High School Maker Extraordinaire: Junita Ahammed Has a Passion for Making 3D Printers & Gadgets Galore

When it comes to women working in design, fashion, and art in general, some prefer to embrace a very feminine, almost ethereal style. That’s very appealing in its own right, but there are also some female designers out there today who are something to be contended with in their fearlessness as makers and innovators, enjoying walking in a realm often still quite erroneously thought to be relegated mainly to men.

Junita Ahammed, of Toronto, was hooked on 3D printing right out of the gate as a student planning to go on to college for mechanical engineering technology (industrial design) soon.

“I have a strong interest in the design of basic things to more complicated systems,” Junita told 3DPrint.com. “CAD design is something I thoroughly enjoy.”

Junita and a group of her high school friends actually began a maker’s club where they enjoy delving into design and 3D printing and have even build 3D printers for other schools, under teacher supervision.

“We design many things on CAD, print them and try to start many projects with basic robotics and RC equipment,” Junita told 3DPrint.com.

Currently, Junita has a challenging project coming up for her media arts class, requiring—quite conveniently for her—CAD modeling and 3D printing. Using some basic electronics and programming too, Junita is making a quadcopter with a body designed in Fusion 360. She’s 3D printed two new designs, with the first being too heavy (seen in purple below) and the second, revised model yet to be tested.

“Once the chassis is perfected, I will work on the electronics portion,” states Junita.

With the first chassis, in purple, Junita used a MakerBot Replicator. After that had some issues due to weight, she used a Printrbot 3D printer, which she and her maker friends built at school. With that, they were able to create the next version in white PLA, revising the original and using low infill as it was just a test. A third version is soon to follow, with all of the models created in Fusion360 by Autodesk.

“I have been sharing my ideas with Jason Vander Griendt, the CEO of J-CAD Inc.” Junita also told 3DPrint.com. “He has been showing support for my project and suggested I share my story with you.”

Junita is interested in far more than quadcopters though, with a penchant for designing gadgets such as helpful engine parts.

“In my Automotive class, I designed and printed a switch for the governor in a small engine,” Junita told us. “What happened was I broke the switch as I was disassembling the engine.”

“Suggested by my teacher, I designed the piece in Fusion 360 and sent it off for print. And it works! This was my first ‘engineering moment.’”

Quad body

Now attending the 11th grade, Junita is learning a substantial amount of new skills that will serve her well when she graduates, gleaned from classes like Transportation Tech, Construction Engineering, and Technological Design. Focusing on construction, and mechanical and industrial design, the courses are also teaching Junita more about 3D design and 3D printing, as well as giving her the opportunity to use CAD programs like AutoCAD and Fusion 360, which is her preferred design tool, due to her strong interest in mechanical and industrial design.

“Fusion 360 by Autodesk is by far my favorite CAD program to work with,” says Junita. “It has features which enable the user to create complex systems–anything from car parts to robotic parts and much more.”

Employing Fusion 360 for design, Junita then chooses a 3D printer for prototyping. Among other items, she has used that particular design software to create a 3D printed pison—but just a side project.

“I use Fusion 360 regularly to improve my skills in CAD design,” says Junita.

As her skills have progressed, she’s worked on some amazing projects. With a passion for learning about items like car parts and their design, she has a multitude of components to draw inspiration from, as well as creating her own.

See the video below for an example of how she has combined 3D printing and robotics, working with her maker group. This project, a new claw for any VEX robot, served as their submission for the 2014-15 VEX CAD Robotics Engineering Challenge. It was created on SolidEdge. Discuss in the High Schoolers Love 3D Printing forum over at 3DPB.com.