newriver...@gmail.com
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to FTC teams in Virginia
No doubt, there are lots of good 3D printers out there, and it’s good that you’re looking at reviews. Your question about leveraging the use of a printer may be more about integrating 3D printing in all things FTC. We have used it as a tool for youth learning CAD (6th grade is fine!), and being able to print their own designs. Of course, we also encourage looking at what’s already designed, so Thing-A-Verse is a great resource. We have worked on quick concept prototypes (low infill, minimal skin) just to print quick, shareable concepts. We’ve also worked on more rugged pieces, thinking about the orientation of the Z-axis relative the biggest stress the part will see. The best learning exercises have been when the students needed to accomplish something: For example, in Relic Recovery, they wanted to grab the Relic in a way that wouldn’t let it fall or escape. They already had the FTC-supplied CAD model for the relic, and realized they needed to make a negative of the relic, plus learned a little about dimensioning and tolerancing: making a negative the exact size of the relic was too tight of a fit. There was a lot of iteration, and many models never made it to the printer but were just CAD prototypes. But we printed a lot, too, evolving the design both for quick printing and for light-weight properties.
The printer we chose is made in Greensboro, Fusion3Design.com - it has a 12” cubed print area and is both fast and accurate. We went down to Greensboro to meet their team, get first-hand instruction, and leave with printer serial number 100. It has been great: a workhorse and very well supported. In short, it’s a tool with uses we never anticipated.
Henry Bass
Tuxedo Pandas 4924