Current Projects
Meet Michael Kapteyn!
Attracted to MIT’s academic community and the respected aerospace program, Michael left his home of New Zealand to become a grad student with the MIT aerospace program. After adjusting to the new community, Michael joined us at the Hobby Shop this Winter in the Make your Own Skateboard class. Michael used an illustrator software and a laser cutter to create the wooden skateboard he is holding in the picture above. As the semester continues, Michael hopes to complete a couple other projects he has in mind such as a laser cut box and a double pendulum. He views activities in the Hobby Shop as a stress reliever and hopes to be down in the shop more often.
Meet Jocie Kruger!
The Hobby Shop spotlight this semester is on Jocie Kluger! Jocie joined the MIT community as a mechanical engineering graduate student in 2012. Her area of study revolves around nonlinear dynamic machines, which involves solving theoretical equations and building prototypes. Focusing mostly on theory as an undergraduate at Cornell University, Jocie was thrilled at the hands on approach offered at MIT. Her advisor Dr. Alex Slocum advised her to join the Hobby Shop during her first week as a graduate student. Jocie built machine components on the mill and lathe until her research on flexures led her to the Omax MicroMAX Waterjet. Above, she is pictured holding a load cell which she built in the Hobby Shop using the MicroMAX. Although she was brought to the hobby shop for her research, she has taken full advantage of the offers at the Hobby Shop. You can often find Jocie down in the shop creating more nonlinear flexures on the MicroMAX or designing gifts for friends. She loves that the Hobby Shop is an enthusiastic place that encourages you to come with tough problems. Not only do they have a wide array of tools to help you solve fabrication challenges, but the shop is always filled with fun, supportive people. Jocie also credits the Hobby Shop to expanding her research focus from mostly theoretical modeling to also fabricating and testing machines. We will miss you when you graduate this Spring!
