User:StevenRekstad

Hi, I'm Steven Rekstad. I am a junior majoring in Mining Engineering and minoring in Geosciences.

Blog 1

An item that is amazing/beautiful

Here is a "geometric" elephant head decoration, it combines nature and technology in a wonderful way. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:148377

An item that is funny or strange

I found this tiny model housefly meant for pranks. It is not necessarily funny but it reminded me of many attempted pranks with similar rubber flies as a child. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:47592

An item that is useless

Besides being an awesome desk toy, "The Trammel of Archimedes" doesn't have much use. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:12833

An item that is useful

Here is the design of a set of measuring spoons, something my apartment still lacks. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:22627

The best printable Raspberry Pi case I could find

I found this "Tardis" Raspberry Pi case, it has a high nerd-appreciation factor and looks fairly nifty. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:60927

Blog 2

Write about a topic (or two, or three) which interests you which we've discussed so far - or not discussed in detail yet. It could be your project, or a particular type of 3D printer, or something you think would be cool for us to explore in the future.

An application for 3-D printing I have pondered about is deep space travel. Raw materials, cargo space and weight add to the amount of thrust a shuttle needs for takeoff. Launching a space shuttle is incredibly expensive, obviously more so as the weight increases. On missions, there may arise the need for emergency repairs, which require spare parts, often in multiple copies just in case. With the advances in 3-D printing, the need for multiple copies of replacement parts is eliminated. A lightweight and reliable RepRap with a store of materials is vastly more versatile than precautionary spare parts. Although if a quick fix is needed, it might be a good idea to have one set of replacements lying around. Or some duct tape.

Blog 3

Find the best post from classmate's blogs.

I liked Brandon Tunkel's Blog 2 post (http://reprap.org/wiki/User:Tunkelbs) about digital rights management. Along with hardware development, intellectual property issues could be one of the large roadblocks in the advancement in 3D printing technology.

I also enjoyed Tom Stewart's page (http://reprap.org/wiki/User:Tms5308). He has interesting points on manufacturing applications, though his page could more personalization, such as an "about me" section.