November 5, 2014 at 3:12 p.m.
Three Lakes students use Fab Lab to improve dental tool
Three Lakes students use Fab Lab to improve dental tool
Amy Schmitz, a dental hygienist at Potrykus Family Dentistry in Three Lakes, faces that situation almost every day. As part of patient care she takes bitewing X-rays of patients' teeth. Bitewings are small (1 1/2" by 1 3/4") X-rays used by a dentist to check for various conditions in a patient's teeth not otherwise visible. To help position and hold the X-ray film in the patients mouth there are two different designs for X-ray holders. Yet, neither design really performs the task it was intended for well. So Schmitz turned to the HTMAA (How To Make (Almost) Anything) class at Three Lakes High School for help. On Friday, Oct. 31 she brought sample X-ray film holders, two of the current design tools, and gave a demonstration of how the tools are used. Additionally, she brought sketches of improvements to the current designs. Students had many questions about how the tools are used and her suggested improvements and are eager to accept the challenge.
Students in HTMAA use an engineering design process to create or improve things not yet available commercially. The challenge of re-engineering a less than optimal dental tool is a wonderful example of the type of real-world tasks students could face as engineers. According to HTMAA teachers Brad Volkmann and Al Votis, students will be tasked to reverse engineer the current tools, generate engineering drawings and fabricate prototypes of their new designs in the school's Fab Lab. The class will be divided into teams to redesign the dental tools. Each team will present their designs and prototypes to Schmitz for evaluation.
Comments:
You must login to comment.