Outer diameter, length, plunger diameter, plunger distance, volume, measured inner diameter, calculated inner diameter…. a haze of numbers and words. Are you feeling as dizzy as I am yet? We spent a considerable amount of time this week measuring many different parts of many different syringes, making graphs of that data, confusing each other with the words we were using, and just generally being frustrated at numbers and words. But it’s fine… because I always say: smooth seas never made for a skillful sailor!
If one of my team members was reading this right now, they would probably be rolling their eyes. I say this quote very often; I’m sure to the point of annoyance. However, I also think it has really become the mantra of our group. Whenever we are frustrated or things just aren’t going right, someone always begins with “smooth seas never…” and someone is bound to finish the inspiring quote. I would say without a doubt, that quote has consistently raised the crew’s moral and allowed us to charter new seas.
Besides getting lots of numbers and analyzing them, we also had a 3D printing workshop this week. I’m not very familiar with 3D printing, so it was great to learn more about it. It’s crazy to think about how technology progresses and how technology allows for such cool things to happen. While we probably won’t be using the 3D printers for our project, I’m glad I learned because now I can print literally anything anytime!
At the end of the workshop, each time was allowed to print one item. After seeing that printing a syringe (or a syringe set in stone) would be too difficult for our first print, we settled on the next best thing: a sailboat! Because as I always say: smooth seas never… yeah you get it by now.
Our 3D printed sailboat in rough seas… the rougher the better
Sure we’ve hit a couple rough patches, but overall, this week was a big step towards actually implementing our solution. It’s awesome seeing how we are progressing. And if our data could speak, I think it would say, “sure, I made you hit rough seas, but you know…
Smooth seas never made for a skillful sailor.”
It is clear that you realize frustration and change are normal as you learn and create.