Our support of an electronic engineering project
We feel it’s important to support and encourage electronic engineering projects, whether it’s for research, learning purposes or even a bit of fun.
Recently we supplied a printed circuit board to Ryan White who is currently undertaking 3 projects using a laser galvanometer amplifier. Ryan is an electronics engineer by trade but is also involved in a Hackspace in Reading, a community organisation for the promotion of science, engineering and technology. The Hackspace is fairly successful with 40 members, who are all keen to focus on different aspects of electronics. Check out more about the Hackspace at www.rlab.org.uk.
The PCB we supplied will be used in 3 different projects, these are as follows;
- A 3D printer using a large laser pointing at a bed of powdered plastic or metal. This process is called selective laser sintering, direct metal sintering or laser engineered net shaping.
- A 3D printer using a small, ultraviolet laser and a rapidly curing UV photopolymer. This is called stereolithography and was the original form of 3D printing. The laser spot is moved over a plane with a thin fluid layer of light-sensitive polymer. The UV light hits the polymer and hardens very quickly to a solid. Layer by layer, this material is built up and a part is extracted.
- A fancy fluorescent message board with a UV Laser instead of an LED.
You can find the schematics and layout source for the projects here.
Keep an eye out for our latest blog updates on how Ryan and the team are getting on. If you’re currently undertaking your own engineering project why not tell us about it so we can share and help promote it on our blog.
Philip King
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