Author: Jamie

The HIVE in Isolation: The Faceshield Production Line

Jamie

Greetings all, to the first of many blog posts about the HIVE, our Makerspace at the new Johnsonville Library at Waitohi Hub. Our Makerspace team have been busy working from home during the lockdown – have a read of what they’ve been up to below!

Before lockdown, we were fortunate enough to rescue some of the gear and take it home (specifically the 3D Printers Kryten & Holly), and really put them through their paces. We thought it would be a good idea to show you what they have been up to.

On day two or three of lockdown, we got put in touch with a group called ‘Project Faceshield New Zealand’, for people with 3D printers to help make personal protective equipment (PPE) for frontline workers. Kryten and Holly spent Headbandsthe first week or so throwing out faceshield headbands — 34 to be exact — so they have really been doing their part. Since then, we have been told to stand down as overseas supplies have been incoming, but we are ready to restart the production line if needed.

Burnt nozzleWe were also able to test a new type of filament in Kryten — polyethylene terephthalate glycol-modified, or PETg. A lot of customers had been asking about using it (we usually use PLA), and I can tell you the test was a complete failure! Such it is with what we do, sometimes things go to plan beautifully, and sometimes not so much… this one, not so much. We ended up burning up a hotend and ruining a nozzle (hopefully a good acetone soak should fix it). Lesson learnt!
However, there has been some good come from this failure — We are now very proficient in where every single little setting for the 3D printers can be found, and what they do!

 

Since we have been stood down for faceshield making for the moment, we have been busy trying to create things that could potentially be used around the HIVE, or even in other parts of the library. Of course, the temptation to just play around making cool stuff has occasionally proven too strong – but hey, we need to test those settings, right? Stay tuned for the next ‘HIVE in Isolation’ to learn more about what we’ve been doing since libraries closed.

2013 Cook Strait Earthquakes

Jamie

What happened?

nzOver the last month, Seddon & Wellington have been rattled by a swarm of earthquakes that started with a 5.7 at 9:06am on July 19th. This swarm reached a head with a magnitude 6.5 shake on Sunday 21st July at 5.09pm. This quake was centred 25km east of Seddon and had a focal depth of 13km. An aftershock sequence followed with over 2500 earthquakes over magnitude 2.0.

Just as the previous sequence was starting to quieten down, a magnitude 6.6 earthquake struck at 2.31pm on August 16th, near Lake Grassmere. This quake heavily damaged Seddon, and startled workers and residents of Wellington. This quake also has its own aftershock sequence, of which over 2000 quakes over magnitude 2 have been recorded.

Points to note

I have been asked quite a few questions about earthquakes in the last few weeks, as one of a few staff members with a geological background. These are a few of the more common answers to questions I have been asked:

1. Earthquakes are made up of two parts – P-wave, which comes first and is a compressional, push-pull wave, and S-wave, which comes second and is the side-to-side shaking that is normally what causes damage. Very often you won’t feel the P-wave – your pets might, though, which is what gave rise to the folktale that animals ‘sense’ earthquakes.

2. There’s no real difference between an earthquake and an aftershock – they’re just words we use to qualitatively differentiate between a big event and any little ones that happen around it.

3. A swarm is where a localised area is struck by many earthquakes over a short period of time. They are usually around the same size and are different from aftershocks in that they are not preceded by a large event.

Where can I learn more?

I must confess that I am not a seismologist, but I have studied seismology and do have a degree in geology. Even so, I get a lot of my information from GeoNet. It is the most reliable source of information (I would take what they say in news articles with a few grains of salt).

These GeoNet pages are very very good:
1. GeoNet News: Damaging quake hits the north-east of the South Island : This page gives you nice brief, easy to understand scientific descriptions of what has happened, and it compares the 6.5 and 6.6 quakes.

2. GeoNet: M6.6 Lake Grassmere earthquake : This page shows more info on the 6.6 and also the latest information that GNS have on the quake.

3. GeoNet: Cook Strait aftershocks and forecast probabilities : This page gives you the lastest aftershock forecast probabilities (These are NOT predictions) and the information on the 10 largest quakes so far.

For information on what to do after an earthquake or other natural disasters visit the Get Ready, Get Thru and WREMO pages, and for counciling and support check out Skylight.