The Folsom Lake 3D Wood Carved Map

Map of Sacramento Folsom Lake

This wonderful materialistic piece created by Aygul Akhmadeeva shows off how beautiful her project has came out.

This project might interest Sacramento residents due to a 3D look of the Folsom lake map! Sacramento’s most populated Lake , Folsom Lake is a place worth getting water from Tahoe’s mountain range. Its light blue color ,this map features all main roads leading up to the lake.

The Depth of the lake is shown in the pieces as well. They decided to not stop on working with wood, but add a new material to make the project interesting but also challenging and experimental. They decided to work on a material that they never used before- epoxy! The Materials used in this project was wood, clear casting epoxy, blue epoxy, it is filled that will create a realistic view of the lake water.

It measures  approx. 10 ½ x 8 ½ x 5/8 ; This piece is about 5 layers thick!!!

Aygul Akhmadeeva stated, “ If we do a couple layers of a 2D cut of wood we can create a 3D visual effect.”

 

This project took about a month to complete. Aygul stated, “ It is possible to create this project within 1 day only with all equipment and material available.”

All projects have there side effects or there difficulties within a certain project. One was choosing the settings for the laser. Second, was to get familiar on how to work with epoxy. Due to its ingredient being limited time only to use it. The way Aygul accomplished this process was due to making dozen of experiments with the material.

Beautiful U.N.I.T.E. Masterpiece!

A beautiful masterpiece!

Allen Peterson and U.N.I.T.E. was involve with a certain project. In this particular project, He used the plasma cutter to cut out aluminum shapes to create a unique design made by the Landscape Architecture Class.  The Aluminum shapes is a “mock up” of a plan that the Landscape Architecture Class constructed for a future project. 

Photo & Edit by Angelique Doty

The little metal sculpture will someday be built like posts or fenced around a building. The square bottom part will acted as a fence and the top parts with magnificent design, like birds and trees. It will act to give it a  unique design to help make the area it was located in very attractive!

 

This beautiful piece was created approx. 3 hours in only one day

Design Hub’s participation to this project supports the architecture students creativity. The Architecture class needed a miniature variant of the final project to be able to test out the original idea. In a way, They can predict upcoming obstacles or arrangements that may arise in the future.

 

Photo & Edit by Angelique Doty

From a photograph, Allen was able to set it up on a plasma cutter.

Future developments from this project is a metal trophy of a break-dancer for the winner of the Break Dancer Competition for U.N.I.T.E.

Further development from American River College tree logo on April 24 that Allen made.

 

Photo & Edit by Angelique Doty

This project has traveled to a few locations-

Design Hub to the welding location , then back to Design Hub and then off to be displayed at the Architecture Class.  

Dieselzilla

A project currently in progress in  the Design Hub of American River College is called the “Dieselzilla vs. Drones” Project.  We start with interns Kevin and Sean, who are collaborating along with James Mullerleile on this project in the Design Hub.  Kevin is the programmer, and Sean is the 3D Designer behind this project. When we first hear the word, “Dieselzilla,” of course we are left wondering “what in the world is this, and what does it do?”

Well, Dieselzilla is the huge metal sculpture in the front of the Student Services and Cafeteria area (the huge glass building behind the American River College Library).

Every day on the way to class, students who walk past it are seen doing double takes. Most can’t take their eyes off of it- as mesmerizing as a well-crafted, fantastically massive Godzilla sculpture can be.  Most students on campus pass Dieselzilla every day and have no clue as to how or why it got there. Even our photography intern, Angelique, told us “Ever since I started attending, I wondered what it was and why it was there- and now I had the chance to find out,” before she captured some pictures of the magnificent metal beast.

Parts of Dieselzilla. Photo by photography intern Angelique Doty

The Design Hub interns discussed the structure of the sculpture. It actually moves around with the use of a hydraulic system within the Dieselzilla! To the right, we can take a look at what goes inside of the massive metal body. 

These are the parts that were designed and put together by our interns, and this is what makes the magic happen. With everything in place, Dieselzilla comes to life!

This is a very cool, collaborative project, as well as an impressive and intriguing presence everyday on our campus. 

Come and Get Your Grad Portrait Laser Engraved!

The Design Hub of American River College is now introducing a first time ever opportunity for students all around the campus who are graduating this Spring of 2018 to get their portrait taken by specially selected advanced photography interns of the Design Hub.  

The price per portrait ordered by each student is still yet to be determined, ranging in the area around roughly $10, as a vague estimate. In the last few weeks of April, we will set up a temporary photography studio in the ARC Bookstore.  We could take a certain set number of graduates on a first come, first serve basis. There would also be monetary gains for the photographers.  The portraits will be made using our laser etcher on 1/8″ thick birch plywood (5×7 or 4x6ish).  The photographs will be PS edited so that they come out best on the plywood.

The people involved in this project are Brandy Worsfold, Randy Schuster, Aaron Stanley, who works in the bookstore as a Bookstore Buyer, and all of the photography interns for the Design Hub.  Randy ordered this work and assigned the photography interns to this position. He created this fantastic opportunity for the graduates and the photography interns, and worked with Aaron Stanley from the ARC bookstore to help bring the idea to life!

This project is being created to give the graduates a long lasting portrait that they can take with them for the next steps in the life, and in their futures.  The Graduation Portrait Laser Engraver first was created in late February/early March, and is currently being set up to be executed in early May. The training for the photography interns to prepare for portraitures has been occuring during the month of March and April, and we predict to begin taking the pictures in early May. We plan on continuing taking portraits for other projects during future semesters.

Design Hub Interns Work to Save Our Water Systems

Photo by Intern Angelique Doty

Here we meet our Design Hub interns, Dave and Melissa, to explore their new project titled, “Constant Monitor Backflow.”  Dave and Melissa, as well as our Design Hub team lead Randy are involved in the fulfillment of the project. Randy was asked by a former co-worker, Bernie Clark, who does field research for Watts, Aims, Fab Co, and most of the back flow companies.

Pictured: Dave, Melissa, Randy, Bernie. Photo by Intern Angelique Doty

This project has to do with our water systems, where the industry today is faced with a challenge. From time to time, our potable water sources can come in contact with contaminants, and the problem our population is faced with is detecting when exactly this happens. Currently, there are annual tests that detect problems, but this is a cause of concern because they are not only costly, but we have to wait a year to see a problem. By the time any problems are detected from these annual tests, damage could already be done, and even more time and money would have to be spent in order to fix these problems.

Photo by Intern Angelique Doty

Of course, our interns saw a challenge, and came up with a solution: blackflow prevention monitors! What the Constant Monitor Backflow project is setting out to do is to eliminate this scenario by implementing a new system where we monitor the backflow prevention to detect problems before they happen. These backflow monitors detect the contamination of the pure water with the sewer lines quickly, providing data that is easily accessed. Now it can be constantly monitored, which will help to detect problems sooner so that they can be fixed in a timely manner.  This will increase productivity, and they do not need to turn off the water for the constant monitoring, unlike the annual tests, where the water has to be shut off.  

Photo by Intern Angelique Doty
Pictured: Intern Dave, hard at work. Photo by Intern Bailey Wineland

Without the hard work of our dedicated interns, this project would not have been made possible. It began about two years ago, and as this project has unfolded, Design Hub intern Dave has been responsible for the many hours behind the creation of these backflow prevention monitors. He tells us that everything that lies in place now within the confines of these little boxes, all started in his head. He coded the device in our Design Hub lab, making sure it would properly collect and display data, and hand-crafted the circuitboard, complete with all of the wiring and placement within the device.

Pictured: Intern Melissa, hard at work. Photo by Intern Bailey Wineland

Alongside Dave we have intern Melissa, who has been learning the ropes of this project and training as she assists in implementing these monitors. She will one day have the torch passed on to her as this project continues to evolve. Our interns predict that this project won’t end anytime soon, as it is constantly growing and they continue to brainstorm new ways to improve its productivity.

Photo by Intern Angelique Doty

We are hoping that by the end of the summer, there will be monitors set up all over the entire campus. Currently, we have one monitor backflow.  By the end of the summer, the interns’ goal is to have one monitor per backflow all over the campus. By increasing the number of monitors, this will help increase the prevention of problems.

Photo by Intern Angelique Doty

In the long run, we are seeking to collect enough data to prove that these devices, though small, are actually quite mighty. As our interns work to fine-tune these monitors, our hope is to have the opportunity to impact an important industry in a vastly positive way. Few things are as important as safe drinking water, and we are setting out to keep it safe in a clean, efficient, and budget-friendly way.

Photo by Intern Angelique Doty