1 Topic by lucasbuck

  • lucasbuck
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Topic: Question from a teacher

I'm a 5th grade teacher and our PTA was interested in purchasing a 3D printer for after school projects. I did some research and was looking at the DaVinci. I do a fair amount of 3D art because I make materials for teachers which I distribute freely. But I'm not up to speed when it comes to printing.
I have access to programs such as 3ds Max, Poser, etc. If I did a program where kids designed prototypes (drawing), and then built them in another program, is it easy to export them to the DaVinci software? Is there another program I haven't looked at that most folks use? What object types can be imported to the DaVinci software? I just wanted some clarification before they spent their money and I ended up with a mess that was impossible to deal with. Thanks for any information!

2 Reply by Eder

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Re: Question from a teacher

Hi, first of all it is great to meet another teacher.

Well the mayor thing with this printer is that you must hack it if you are planning on using it for digital sculpture since the OEM software is really bad and limited. But for primary school I think you could try it as it is. Be careful with the hot ends, heated bed and sometimes fumes that could be a hazard for the students. There is a more child friendly 3D printer that is designed for teachers in class. It locks the door so only the teacher may open it while on use. It is called the Vagler V-8E, although it costs 1,899 and it will come out in January.

For modelling software Da Vinci will accept STL, g-code, and 3W file types only. You could use 3Ds Max to import any 3D model and the export it in a Sto ASCII format.

You could try basic modelling software for your students such as 123D or Sculptris.

The Da Vinci is cheap but you will need to try it out for at leat a week yourself before bring it to class in order for you to learn its faults and how to correct the issues.

Good luck.

3 Reply by carl_m1968

  • carl_m1968
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Re: Question from a teacher

lucasbuck wrote:

I'm a 5th grade teacher and our PTA was interested in purchasing a 3D printer for after school projects. I did some research and was looking at the DaVinci. I do a fair amount of 3D art because I make materials for teachers which I distribute freely. But I'm not up to speed when it comes to printing.
I have access to programs such as 3ds Max, Poser, etc. If I did a program where kids designed prototypes (drawing), and then built them in another program, is it easy to export them to the DaVinci software? Is there another program I haven't looked at that most folks use? What object types can be imported to the DaVinci software? I just wanted some clarification before they spent their money and I ended up with a mess that was impossible to deal with. Thanks for any information!


Must be de javu... http://www.soliforum.com/topic/8476/que … a-teacher/

Did we not cover all your questions that you are still asking this time in the previous thread? Just curious what we missed that you would basically start the entire thread over again?

Printing since 2009 and still love it!
Anycubic 4MAX best $225 ever invested.
Voxelabs Proxima SLA. 6 inch 2k Mono LCD.
Anycubic Predator, massive Delta machine. 450 x 370 print envelope.

4 Reply by lucasbuck

  • lucasbuck
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Re: Question from a teacher

I'm SO sorry about that. When I created my username there was a mistake (which the admins recently fixed). When I searched for my original post, I could never find it, so I thought it didn't post. Again, sorry for the repeat post.

5 Reply by carl_m1968

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  • carl_m1968
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Re: Question from a teacher

lucasbuck wrote:

I'm SO sorry about that. When I created my username there was a mistake (which the admins recently fixed). When I searched for my original post, I could never find it, so I thought it didn't post. Again, sorry for the repeat post.


No biggy, just remembered your previous post was identical to this one nearly word for word and was curious what we missed that would need you to repost.

Printing since 2009 and still love it!
Anycubic 4MAX best $225 ever invested.
Voxelabs Proxima SLA. 6 inch 2k Mono LCD.
Anycubic Predator, massive Delta machine. 450 x 370 print envelope.