My name is Steven Abramczyk. I am currently a 3rd year Mechanical Engineering student at Michigan Technological University.
I have had two previous internships. The first was with AIP Aerospace, where I designed a wing sub-assembly tool that sold for over $750,000 when it was completed. Most recently I completed an internship with Integrys Energy Group (TEG) where I designed a replacement main to replace an aging and out of compliance pipeline. These internships have greatly improved my knowledge of the design, as well as the project management side of engineering.
On campus I am extremely involved with Sigma Phi Epsilon, logging over 25 hours of community service per semester, as well as participating in Winter Carnival, one of the largest events in Houghton MI each year. Other organizations that I am involved in include the Research Scholars Program, a link between professors and undergraduates looking to do research. Lastly I am part of the newly formed Open Source Hardware enterprise where I am part of the team building a Lasersaur 2D cutter.
Lasersaur Spring 2015 Semester Update[edit | edit source]
The Lasersaur project is coming along very well. Throughout the semester our mechanical team consisting of Andrew Schaub, Olin Johnson, and myself, has put the project well on it's way to completion. The project was initially given to the team in a state of disarray. There was no complete parts list, no definite instructions, and many, many parts missing. Through tedious logging, we managed to determine the parts that were missing, as well as the parts that we already had.
With the complete set of parts we started by mounting the cutting rail. This proved to be difficult due to the rail not wanting to stay parallel to the rest of the frame. Once the rail was aligned we ordered and mounted all of the laser related optics. These will need to be fine tuned when the laser is actvated, but they are in the correct locations. After the optics were mounted we determined, purchased, and tested a water chiller for the laser. The last project for the semester was drilling and mounting ventilation holes in the sides to allow adequate ventilation of the system. The ventilation is critical because if smoke and debris build in the cutting chamber, the laser power can be affected, thus reducing the effectiveness of the laser.
The Lasersaur is very near completion. The only milestones left are programming the control board (A Beagle Bone), and locating a ventilation hood for the setup to be permanently located. Once it is moved to its final destination, the mirrors can be fine tuned, and the setup can begin testing.