Injection molding in K-12?

[C Mytko]

Hi all - 

I've been 3D printing with kids for a long time and looking at ways to deal with the waste. Back in the day, we sniffed around Filabot (originally 2013, now quite pricey?!). As COVID became endemic, I've had more time to putter around again. Students have connected with Precious Plastics to learn more and recently attempted melting failed PLA scraps into silicone molds in a toaster oven. 

I love the idea of injection molding, but the machine and mold costs are so high. Recently, I discovered Sustainable Design Studio based in the UK and am thinking it might be feasible--especially since they offer a 3D printed insert holder mold option! 

Has anyone done injection molding in your K-12 classrooms? I'd love to hear of your successes, failures, and lessons! Or, if you are thinking about it too, maybe we can collaborate? 

Christine Mytko

cmy...@tinkercoop.org

tinkercoop.org 

[Jesse D Robinson]

I looked into injection molding a few years back but found it cost-prohibitive, but I'd be happy to start up some more research again and collaborate.   We currently have 6 Bambu X1Cs and 6 Bambu A1 minis running non-stop.

Jesse

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[Justin M Schmidt]

This seems to me to be the most achievable method or reusing filament scraps - https://all3dp.com/weekend-project-laser-cutting-3d-printed-trash/ 

Basically, grind up scraps and melt in a toaster oven into sheet material that can then be cut with lasers or saws. I've seen this done with a repurposed t-shirt press too.

Justin Schmidt

Instructor

K-12 Maker Lab | MIT Edgerton Center

Email | LinkedIn

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From: k-12-f...@googlegroups.com <k-12-f...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Jesse D Robinson <jrob...@ghostshell.com>
Sent: Tuesday, November 5, 2024 8:21 AM
To: C Mytko <cmy...@gmail.com>
Cc: K-12 Fab Labs and Makerspaces <k-12-f...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [k-12-fablabs] Injection molding in K-12?

 

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/k-12-fablabs/CAKnLQL%2BaVXBaM%3DXyzET5AtV-y8E%3DPP4D6yLyag_pcZ%2B3j1hxVw%40mail.gmail.com.

[Katie Topper]

 

Hi everyone -

I am teaching High School Digital Photography this year and am excited about the idea of my students creating photos with AR embellishments. I was inspired by the amazing artwork at https://amplifier.org/ and think creating a "card deck" of students in my class would be amazing.

Does anyone have step-by-step instructions on how students could get started to create a simple AR project? My students would be using Photoshop to embellish their photos, then add audio and some (simple) video elements. I have dabbled in co-spaces but wanted to see if there is anything else out there that is simple for beginners to catch onto?

Thanks in advance,

katie topper 

[Joan Horvath]

The trouble with injection molding is that you need molds for it. Unless you are planning on making a LOT of one part, it doesn't really make any sense. If you can 3D print with metal AND learn how to make molds (not trivial) you might get there faster, but I would suggest that perhaps learning how to print with metal (using metal-infused filament and a kiln to bake out the plastic) might be a better interim thing to try. One of the big advantages with 3D printing is that there is no initial mold cost. Typically injection molds cost 10-100K, depending on the part. I'm not sure whether the mold-holder thing would be enough like real injection molding to teach students much... but if you do try it I will be interested to hear about it.

Joan Horvath

Nonscriptum LLC

www.nonscriptum.com

[Dov Lebowitz-Nowak]

Hi, Katie -

I absolutely love co-spaces with students, but there are some other good options.

You mentioned that you're already using Photoshop with the kids, have you looked at Adobe Aero? It is pretty great, has good design/spatial editing capability, and is pretty easy to jump in and start working, but definitely feels a bit closed off (corporate chokehold) and hasn't really been updated for a few years (it technically never came out of Beta).

Some other good options for you might include:

Meta Spark Studio, Lens Studio - Snap AR, Effect House -- Unfortunately these are all tied into social media ecosystems (Meta, Snap, TikTok -- ugh) and are heavily branded as such, but they shouldn't actually require signing into those platforms to create/view XR content. 

Also, 8th Wall and Mattercraft are both excellent, but expensive.

I'm sorry I don't have access to my files until next week so I can't dig up an old sample project for you, but there are a bunch of good starter project video walkthroughs on YouTube (iirc, the "Yes, I'm a Designer" channel has a couple decent Photoshop to Aero AR project videos).

Hope that helps as a starting point!

Best,

 -Dov

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[Katie Topper]

Thank you!

Is there a good "quickstart" option for cospaces for a fairly simple creation? My students haven't actually learned PS yet but will be learning some basics...

The social media options might work - 99% of them have accounts (ie addicted) anyway!

-katie

[Jesse D Robinson]

I would take a look at Zoe Immersive.  

On Tue, Nov 5, 2024 at 2:28 PM Katie Topper <katie....@gmail.com> wrote:

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