Design Hub student Shayn found inspiration in his teacher’s words: “You just gotta do it!” Quoted from none other than the welding professor here at ARC, Chris Messier. “When he’s not teaching his students all he knows, he’s creating vacuum chambers with gloved hands and sheet metal. He is pictured giving an example of the TIG- or GTAW- welding process, something that is proven to be a pretty tricky task. Shayn tells us that he is taking his fabrication and blueprints reading class in the welding department at ARC. As Shayn explains this process, he gives us a piece of welding slang: “stacking dimes”, which is the process of getting the weld to look like dimes that have been melted on top of each other. “It’s actually the sign of a job well done,” Says Shayn. Seeing students inspired by their professors is always a great thing to see. Teachers leave not only an impression on the students, but on the campus community of makers, including those here at the Design Hub. Thank you Chris Messier for all that you do, and thanks to Shayn for sharing! More of Professor Messier’s work can be found on his instagram page: @mez_welds
The CNC Router interns gave a tour around their machine in the back room of the Design Lab Room 311. The router was being tested first to make sure that it works properly before executing the projects. It is being tested on plywood.
This particular project on the CNC Router is the letters, “ARC” being drilled into the wood as a test before other, more complex images are carved into the wood. After the initial testing takes place with just the letters, “ARC,” then the router interns will move on to further advanced projects such as carving out detailed photographs.
To do this, first the intern must use the software, V Curve, to upload, design, and save the file onto the computer. Then load the image to the CNC control panel which will command it to cut into the wood. Home on the CNC Router control panel tells it where to start cutting. The interns can actually set how far deep they want to cut into the wood also at the home button on the control panel. Randy ordered the CNC Router interns to test out this machine to prepare it for further use later on for more projects. There is an ongoing series of projects using the CNC Router throughout the semester. It can be viewed in the Design Lab, where some of the beautiful woodwork is displayed. This particular project of engraving a family photo from an image on the computer screen to a piece of plywood is especially meaningful for people who want pictures to last longer than they would on paper. It’s a special way of remembering those we cherish, because one can have the gorgeous frame with them for life.
Thanks to the welding department, Allen Peterson III, one of our amazing Mechanical Engineer students with a background in welding, has been working on the Sign Production Project.
Allen holding the sign for the ARC Solar Dept. Photo by photography intern Kyle Chan.
Using the Plasma CNC Cutter, he has been creating signs on Stainless steel sheet metal for use around campus to allow students to better recognize the locations/identify different departments. How the signs will be displayed is still to be determined, but they will soon be seen on the doors, walls or displays around campus very soon.
We took a closer look into the process of making these signs. Needless to say, there are a lot of steps and close attention to detail that is involved. First, our intern Allen has to align the Plasma Cutter with the sheet of metal through coordinates on the computer. After aligning the Cutter, a font must be picked and placed within the coordinates to determine where they will be cut on the metal.
Then comes the fun part. As the metal is being cut, a spectacle of sparks light up the workspace. It is something hypnotic to behold, as the image is slowly made visible through the spark showers of the plasma cutter.
Plasma cutter in action. Photo by intern Kyle Chan
After the metal is cut, Allen used a grinder to create the nice finish that we see on the sign. The new, eye-catching difference in the texture of the metal is something worth marveling at.
The departments that have had signs made for them include our Physics, Engineering, Solar, Early Child Development, Chemistry, Biology, and Design Tech departments. The goal is to have easily recognizable campus departments, while at the same time beautifying our school. At the Design Hub, we are eager to help make our campus a better place. We utilize our student’s talents so they can be the force that helps benefit our campus life, and we can be the force that helps them gain the experience using this incredible machinery to eventually enter the workforce.
American River College’s Spanish 361 class, led by Professor Currea, is about learning and applying the student’s knowledge of Spanish through conversation. Rather than just studying and learning phrases, Professor Currea challenges her students to learn a new skill all while speaking Spanish. The class attended the Kaneko art gallery- American River College’s art gallery on campus that houses all of our student artwork. They observed and conversed in Spanish about their thoughts and impressions of the artist’s work. Afterwards, each student was asked to choose a word that best described what they felt or took away from the experience. This past week, the new skill that the class was taught in Spanish was how to prepare their chosen Spanish word from the art experience for laser etching. The students were each asked to pick a word that represented all of the emotions, experiences, and thoughts about the artist’s work, and how that could be generated and laser etched by the Design Hub. This project then given back to the artist, bringing the experience full circle as the students show their appreciation through their application of the Spanish language.
Photo by photography intern Kyle Chan
On Thursday, February 22nd, the class was brought into the Design Hub, where Sean gave a tour of where lab and a demonstration of how the 3D printer works so the students could see all that the Design Hub has to offer.
During this visit, we had the opportunity to conduct some quick interviews with some of these students.
Peter Brixie, Spanish 361 student at ARC
One of them was Peter Brixie, their word: Hermosa. Peter has greatly enjoyed Professor Correia’s class. The most helpful part about having to constantly converse with others in Spanish is that it helps make speaking in Spanish second nature. For Peter, thinking about the translation between English and Spanish all in his head was the most challenging task for him. Having the class focus more on conversing has been greatly beneficial and fun for Peter learning Spanish. His word that he chose to add to the word cloud was “hermosa”, meaning “beautiful”.
Exploring language via technology
Another student, Theresa Pavale had the word “la vida”. Theresa told us she is studying to be a nurse practitioner in the trauma center, and was really impressed when Randy showed how the Design Hub is able to 3D print bones and anatomical models for her department. She was also impressed by the amount of resources that the Design Hub would be able to provide students like her with. The word that she chose was “la vida”, meaning “life”. She was very taken with the painting titled, “Water of Life” and the meaning of the painting: that if there is life, there will be water and how you cannot have one without the other.
It was great to hear from these students and to get the opportunity to introduce them to our Design Hub community. As well as hearing how they applied the Spanish language to art, it serves as an example that being able to use different ways to communicate about things can be a force to broaden our understanding and perspective on the world.
We appreciate Professor Currea and the wonderful Spanish 361 class for visiting, and allowing us to share our beloved corner of campus.
Here at Arc we are doing the impossible: Seeing through the eyes of the blind. There are some amazing opportunities that are opening up to students with disabilities here on campus!
Meet Robin, a very special student here at ARC. She is one of the first students on campus to be a part of a very new technology that was introduced this semester: smart glasses for the blind. At first, it may sound like an oxymoron. But these glasses are a tool that will revolutionize campus accessibility for those who are visually impaired.
We met in the cafeteria Starbucks to sit down and chat about how the technology and the program worked, and how it helps her in so many different ways. “What time is it? Oh my gosh! I actually got here on time!!” Robin says as she takes the seat next to me. She continues to tell me that these glasses have made getting places so much smoother. Then, to answer the first question we all want answers to, Robin dives right in to how these glasses work, and what exactly they do.
Smart Glasses. Photo by intern Bailey Wineland
They are called “smart glasses”. Basically, they are a set of glasses that have a camera attached. This camera links up to a device called my-fi, and is also linked to an app on a smartphone. This is where things get interesting: This setup was created by a company called Aira, which has a team of agents who are readily available to assist anyone who presses their my-fi device. “They are seeing what you’re seeing when the glasses are on, and the device is connected. You call them, and they can see what’s around you. You can hold something up to the glasses and they can read that back to you. It’s really a neat device.”
Robin wears this device to all of her classes. She says it definitely makes things easier, going from point A to point B. “I haven’t had any mobility training prior to attending ARC. And now, I’m more interested in getting places when I am talking to these agents. They help me navigate and then I can remember routes on campus that I can eventually take on my own.”
Photo by intern Bailey Wineland
Navigation isn’t the only thing that Aira can assist with, either. These agents can also help with reading things like menus at restaurants, road signs, and even things in class like white boards and rubrics. “The other day I had an Aira agent read me the directions on a pack of fish filets. I got to hear the nutrition facts and the serving size.”
Closing out our interview with Robin, we talked about how important it is to have services like this available to students who are visually impaired. These glasses can help students navigate campus safely and with confidence. We are beginning to see some positive ripple effects from the Design Hub. This is only one of the many projects being spearheaded by the Hub, and we couldn’t be more grateful to be able to help and represent the students of ARC!
Design Hub student Shayn found inspiration in his teacher’s words: “You just gotta do it!” Quoted from none other than the welding professor here at ARC, Chris Messier. “When he’s not teaching his students all he knows, he’s creating vacuum chambers with gloved hands and sheet metal. He is pictured giving an example of the TIG- or GTAW- welding process, something that is proven to be a pretty tricky task. Shayn tells us that he is taking his fabrication and blueprints reading class in the welding department at ARC. As Shayn explains this process, he gives us a piece of welding slang: “stacking dimes”, which is the process of getting the weld to look like dimes that have been melted on top of each other. “It’s actually the sign of a job well done,” Says Shayn. Seeing students inspired by their professors is always a great thing to see. Teachers leave not only an impression on the students, but on the campus community of makers, including those here at the Design Hub. Thank you Chris Messier for all that you do, and thanks to Shayn for sharing! More of Professor Messier’s work can be found on his instagram page: @mez_welds
We took a closer look into the process of making these signs. Needless to say, there are a lot of steps and close attention to detail that is involved. First, our intern Allen has to align the Plasma Cutter with the sheet of metal through coordinates on the computer. After aligning the Cutter, a font must be picked and placed within the coordinates to determine where they will be cut on the metal. 
