3D Print Your Heart Out

We have a new library, and we have a new toy to go with it:  a 3D printer!

(A 3D printer, for those of you not in the know, prints objects in three dimensions.  It prints using a plastic filament that comes in spools; the plastic melts and is reformed into objects that you create using online software like Google Sketchup or Blender.)

Lizz attended a Maker's Space workshop last spring, and since then, a 3D printer has been high on our list of Things We Want.  When the new library opened, we did some online price comparisons and discussed the possibility of the purchase with our school director.  We were soon allowed to get a 3D printer--so long as the first thing we printed was a cat.

No problem.

We selected the Solidoodle 3D printer, 3rd generation, based in part on the recommendation of our summer student worker, who has one of his own and boasted of the ease with which he could make iPhone cases and keychains for his friends.  The Solidoodle is bare-bones and industrial-looking, but it's affordable and we liked how clearly you could see the way it was put together and the way it worked.  We ordered two 50-foot spools of plastic filament, one black and one white.

We were very excited when it arrived in the mail.

Solidoodle:  Made in Brooklyn, NYC

Isn't it beautiful?

Sean knows how to use instructions.

We tried it out immediately.  It took some tinkering, and some 3D printer fails, but eventually we got our first object (the director's requested cat) printing away.  Lizz did some research and realized hairspray could help the plastic stick to the base; eventually we raised the temperature of the bed for even more successful printing, sans hairspray.

The spool of plastic filament attaches to the back of the printer; the extruder pulls the filament, heats it to melting point, and squeezes it out again (kind of like a toothpaste tube) to build layers of plastic that eventually become the final product.  The 3D printers is connected to a laptop with software the directs the printer's movements.  The software shows the number of total layers, the number of layers currently built, and an estimation for how long the print job will take.  The heat bed is 8 inches by 8 inches; most of our 3D objects take between two and five hours to complete.

The base of the Upper School Director's plastic cat.

When we have the 3D printer going, students will stop and watch it for minutes on end.  It's been the showcase of library open houses, prospective student tours, conferences, and curriculum night.  We've mostly printed goofy objects using files found in free galleries online, but we've had a few students print original objects as well.  That's how we've promoted the 3D printer:  Anyone who designs an original object can print it.

Students minds are blown as Sean demos the 3D printer.

A student watches an original design take shape.

It's a t-rex head mounted like a wall trophy.

We have a few classes express interest for future lessons as well, with the Video Game Design and Development class planning to print the digital characters they're currently designing for their video games.  Curriculum connections are especially obvious with the science (3D models of molecules and body parts) and art (3D models of sculpture and ceramics) departments.

We have great plans for the 3D printer.

3D octopus fail; the base came unattached from the heat bed, causing the plastic
to spill all over the place before we finally noticed and killed the print job.

A successfully completed 3D octopus waves "hello."