Cal Poly Machine Shop
Machine Shop Technician
Picture of me Welding
At Cal Poly, we have two machine shops that allow students access to a lot of machines, including mills, lathes, welding stations, 3D printers, and other tools for both metal and wood. At the machine shops I am one of the machine shop technicians.
In this role, I train students on the machine shop's safety rules and on the proper usage of all our tools and machines. Additionally in this role, I provide students guidance on how to manufacture their engineering club projects, senior design projects, and personal projects. Overall, I help to make sure students are able to use the equipment they need while doing it safely.Â
Besides helping fellow students, I work on personal projects to improve my knowledge and skills with all the machines and tools in the machine shop. Listed below are my first few projects that I designed and manufactured in the machine shop.
3D Printing Supervisor (2023-2024)
During my senior year, I became our machine shop's 3D printing supervisor. In this role I am responsible for the operation, maintenance, and training of Cal Poly Engineering's 3D printings for student's personal, club, and senior project. Additionally, I am the first point of contact to provide any technical 3D printing guidance and assistance for students and faculty members. Over the course of the year, I have trained 30 of our new rookie student technicians in the use of 3D printing and maintenance, fixed the 3D printers hundreds of times, and helped a countless number of students. Under my leadership, students were able to print 115 miles of plastic filament and the printers reached a total of 2066 print hours during one school year.
As supervisor, I undertook multiple other goals to improve 3D printing within the shop. I created a robust printer maintenance procedure, created and standardized our maintenance documentation, heavily organized our 3D printing workspace, and improved the quality of our 3D printing training for student technicians and students.Â
3D Printing Supervisor: Cal Poly Machine Shop's Above and Beyond Award
Every year, two shop technicians out of our 70+ student technicians are recognized through the machine shop's Above and Beyond Award. It is an award "presented to shop technicians who have provided vital services and exceptional support to students, competition teams, professors, and staff." My name is now on a plaque that will forever hang in Cal Poly's Machine Shop.
I presented this award for the contributions I made to the shop as 3D printing supervisor, the countless number of hours I worked in the shop each week, and for being a role model to the other technicians. I was voted as the most supportive technician and the best at working with students by my coworkers. In this role I strived to be as friendly and open to helping everyone as possible. I always helped students when they needed help, even if I was off shift. I made myself as open as possible to being a resource for students, faculty, and other shop technicians. I wanted everyone I helped to have a positive experience in the shop because the machine shop gave me so much in return.
3D Printing Supervisor: Improved Shop Organization
Before: Painters Tape
After: 3D Printed Warning Signs
Before: Painters Tape
After: Laser Cut Name Plates
3D Printing Supervisor: Shop Documentation
Example Projects
Example Small Projects
Depth Gauge Attachment
I milled and 3D printed an attachment that connects to the bottom of a caliper. This allows a caliper to measure the depth of holes and other features more easily.
Mechanical Pencil
Using a lathe, I manufactured the body of the pencil shown above. This pencil works flawlessly, and I use it regularly.
Laser Cut 3D Printer Plate
I created a plate for a 3D printer using a laser cutter. This is a structural plate that will be used to build a 3D printer.