Conor, Entry #4, A Little Too Well Done

While fitting one of the landing gear legs that I designed and 3D printed for the quadcopter, I applied a little too much pressure (which really means I pushed all of my weight) down on the leg to fit the part. Of course the inevitable happened being my part broke in twine right down the middle. So this resulted in me sitting, waiting, and watching for an hour watching a new leg being 3D printed. Then, when fitting this freshly printed landing gear leg that still had the scent of melted plastic, I again applied a wee bit too much pressure. This time the part shattered in three different pieces, and I cut my finger. Due to this déjà vu moment, I finally took the hint that I needed to redesign my piece to make it better fitting. After improving the dimensions to allow a better fitting, I again had to sit next to the 3D printer and watch for an hour as my part gradually came to form, layer by layer.

Whilst my series of unfortunate events unraveled, something amazing happened while Ben and EJ were testing the quadcopter. They just finished writing some code for one leg of the project, and they were about to test it. This is our everyday routine, so we were not expecting anything significant to happen. But this time, when the quadcopter was taking off, one of its motors failed, and ignited. The picture below is on-board footage of the smoke filling the room.

I however, was not present to watch this premium eye-candy event. When my part had finally finished printing, I entered the lab and Ben told me the news. I immediately responded with, "Aw I missed it! Do it again!"

Speaking of smoke, every time I cook a burger in my house in Squirrel Hill, I set the fire alarm off. I originally thought that my flame might have been too high, but it was only after three times (and setting the fire alarm off three times) did I realize that I forgot to turn on the overhead vacuum hood thing. So this summer EXP experience is teaching me more things than just lab material. For example, another important lesson it taught me was to be conscious about wearing my Peddie Battle of the Heads Seltzer shirt at the super market while buying twenty or so bottles of seltzer, unless you don't mind being labeled a crazed seltzer drinking fanatic. 

I have to go now because my lab is about to have what they call "free food time", which really means someone in the department is going to present his or her research.