Student designs, creates 3-D printer

The 3-D printer is almost as tall as Johnathan Karcz, the senior computer engineering student who created it. It is fully functioning, but is still a surprise to Karcz, who admits he never intended to make it.

Every summer, unlike most students who relish the break, Karcz gives himself a list of projects to complete before school starts again.

No classes were available for what he wanted to learn, so he decided to create a project that would enable him to reach his self-imposed educational goals in a learning style that worked for him.

His summer 2014 project: to learn computer-aided design (CAD) software. His plan was to create a container to hold empty printer cartridges because, of course, he refills them himself. The plan was he would 3-D print the container after he finished his design.

This, however, is where the plan began to change. He printed a small box to learn about hinges and clasps and to gain a better understanding of the medium. But the little box took two and a half hours to print.

At this rate, he estimated his printer ink cartridge box would take 30 hours to print, and most places with 3-D printers

have time limits of three or so hours. He didn’t want to give up or call his project done. So if he was going to make a box for his printer cartridges, then he would need a 3-D printer he could use for a long time.

That’s when Karcz said he started to look into building a 3-D printer.

“I like the idea of building things and creating something new,” he said.

Thanks to his interest in the CAD software, he was able to design a printer the exact way he wanted it to look and function. He bought the core parts of the printer, but made as many parts as he could.

“I modeled everything and that gave me a really good plan of attack on what parts I needed,” he said. “When I actually went through the build process all of those turned out to be exactly the size I wanted them to be.”                                                                                                                      

He said he’s glad he built the printer, both because it will allow him to fix the printer should something go wrong, and it opened the world of engineering to him, as well as an array of career possibilities, even as he studies computer engineering. He is also recieving independent study course credit. 

He sees engineers as those who solve puzzles - as illustrated when he demonstrates the 3-D printer built to solve another problem.  

“This project helped me realize that just because I’m specializing in one thing, doesn’t mean I’m necessarily limited,” he said.