3D printing in action!

A big thanks to the Tinkersmith group for letting me use their Ultimaker 3D printer and the expertise of their team that allowed me to successfully print my first 3D project, a "completion medal" file that I plan to let the upcoming SEP class use to personalize to make their own!

The machine:

The print:



The entire project took 1 hour start to finish, so not a very fast process considering how thin the medal is (less than 1/8 ") and it's small radius (2.5"). Additionally, the design was extremely easy, almost too easy, where I would like our class time dedicated to design and programming behind the design for more complex ideas (bio-printing, and design debugging to solve real world needs). And while it was fascinating to watch the print job (I sat with it for the entire hour and took 10 videos at key points to share with the class), I finally decided for 36 kids, not a good way to use our limited time together (20 hrs total). So, our plan will be to prep Tinkercad projects for printing outside of class time to be arranged by the learners, though I will do my best to find external 3D print resources, whether it be through their local school, the NorthSide Library, or through a commercial 3D printing service (new ones pop up almost weekly!). We will deconstruct the 3D printing process, though, using the 3D printing pen I'll be purchasing in the coming weeks so kids become the human extruder and g-code generators (more on that to come ...)