SCRANTON, Pa. — These students are putting their 3-D printing designs to the test, quite literally. Johnson College in Scranton held its third 3-D printing competition on Friday.
"It's so cool being able to make what I want and being able to design a sketch and actually have it in hand," said Michael Andrews from Wilkes-Barre STEM Academy.
Students from Forest City Regional High School, Wallenpaupack Area High School, and the Wilkes-Barre STEM Academy spent lots of time creating and printing their designs at their schools. They were only given a few guidelines to create what's called a gravity hook.
"It started off with a lot of brainstorming and doing research: What actually is a gravity hook?" said Wallenpaupack Area student Andrew Bromberger.
"To see that application, it's not just book work; it's not just computer work. You build a product, and you get to test that product, and it helps them as designers, engineers, and techs down the road," said Richard Fornes, director of electronic engineering technology.
Students say crafting their designs took lots of trial and error to get them just right.
"The first one didn't actually pick up anything because the angle wasn't correct. For how the cap is, you need the hooks to cover it slightly so when you drop it on something, there is a divot for it to actually slide onto something," Andrews explained.
One by one, the students took turns testing their gravity hooks, picking up objects like water bottles and locks, then taking them for a weight test.
"We were anticipating much bigger objects, but it is still a challenge. And the weight test, that was exciting, obviously, seeing everything break apart after all that work," Bromberger said.
This year the competition had 30 competitors, and there were more girls taking part.
"It's really cool," said Danielle Holzapfel from Wallenpaupack Area. 'Honestly, it is really inspirational. I love it because it's a very small amount of girls that are in the engineering field, so it's really great to see."
The winner of the competition gets a $1,000 scholarship to Johnson College
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