The DesiGators took this week to buckle on our engineering helmets and get our hands dirty! As the project swings heavily into the manufacturing stage, it is all hands on board as the team strives to build a fully functional drying chamber. The team is using a piece of plywood to simulate the top of the metal table as a guide before they begin drilling holes into it. This will allow us to make sure we have all of our hole placements exactly where we want them and that we haven’t made any measuring errors in our CAD model. Enjoy the pictures below of the team working on drilling the pilot holes! (All safety procedures were followed – the photos are for staging purposes only).

The team also had a breakthrough in their search for an affordable acrylic drying chamber. The team made contact with Brad Cutting, a local acrylic product manufacturer based out of St. Petersburg, Florida. Brad made a custom acrylic chamber for the team that far exceeded our expectations – it has metal hinges, a magnetic clasp, precision machined holes, and an engraving of the team logo! The team and Dr. MacIntosh loved the chamber and intend to purchase the rest of the chambers from him. Check out his website for a closer look at some of his work (https://www.facebook.com/TBAcrylics/).

The team will be manufacturing even more components for the dehydrator in the coming weeks, so stay tuned for even more exciting updates!