Great to hear solidoodlesupport. I might try and get a machine or 2 at some point for our school if I can sell the idea to administration!

We've heard good results in the past.

The Solidoodle is already used in schools to great effect. Yes, we do offer an educational discount.
While we typically do not take part in the individual curriculum development, we have seen some
great programs put together with the Solidoodle.

Let us know if there are any questions on Solidoodle's and education.

did it myself, 10mm up on the z .. not down, down is up .. doh!

Maybe I wasn't too clear,

We also had a cnc milling machine and a cnc lathe,

Nobody ever used them. I saw them used once, by a teacher.

97% of schools only use their CNC machines to only run the "Demo" program. Its sad bc these machines are around $10000 a piece.

Cool project!

I've seen printers such as Dimension printers used quite well in the classroom! It really adds to the ability to work on projects and create different components for them to make some amazing things. (Dimension has a very good product that you rarely have any clogs.)

I teach my students how to use AutoCAD and they are quite adept at it by the end of February.

I think there is software that does it for you.

Agreed

I'm not that old (only 30) so the experience of education is not "that" far behind me.
Most schools do not have extensive STEM program's, mine did.

We had a wood working shop with lathes, there were metal lathes in the metal shop. Milling machines pillar drills a proper electronics lab where we photo etched boards.
We had a computer control room.
These were stocked with old acorns that we did computer control on, mostly it was programming traffic lights etc, the breakout board for the machines allowed us to actually "see and do" making computer controlled traffic systems.

We also had a cnc milling machine and a cnc lathe,

Nobody ever used them. I saw them used once, by a teacher.

I live about 8 miles from silverstone (race track) thy used to run a competition to build a radio controlled car. That's the only after school club that I ever saw in stem that was successfully attended by students.
The cnc mill was used to produce a arms for suspension from acrylic.

I really think the fused filament printers will end up bing a similar curiosity item in tech rooms, a little too complicated for students to learn a little too fiddley to maintain.

I've been following 3D punting for a long time (since I read about Adrian bowyers first Darwin machine in a staff news letter whilst I was working at UoB)

I did immediately see the potential for use in schools the same as everyone else has. But the honest truth is that the reality likely isn't going to live up to the dream.

The biggest problems are:
The software, you're going to teach kids how to use autocad in highschool? Good luck with that! (I assume that'll be extra classes I mean you still have to teach 2D design and drafting first?!

Then you have to go through all the design configurations re overhangs and support material.

Then the biggest killer is the time it'll actually take to print!

And machine maintenance,

As I said before 3D printing in schools? -yes.

Fused filament 3D printing? I can't see it, laser sintering is just so much easier to show more foolproof etc.

If only I could believe that you walked away from your Solidoodle during your first print... lol

Hell no. I printed a cube and stared into the abyss for a good 45 minutes...

I think that you could be working a little too rigidly danny.

Kids will either love the concept of this, or not care. If the class is compulsory then make it that not all students have to print something, Allow students come in out of class hours, either during lunch times or after school. Make a 3D printing club. It sounds like Shane is enthused and supportive of this idea, but not all students will be. You give students the chance, and take the ones who grab it.

Making printing a design optional for the class, give them times to come in and get it printed if they want, but it does not effect their grade.

I agree that not everyone will enthused and grab on. But I'm there to expose them to all of the different engineering design processes that the world is using. The first project they would still be required to complete for a grade. Anything after that they would utilize it based on their need through their designs only. (they dont have to use it if their design doesnt require it)

This is the goal. I have some students that are already in that role with some other equipment.

When I was in high school 20 some odd years ago, we had a machine shop and a electronics lab.  You could forego a study period to take "Independent Study Machining" or Electronics.  The class consisted of myself, one friend, and one instructor who would start us off in the beginning of the class, eat lunch, and come back at the end. 

They gave us a robotic arm, a conveyor belt, and a small hobby cnc mill through donations.  We made an assembly line that would mill our school logo out of plexiglass and sold them in the school store.  All of this was done through manuals, trial and error and very little guidance from our instructor.  Remember this is pre-internet so if you don't know you just have to figure it out.

Moral of the story is:  If they are interested, kids can accomplish a lot more than you think.  Add access to the internet and I wouldn't put anything past them.

Agreed

DePartedPrinter wrote:

GoolGaul wrote:

You should also talk to SD and see if they can/would offer a scholastic discount...

This would be a smart thing for Solidoodle to be doing...

I think it's a little soon for that, they need to catch up on orders first.  But I would think it's a good long term strategy.  Get people used to you so when they leave for other places they have a comfort level and hopefully a loyalty.

Would be AWESOME!

How do you figure a Month to print the models for a class of 25?  I am assuming this printer would be in your classroom which you are in probably 6 hours a day.  With an average of about an hour per print you could probably run 5 a day which means it would take a week to get parts for everyone in class. 

If you are willing to run the machine when you are not at school then you can batch build probably 4 or 5 parts a once overnight and speed things up even more.

I have a class of 25 per period of the day and I have 5 classes a day. The room that I'm in gets utilized by 2 other classes (the students have 7 classes a day)  when I am on lunch and prep with only 45min periods.

I'm thinking in a global sense that uses the following equation for how long to expect a Tech/Design class to accomplish a project.  If it takes the teacher (who knows how to do something) x amount of time to do something then it will take the students (the ones learning and troubleshooting) 5x. I've only been teaching for little over a year but this estimate has really been accurate for my classes.

Although I love the idea... Unless I have had the printer for a few months and it is working flawlessly, then I would have avoid leaving it on overnight. (too much liability if something goes wrong.) 

If only I could believe that you walked away from your Solidoodle during your first print... lol

Good call on the preheated glass. Ill keep it in mind. As for fundraising,  unfortunately all the money that is raised must be done through a club and the club that is associated with our tech ed department is TSA. I love this club bc students get to compete in in real world problems. They get to compete first locally at the school, then at states and then at nationals. As you can imagine this gets expensive so the current adviser allocates all the funds to go directly to paying for travel and other expenses.

I was in TSA at my High School.  There would be tons of benefits in having a 3-D printer in that program. You might start calling some of these 3d printer companies and finding out if they have any special pricing for schools.

Having 3+ printers is the ideal situation due to the amount of time it takes to print a model. The reason for this is because having 25+ students it will take over a month Per class to get a model printed... I do have to comment on the idea of having a quality Replicator 2. It would be great to have 1 quality printer in the class but I feel the students in an engineering or design class should also be using the printers in a hands on way.

How do you figure a Month to print the models for a class of 25?  I am assuming this printer would be in your classroom which you are in probably 6 hours a day.  With an average of about an hour per print you could probably run 5 a day which means it would take a week to get parts for everyone in class. 

If you are willing to run the machine when you are not at school then you can batch build probably 4 or 5 parts a once overnight and speed things up even more.  I don't think students have to necessarily "watch" their part being printed.