User:Xiaomo Zhang

Xiaomo Terry Zhang

Blog #1: Due by 11:59PM Friday January 18.

Part A: Also part of your first blog assignment: Go to www.thingiverse.com and find 5 things which have *.stl files associated with them for printing (some things are not 3D printable, but just shared designs). You should find five designs which you consider to be particularly: 1. useful 2. Artistic/beautiful 3. Pointless/useless 4. Funny/weird 5. Scary/strange. Comment on why you have chosen these things.

1.Useful

3D glasses clip http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:39117

3D movies are becoming more and more popular now in theaters. The avatar is one my favorite movies. In addition, 3D technology is flowing into TV market. The most advanced smart TVs are able to support 3D technology, which mean people could enjoy 3D channels for movies, live sports, and news. So I think that printing a 3D glasses clip by 3D printer creates much convenience for people’s daily life.

2.artistic and beautiful

Eiffel Tower http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:22051

The Eiffel Tower design is very artistic and beautiful. It will be a great collection for people who are interested in architectures. The good point is that you could give the tower the color whatever you want: blue, yellow, red. And it could also be a good toy for children.

3.pointless and useless

Math cookie cutter set http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:33096

I doubt that is it healthy to cook cookie with plastic in ovens. If it is sure that the materials that used to make the cutters do not contain any poisonous components, then it will be safe to work.

4.funny and weird

MEG-i-PHONE http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6957

This is a megaphone model designed particular for iPhones products. The designer also posts a video to show that how big the voice difference is. http://www.flickr.com/photos/zgbot/5516445973/ which is awesome.

5.scary and strange

Wolverine Claws in plastic http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:28270

Is it a toy for kids or adults? I think it is so dangerous to play with it for either kids or adults. If necessary, I prefer to use hard papers to make the claws, otherwise you had better put on safety glasses to you safe. Then what is the point of designing this?

Part B: Read this article: http://www.salon.com/2012/12/30/the_tinkerers_how_corporations_kill_creativity/ Watch this video: Charlie Rose interviews a successful Designer http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50138327n

Questions:

Do you feel that you are a tinkerer? Do you know anyone else who is? What do you think about the argument regarding the influence of corporate culture on tinkering? At the end of the article is the line, "...preserving the habitat of the tinkerer is one of the few time-proven ways we as a nation can get back on track." What do you think about this idea? What are the primary design principles you took away from the interview? What did you think when you saw his final project with his daughter? Can you think of how some of his principles might apply to our work?

Thoughts:

I believe that becoming a tinkerer is definitely one the lofty dreams that every engineer has. For me, I am not a tinkerer. But I always wished to make myself a remarkable tinkerer. Since I was young, I had had great passion on any engineering related topics. Reading magazines and disassembling my "Transformers" usually took me a whole day and I never felt bored about them. However, as growing up from elementary school to college I had less time on my real interest gradually. At most of the time I had to figure out the solutions to the homework from math and physics classes. After came to Penn State, I tried my best to take myself back to what favorites me. I spent hours in laboratory to practice hands-on experience. And I believe it is definitely one of the smartest decisions I made in college life. I do have some friends who had experience of tinkering. But they never went deeper at the topic than what they learned from YouTube video. So I don't think I know anyone who is a so-called tinkerer. For the argument, first of all, I can tell the author had never been a boss of any corporation since he didn't look at the argument from the perspective of a corporation own. So these arguments about regarding the influence of corporate culture on tinkering is not fair the great corporations that the author mentions in the article. Secondly, I don't agree with what the author writes "where do we draw the line between tinkerers and hackers". It has no meaning to argue the “line”. I think he is exaggerating the potential damage from the group of tinkerers. He is put way too much responsibility on tinkerers on threatens to some great corporations. I partially agree with this point. Either giving compliment or belittling tinkerers is a wise mean to help the nation to move on. I suggest that leave the relationship between corporations and tinkerers alone. Trying to balance the relationship is only making it worse and worse. And getting the nation back to the track is critical. However, many other approaches are more practical than the one he mentions. I feel so true when he says “all you have to do is sit there and watch people using it. So try to understand people through observing them” and when he says “people are able to fix things”. These are so valuable lessons for my career. When I saw the final project from his daughter, I felt I made a very right decision when I registered this 3D printing class. I take ESDGN297 for interest instead of graduate requirement. I believe I could learn as much advance technology as possible from this class.