Saturday, December 27, 2014

Open Source Wrench

Did you read that NASA emailed the space station a wrench? Of course not an actual wrench, but the instructions for a 3D printer to make a wrench. More marketing than actual utility, but still it was an interesting proof of concept. When the hardware store is not around the corner, a 3D printer is a nice option.
Here is Commander Barry Wilmore with the resulting wrench.
Well the good guys at NASA uploaded the instructions for the wrench for the world to have on their website. I downloaded and printed the same wrench. It took about an hour to print, and is more like a Fisher Price object than a NASA object. Here is my printer printing a clone of the wrench.
Before leaving the bay, I measured the drain holes of my sailboat with a micrometer, then when back in Boston printed a couple of drains, and recently Francois installed them for me. Thanks Francois! 
Since it seems to fit, I have uploaded the instructions to a web site where other owners of my same sailboat can download the same drain.





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