Rapid Protoyping NINJA

For the 2017-18 school year and the first semester of the 2018-19 school year I was hired to work in the Robotics Lab as a Rapid Prototyping NINJA along with another student. The term “NINJA” stands for Need Information Now, Just Ask” and is essentially the role of a student worker/facilitator who knows enough about a certain area that they are in charge of running operations for something and are the point person for questions and advice. Being an RP NINJA, I am trained on the advanced additive manufacturing 3D-printers in the Robotics Lab (Stratasys and Markforged). Students submit requests for print jobs needed for SCOPE (Senior Capstone Project in Engineering, a year-long senior course that pairs student teams with industrial companies to complete a real-world engineering project) and other research groups. I then arrange the parts and select the appropriate infill and support settings and start their print jobs. After prints are completed, I transfer them to the lye bath to dissolve the supports. Once this takes place the parts sit in gray water (buckets of water slightly diluted by lye) to allow the lye to drain out. Along with keeping track of parts I also maintain the lye bath and perform basic maintenance on the 3D printers to keep them operational.