3D Printing is fun, but where is the curriculum?

3D printers seem to be popping up in schools all over, thanks in part to initiatives like Makerbot Academy.  However, not every teacher with a 3D printer in the classroom seems to know what to do with it.

UPDATE JULY 2014: Tinkerine U looks promising. You have to sign up but then presumably have access to their training guides, workshops, etc.

ORIGINAL POST: For a long time, the only curriculum I was aware of was SeeMeCNC's SeeMeEducate developed by a passionate high school teacher working with Orion's Delta Printers.  It is pretty cool, you can check it out here.

Since then, 3D Systems has gotten in the curricular resources game with Cubify Education, hoping to be your "one stop shop for tutorials, curriculum, projects and educational information, materials and resources."  While it seems to have a ways to go, there is some potential here if they can garner critical mass.

Makerbot is also sniffing around and looking to teachers to flesh out their educational resources network.

Then, SME (Formerly the Society of Manufacturing Engineers) and 3D Systems recently (6.11.14) announced their new M.Lab21 initiative.  Together, they hope to "bring school workshops into the 21st century with cutting-edge equipment."  3D Systems is providing materials for participating schools, which "feature the latest in 3D design and 3D printing technology, including the Sense 3D scanner, the Touch haptic and prosumer desktop 3D printers, in addition to a suite of Cubify 3D design software [including Sculpt, Invent, and Design."  By mid-summer 2014, the M.Lab21 project hopes to have secured eight industry advisers who can provide leadership and guidance though the development process.

Also launched recently, Printrbot Learn is another initiative sponsored by Printrbot and run by teachers.  They, too, need to build a community, but I really do believe Brook Drumm, founder, has his heart in the right place and has always been a supporter of getting 3D printing into the hands of kids.

We believe that learning should be hands on. We believe that kids should solve real problems using real tools. We believe every kid should be a designer, a maker and an inventor. We believe that kids should Learn by Making.

Headed by teachers, Josh Ajima and Clarence Fisher, Printrbot Learn intends to host tutorials and lesson plans (and contests!) for teachers to implement the technology in their classrooms.

And, of course, the first book has just been released, The Invent To Learn Guide to 3D Printing in the Classroom: Recipes for Success by David Thornburg (and more).  I just picked up a copy and look forward to reading it.

Here are some other resources you can check out if you are interested in learning more about how educators are already using 3D printing in their classrooms:

• Curriki's blog post, "How are Schools Using 3D Printers?"
• Clark Barnett does some great things with his 4th grade class. Check out his blog.
• Artist Corinne Takara's detailed Serving of Shapes site hosts her materials, including assessment, lesson plan and classroom guide.  It's worth checking out the collection of work she collected during her public workshops.
• You can always read what we are up to by check our "Our BPC Story" label
• I don't know much about this beyond the little I've read on their site, but Leapfrog 3D printers intend to come packaged with curriculum.

3D Printing for Education from Leapfrog 3D Printers on Vimeo.

What are some of your favorite 3D printer curricular resources?

Impact of BPC in 3D: A 3D Printed Graduation Project

(NOTE: As teachers and parents know, the end of the school year is a very busy time.  Here is a snapshot and a more detailed post is forthcoming!)

This year we implemented our first grade-level wide 3D printing project.  Graduating 8th graders were asked to reflect on "What's something you will take from your time here at BPC with you for the rest of your life?"  In English class, students wrote reflective passages and in science, they created CAD models which were 3D printed and displayed at our graduation ceremonies.  

Student models included:  a guitar, a key, camp fire, piano keys, 3d printer in water (?),  hourglass, drama mask, 3D Printer (Cube), another key, an arrow pointing up, music notes, an anchor, a ring, a lock and key, a rock. 3D Printer (Makerbot), bamboo, laptop computer, chair, egg, boat, footprints, butterfly, tree coming out of a book, a heart book thing with rings, hourglass, rose, Inception spinning top, running man, cracked egg , skull, book, nubby pencil, tree, tongue, bench, brain, space ship and planet, speech bubble, lightning bolt, light bulb, megaphone, another megaphone, cloud, microphone, light bulb, another rose.

Here are just a few models with their respective writing pieces:

I choose the seat of shame/honor to represent my time at BPC. When I got to Ms. Mytko’s class in 7th Grade I was very disruptive and was quickly given a seat at the front of the class labeled the seat of shame. However, slowly and kind-of surely, my behavior started to improve. The seat of shame was no longer entirely necessary and had become something that I enjoyed. When I came back in 8th Grade Ms. Mytko asked me which seat I wanted and I responded by saying the seat of honor. I think that this is very representative of my change at BPC. When I came in I would often get thrown out of classes and was a pain to deal with. Now I can’t even remember the last time I was thrown out of a class and I think that most of my teachers like me at least a little bit. I’m proud of the change I have made in my time at BPC.

I chose to make a rose as my 3D model. The rose represents my growth as a person as a student at Black Pine Circle. During my three years at BPC I have learned new ways to ask questions and how to speak out during class. I have become more sure of myself as a student and a person. When I first started school at BPC I was pretty shy and quiet, but classes like drama and music helped me find my voice. I chose to use a rose to represent what I’ll take with me after graduation because when I go to high school, I will always take with me what I’ve learned at BPC. The leaves represent my friends and memories I’ll take with me when I leave. 

I chose a 3D printer to symbolize the many experiences, skills and memories I have taken with me from BPC. I chose a 3D printer because it has changed my life over the last three years. When I was in sixth grade, Ms. Mytko got her first 3D printer, an original Printrbot. My friends and I worked on it for almost a year after everyone else lost interest. Persisting on projects like that was one skill working with 3D printers helped me a lot with. Another instance that I may not have persisted in a few years ago but did was a time I designed an iPad stand and after many design, software and printing failures, it still hasn’t worked but I haven’t given up.*  Also 3D printing has given me many opportunities over the last year or so, like visiting 3D printing conferences and going to the 3D System’s monthly meetups in San Francisco. I have no idea what I would be doing now without 3D printing. 

*Revision June 2: Since writing this paragraph I have finished the iPad stand.

(flowers were a popular choice) :)

The day of the ceremony, we set up the models / writing samples near the entrance to the school yard. 

The prep (post in progress...)  

Printing 48 models under a very tight deadline gave me plenty of practice implementing Kacie Hultgren's design tips for 3D printing! 

We Tour the Autodesk Gallery

On the last day of school this year, Sam and Abe toured the Autodesk Gallery in San Francisco. The Autodesk Gallery is an open museum gallery that Autodesk built to "bring together stories of exceptional design and engineering from across the globe. "The Autodesk Gallery celebrates the creative process and shows how people are using new technology to imagine, design, and create a better world." 

Probably the coolest thing we saw there was their professional grade Conex 500 3D printer.

Sam Standing Next to their Conex 500 3D printer

Another cool thing we saw was this virtual reality device where you can walk around and it will move your virtual camera.

We also saw some other cool things including a concept Mercedes-Benz futuristic car, a model of the Shanghai tower (once this skyscraper is completed, it will be the tallest building in China and the second tallest in the world), and a stonecutting where an artist designed a scaled-down model of it (picture 3), 3D printed it, then sent it to a town in China where they have been stonecutting for hundreds of years.

Then we figured out how there are huge Lego structures in Lego land. They have beams inside them!

A huge lego dinosaur Autodesk had on display.

-Abe (entering 8th Grade next year!)

Creative Licences and Displaying Models at Shows

We learn about Creative Commons in school but big 3D printing companies don't seem to comprehend it. There have been a lot a cases of big 3D printing companies stealing a design from a small 3D designer. This issue was first discussed at 3DPI in October 2012, when Dizingof first had his designs used without his consent by Tri-Tech 3D and PP3DP. They have apoligized and have given recognition to him. 

This entire situation was started when designers started offering free designs on sites like Thingiverse and GrabCad under a Creative Commons attribution non-commercial license. Big 3D printer companies have been violating these licenses. The only way people can try to stop them is using social media because big 3D printing companies have enough money to fend off your (small-time) lawyer when you issue a DMCA.

(Source)

Recently, Makerbot contacted us about an opportunity to showcase student designs at the upcoming ISTE conference. but assures us that "Your school/student would be credited with a plaque." Nicely done.

Also, on Thingiverse, you are given the option to "give a shout out."  With a click of the button, you can get a tag to print (see image below) to give credit where credit it do.  (In Creative Commons land, we call this attribution.)

- by Sam (newly 8th grade)

Maker Faire was a success (and fun!)

The BPC Maker Club had a booth at the San Mateo Maker Faire last weekend, showcasing the work of the 7th grade science class: 3D printing data scanned at the Advanced Light Source.  (For more information, you can read more about the original project, follow the latest ALS-tagged blog posts on our Maker Club blog, or read the most recent ALS news feature.)

The Maker Faire is a "a family-friendly festival of invention, creativity and resourcefulness, and a celebration of the Maker movement" and this year's flagship faire brought together over 1100 makers of all ages.   The Maker Club was thrilled that we were placed in the 3D printing section rather than in the Young Makers tent.  We don't know why this happened, but it gave the students an opportunity to network with some big names in 3D printing such as Formlabs, Ultimaker and Type A Machines.  In fact Sam, a 7th grader, was even inspired to engage eight different companies in a friendly competition of printing our eggshell file!

We are also grateful to Brook Drumm, Founder of Printrbot, for generously donating a new Printrbot Simple to us just a few days before the faire.  Brook was the one who helped us get started with 3D printing back in December 2011, and it is always a pleasure to stop by his booth and hear about what he is working on next!

Sam, Brook Drumm, Alexander

The kids did a great job and were awarded an "Editor's Choice" blue ribbon for demonstrating great creativity, ingenuity and innovation, and a "Best in Class" red ribbon in the Education division.

Congrats to the entire 7th grade class for the recognition of their work, especially to Flynn, Abe, Alexander, Jane, Daniel, Sam, Kyra and Emily, who worked the Maker Faire booth.  (Also, a shoutout to Gigi, Alex, and Luka (all 6th grade) and Isaac (8th grade) for showing up as representatives of Maker Club!)

Here are just a  couple of pictures from the faire.  Please visit our Flickr page (tag: makerfaire) for more!

And finally, it was exciting to have three functional 3D printers up and running all at the same time.  

If you find 3D printers as fascinating as we do, you may want to follow out our blog(see the right nav bar to enter your email address), "like" us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter!

3D Printer Test

The recent Maker Faire provided our Maker Club an opportunity to meet and collaborate with the leading 3D Printer manufacturers in the world. We saw this as an opportunity to test their print quality on a hard challenge.

When we were at the ALS (read about it here), we scanned an eggshell and created an STL file with the data.  We asked several 3D-printer manufacturers to print the eggshell blown up about a thousand times.

The companies were excited to help out.  We had the eggshells printed on, from left to right (starting with the top row): the UP Plus 2, Cube 2, Afinia, Ultimaker 2, Printr Bot Simple Metal (using Microsoft's new slicer), RoBo 3D, MakerBot Dual, Form 1, and a Printr Bot Simple Metal (using Slic3r).

We were very impressed by the results -- they were far better than we could obtain from our old printers.

The Printrbot Simple metal has the best value for it's price. I recommend using the Microsoft slicer with it because Slic3r isn't the best at closing holes in the data. The Printrbot also has the standard 100 micron resolution.

For the best quality that isn't SLA, I would rank the Afinia and the UP Plus 2 at the top. They both have outstanding XY quality and have no excess bridges like the Cube 2. They are very similar in price, with each costing about $1,600. If you want a mid-ranged consumer 3-D printer, I would definitely recommend one of these.

The Type A machine is almost as good as the Afinia but it creates more bridges. I don' think the bridges would be a problem for less complicated prints, but for something in our experiments, it produced a lesser quality print than similar printers.

The Form 1 has the best quality. You can only barely see the layers because SLA printer's levels bond more closely together.  One downside to the Form 1 is that its post processing takes an extra 30 minutes to finish the job. The post-processing includes dipping it in rubbing alcohol, so it isn't the best for schools (at least yet). The other downsides are its cost ($3299) and supports. The supports leave marks on the bottom of your print but you can scrape them off very easily.  Bottom line: if you are looking for stunning quality, it is hard to beat on the consumer market.

Of course, our experiment was not perfect. We did not always control for slicing software, type of filament, etc. but we think it gave us some pretty interesting results anyway.

On the whole, we were grateful to the manufacturers and very happy with the results of this challenging test. If you are a printer manufacture and would like a full review of your product, email us.

Student's Reflections on the Bay Area Maker Faire

Alexander (7th grade) -  I thought the Maker Faire was a huge success. Our booth attracted lots of attention, and we got to meet all kinds of cool and interesting people who stopped by. But our booth wasn't the only good one. After looking around the faire

Jane (7th grade) - The Maker Faire was amazing! Having our own booth was really fun, and there were lots of interesting people who came to look at it. I got to look around the Faire too, and all the booths had amazing stuff!

Abe(7th grade)- The maker faire was a very fun and interesting experience. Having a BPC booth was cool because we got to meet lots of interesting people. Walking around the faire was also fun because of all the interesting (and distracting) booths.

More?

Our New PrintrBot Simple (Metal)

We just got a generous gift of a beta PrintrBot Simple Metal. This time, we actually went to the website as suggested in the instructions! (Our teacher made us read the instructions... pfft.)

The beta version comes with a depth sensor, so we never have to level the bed. Sadly, the depth sensor was initially calibrated wrong, so the extruder scratched the bed when we went to do a test print. 

Luckily we found a video on how to fix it and we did. If you get a PrintrBot Simple, make sure to watch this video and check that the depth sensor is properly calibrated before printing or your bed might get scratched. 

As you can see in the video below, you can calibrate it by putting the extruder on the bed and putting the black piece (included in the set - pictured to the left) on the plate under the depth sensor. If the sensor does not touch the black piece, use the two (included) wrenches to move the sensor down.

And in case you are wondering, we are using Repetier to control our printer.

Printrbot Auto Level Sensor Setup

Here's the unboxing video, too.

Printrbot Simple Unbox and Print

And finally... success!  

This is 3D printer #5 for us. (You can read about the other ones here.)  Here it is printing:

Thanks, Printrbot!  We'll see you at the Maker Faire!

MINK: 3D Printed Make-up

MINK 3D printer

This printer uses plain printers ink (surprisingly, the maker, Grace Choi, says it is FDA approved) to add colour to a power, cream, or waxy base and create makeup. The printer sells for around $300, and supplies, like boxes and the base, presumably are sold as well. I couldn't find how much these cost, however. To print in a certain colour, you choose that hex colour from any online picture and paste it into a Microsoft Paint or Photoshop file. You send the file to the printer, and it adds that colour to the base. 

Ok, makeup, not that interesting, right? 
But this does show how versatile 3D printing is, and what can be done with printers and common household objects, like ink and a computer. 

Here is an article with a more in-depth explanation of how this works. 


By Jane, 7th grade

Open Source CT

The Tricorder Project is working on an open source, cheap CT scanner. A CT (or computed tomography) scanner takes a series of pictures using x-rays so you can see the inside of the object.  It also created volumes of scanned objects; that's why its often called "volumetric imaging."

This new open source CT scanner isn't meant to scan humans, instead, it is meant to scan objects. The Tricorder's CT scanner takes several days to scan an object, and it also it scans at a very low resolution. The CT scanner uses very low radiation (barely above background levels) to scan the objects and uses an Arduino to control the motors.

The Advanced Light Source in Berkeley, California also uses a type of CT scanner on its Beamline 8.3.2, except its radiation would kill you in an instant. Our 7th grade class was able to go to the ALS and use their scanner (or beamline).  (You can read about our field trip to the ALS here.)  This open source CT scanner is an interesting idea, since it would allow us (and other classrooms) to do what we did at the ALS, without the synchrotron particle accelerator!  And it would be safer, but much, much slower and give much lower resolution images.

From a high-level technical standpoint, a computed tomography or CT scanner takes a bunch of absorption images of an object (for example, x-ray images) from a variety of different angles, and then backs out 3D volumetric data from this collection of 2D images taken from different angles. In practice, this is usually done one 2D “slice” at a time, first by rotating an x-ray scanner around an object, taking a bunch of 1D images at tens or hundreds of angles, and then using the Radon transform to compute a given 2D slice from this collection of 1D images. One can then inspect the 2D slices directly to see what’s inside something, or stack the slices to view the object in 3D. (source page)

You can read more about the open source CT project on MAKE, Hack a Day, or on the Tricorder Project blog.

- Sam (7th grade)

PS - In the comments section of the article, the maker discusses more specific detail about his plans for a radiation source:

I have a 1uCi Cadmium-109 check source on its way (as well as a pound of lead shielding to help put together a rough collimator). Cd-109 is the lowest-energy radioisotope that I could find, that emits around 22keV if I remember correctly — which is absorbed about 50% by 2cm of tissue, so I think there should be usefully contrastive absorption for things like vegetables. I was also considering a Barium-133 source, which is higher energy (80-120keV, I think), so perhaps more suitable for things that have some small amount of metal, but Ba-133 is not monochromatic. These radioisotope check sources are sealed in epoxy, and are of such low intensity that they’re not licensed, generally considered pretty safe unless you eat them or tape them to your body for long periods, and can apparently be disposed of in the trash. 

In order for the imaging to work, the source has to be completely shielded such that it only emits in about a 1-2mm dia cylinder outward, facing the detector — something like the shape of an uncooked noodle of spaghetti. This dramatically reduces the intensity of an already very low intensity source. If the numbers I’ve read are correct, this should give around one high energy photon per second in that 1mm cylinder to the detector at 30cm away, and zero everywhere else. That should give a signal-to-noise ratio of about 10:1 if you sample each point for a minute, as background is about 5 counts per minute on my desk. Hopefully that will be enough to give an okay image. 

So ... the radiation level should be zero above background outside of the bore, and so slightly above background in an area the size of a spaghetti noodle within the bore that you could measure it in bananas-worth of exposure. The trade off is of course extremely long imaging times.