print 4 than to print 1. This is great for saving time during bulk orders but SLA printing uses resin which is toxic until properly washed with isopropyl alcohol and UV treated which takes time, resources (and therefore money), and work for technicians. Also resin and filaments like PLA have different costs, models need to be printed in different styles, and additional resource consumption needs to be factored in when accounting for the cost of fulfilling bulk orders. Also SLA printers can print in higher detail so they would offer customers higher quality models. My goal was to compile data and analyze how all of this played out with the SLA and FDM printers we currently have and present my findings to the AFL to inform their decisions on the future of their bulk order production. I found SLA printing provides significantly faster print times and higher quality models while FDM is cheaper and easier for technicians to complete.
I benefited by learning how to use both resin and FDM 3D printers better as well as construct and manipulate CAD models for the purpose of printing. I also learned about data collection, documentation, professional communication, and working both independently and collaboratively with coworkers to perform a successful experiment. This also has given me some transferable skills in my field, as CAD and 3D printing for rapid prototyping are used in many bioengineering professions.
Beyond the technical skills that I gained from my practicum experience, I gained more of a sense of why professional communication is important. Coming from a community with many science oriented peers and working together on complicated scientific projects for long times can sometimes make you forget that not everybody has the same experience. Having to make a report for someone who had not spent the past 5 months constantly resin printing and then go a step further and present a poster to people with no background experience really served as a reminder of how important it is to have the people skills needed to bridge the knowledge gap between an expert on a topic and other members of society.