Thursday, July 11, 2013

Class 40 and Beyond!

Little did I know, when Cathy Lewis of 3D Systems asked me for a favor, that it would result in one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.  Cathy Lewis was speaking at a conference on 3D printing organized by Homeland Security and asked me if I would be willing to bring my Cube 3D printer to demonstrate it.  I was more than happy to do so.

During the conference Cathy introduced me to Lynda Mann of YouthQuest, who spoke of their desire to use 3D printing to inspire and motivate at-risk young people.  To make a long story short, I ended up volunteering to teach 3D printing to some cadets from Class 40 at the Freestate Challenge Academy located on the the grounds of the Edgewood / Aberdeen  Proving Grounds.

It was an amazing experience that I enjoyed immensely.  The cadets, as you will see in the video at the end of the YouthQuest story in the link in this article really took to 3D design and printing in a huge way.  There is no need to write much more.  Steve Pendlebury, who shot and edited the video, has done a great job of telling the story of Class 40 and the effects of 3D Printing on the lives of the Cadets.

To read about the life changing experience for both cadets and teacher please check out Steve's article on the YouthQuest web site.  The video is at the bottom of the article.

Why 3D Printing Is a Great Teaching Tool for At-Risk Youth
 
This class was the first of many classes to be expanded around the country in the future.  And, I am SO happy to be a part of it.



5 comments:

  1. It was a great class of cadets. It made my day to see them each and every session! Thanks!

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  2. Could not agree more with your point that the most salient power of 3d printers is education, not manufacturing. I got my Cube a few months ago, and what has struck me most is how it does in physical media what PCs did in the software medium. I've always felt that the accessibility and speed of iteration in programming is what makes learning so rapid in that space, and I feel the same muscles at work in my brain when I 3d print.

    I hope you get more opportunities like this to apply these wonderful tools of learning.

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  3. I am not sure that Sculpt is the right tool for what I want to do. I am still learning (have not received my printer yet). One thing I would like to do is to take (foe example) an .stl file of a coffee mug and place another (flat) .stl file on it such that it wraps around the mug (creating a mug with a 2d relief on one side). Any suggestions or a program that could do this (preferably cheap or free...)

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  4. Sculpt is a PART of the solution. Cubify Invent or Moment of Inspiration can easily create the mug. Moment of Inspiration Beta 3.0 can wrap things around the mug. Cubify Invent cannot.

    However, Sculpt IS able to wrap items around the mug using EMBOSS AREA with A Texture Map. The end result would be exactly as you want to do. But, if it's going to be easy it's going to take a workflow involving TWO programs doing what each program does best.

    I'll have to bring up the subject of a bundle deal on Invent and Sculpt. :)

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