completeJanuary 2025 – June 2025
Prototyping for engineering training kits
Electro-mechanical prototyping & vacuum lab
Materials testing on 3D-printed parts sealed with liquid sealant to make low-cost pneumatic tubing for rough-vacuum trainers, plus custom electro-mechanical assemblies for entry-level engineering training kits.
- Timeline
- January – June 2025
- Focus
- Rough-vacuum trainers
- Sealant
- Dichtol
Overview
Training equipment for vacuum technology tends to be expensive, which limits how many hands-on kits a program can put in front of students. This project looked at two ways to bring that cost down for entry-level engineering training: printing parts of the vacuum path instead of buying them, and building the supporting electro-mechanical hardware from scratch.
Sealing 3D-printed parts for vacuum
3D-printed parts are attractive for low-cost pneumatic tubing and fittings, but layer-by-layer printing leaves the part porous, which doesn’t suit vacuum use. I ran materials tests on printed components treated with a liquid sealant (Dichtol) to engineer tubing that would be viable in a rough-vacuum trainer while staying inexpensive to make.
- Goal: low-cost printed pneumatic tubing usable at rough-vacuum levels.
- Approach: treat printed components with liquid sealant and test them as materials for the trainer’s vacuum path.
Electro-mechanical assemblies
Alongside the materials work, I designed, prototyped and fabricated custom electro-mechanical assemblies to serve as the base hardware for entry-level engineering training kits — taking each one from design through prototype to a finished build.
Skills used
Rough-vacuum systems and leak testing, materials testing, 3D-printed part design, prototyping and fabrication, and electro-mechanical assembly.