This week’s featured print is a cap for a shaker machine in a research laboratory.  Shakers are instruments that blend or agitate substances to form a homogenous mixture from more than one ingredient.  Tubes containing samples are placed in the machine which shakes them at speeds up to 3000 revolutions per minute.  A Penn lab found that at the higher speeds, the provided foam wasn’t enough to hold the samples inside the tube.  The lab would used foil and rubber bands to hold the samples in, but this wasn’t an ideal remedy for the problem.  When one lab member realized that the Biomedical Library provides free 3D printing for academic, clinical and research purposes, he decided to design a more elegant as well as practical solution with the help of TinkerCad, a free online tool for 3D modeling.   Problem solved!  See before and after pictures, below.

printed in ABS on the Stratasys uPrint SE Plus

Learn more about the Biomedical Library’s 3D printing service which is proud to print complimentary objects and provide 3D design consultations  contributing to innovation in teaching, learning, research, and clinical care at the University of Pennsylvania.