So... I haven't blogged in over a year, but thanks to Colleen Williams for sharing this article with me - 3-D Printing Classes In a Virginia School Attract Global Visitors - She has inspired me to blog once (hopefully not just once) again to share something we have been experimenting with over here in the Tech Office!
If you have stopped by or passed through recently, you may have noticed a weird aluminum robotic cube that looks like this:
And you might be wondering.... "What IS that thing?"
Well... I't a 3D printer. Yes... It melts and prints plastic (others printers can print in other materials like clay, cement, or even metal) in three dimensions. Not just the X and Y axis like those boring "paper printers"... but Z too!
OK, so here is what I know so far with a few site links
that might be helpful in getting a grasp on this idea. Please share this with whoever you think
might be interested.
PRINTERS:
http://store.solidoodle.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=79
– This is the 3D printer that we currently have if you
wanted to learn a bit more about it. It is a bit of a “bare bones”, “No
frills”, DIY printer and can be a bit “high maintenance”, but has proven to
work quite well as a proof of concept.
http://store.makerbot.com/replicator2x.html
- This is the 3D printer that will be arriving over the summer. I believe it
will prove to be much more user friendly, versatile, and output a much cleaner
finished product.
http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/29/3d-printer-guide/
- Here is an extremely comprehensive line up of the plethora of 3D printers on
the market today… the consumer variety anyway.
CURRICULUM AND CLASSROOM IDEAS:
ATTENTION TEACHERS - If you click on only ONE link in this post… LET IT BE THIS ONE!
http://curriculum.makerbot.com/ - This is a link that will give you a wealth of
ideas on how it can and is being used in the classroom and is organized by
discipline and software used.
SOFTWARE and “THINGS”:
http://www.thingiverse.com/ -
This is the mother-load of 3D objects and “shapes” or "things" created, customized, and
shared by other members of the 3D printing community. The objects that I have
printed so far have all been downloaded and customized (if a customizable
shape) from this website. The site works best in the Google Chrome Web Browser.
It is a great place to get started and to see what other folks are creating
using other software. You cannot create anything from scratch here, only download
and or customize shapes created and uploaded by other users.
http://www.3dtin.com/ - This site
(also working best in Google Chrome Web Browser) is, in my opinion, where we
can get creative with our students. This IS a site that you can create things
from scratch to then be uploaded to Thingiverse. I like to think of it as
building with virtual Legos because it can be that easy. I personally have
found it to be the easiest (although challenging at times) of the programs
available to use… and it’s free and web based! There seems to be plenty of
tutorials available on the site itself or on YouTube. I have also tried Sketch Up and Open SCAD but they don’t seem to be
as simple and user friendly (AT ALL) for our age group of students or for Me
for that matter.
3D SCANNING: What’s that you ask?
I have been testing a bit with 3D scanning to
create digital 3D renderings from live objects that can then be printed… in 3D.
This is another area that might be good to explore with our kids. The three
things that I personally have been experimenting with are:
http://www.123dapp.com/catch/
- This software allows you to take 360 degrees of pictures and stitch them
together to make a digital 3D model of whatever you photograph. I haven’t been
too successful with it yet but have to admit that I haven’t had the time to
even scratch the surface of the capabilities yet.
http://reconstructme.net/ - This
software allows you to use a Kinect (yes…
like the one for an Xbox 360) to scan objects and digitize them in 3D. I
haven’t had much success with this yet either, but again, I haven’t even
scratched the surface.
http://skanect.manctl.com/ -
And finally, this software also allows you to scan with a Kinect. I
found this to be much easier to use than ReconstructMe but yet again have been
unsuccessful in producing a usable scan. I continue to test and play and fail…
on a daily basis… or as much as my time allows.
The technology is still in its infancy so new and exciting developments are
popping up every day and I am trying to keep up, with moderate success. I just
can’t imagine where this technology will be in the years to come and how it
will affect Business, Economics, Entrepreneurialism, Engineering, among others, but mostly
EDUCATION! To me… this is a game changer and we might be experiencing its
tipping point, we just don’t know it yet!
Well…. That pretty much sums up almost all that I know about 3D printing
so far. I'm still quite a Noob but continue to research every day. There obviously is a lot more to know than what I can cram in this post as well.
If you have any questions along your discovery, please don’t hesitate to
contact me because I might have the same questions or may have some answers. Besides,
I would love to hear anyone’s thoughts on all of this. Does it fascinate any of you as
much as it does me? I can't get enough of it. And everyone I know that has seen it in action, including and really... mostly the students, are in awe! No problem with engagement here!
In the meantime, I leave you with one more link for those of you who enjoy unique (3D printed) jewelry...
...and this video (Thanks Brian Roche) that will hopefully tie most of this together. Here you go.... I hope you found this post to be informative and inspiring. I look forward to hearing your comments.
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