NEIT2011+OpenSpace4+D

MakerBot (3D printing technology)

Twitter @makerbot - Makerbot @bre - Bre Pettis - Founder @jsambuca - Jeremy Sambuca

[|NY Times Article] [|Forbes Article] [|Time Article]

[|Makerbot Education] [|Makerbot for Educators Build Instructions] [|Thingverse] [|Sketchup] [|Replicator G] [|Netfabb] [|STL Plugin] [|TinkerCAD] - good one to start with... has quests to help teach the kids along the way [|3DTin] - another nice one to start young students off with

Tips Shared:

 * Don't forget to calibrate!
 * Conveyor belt has pros and cons
 * Look to the MakerBot community for suggestions on different print settings, like infile
 * Customize the gcode as needed
 * Because the printer moves and vibrates while printing, make sure to tighten the bolts periodically
 * Use acetone to smooth out surfaces on your printed products
 * The real reason that the dinosaurs are extinct... an uneven platform belt :-)

Curricular Outline shared by Jeremy Sambuca:

 * 1) Basics of sSketchup and the templates
 * 2) Making things exact in Sketchup by typing in dimensions
 * 3) 2D drawings and decomposing the fundamental shapes found in complex figures... "what shapes do you see?"
 * 4) 3D shapes and extruding - systems thinking, more difficult examples, assessments with pop quizzes
 * 5) Advanced features like "Follow Me" tool
 * 6) Introduce them to the chair video to have them create it - additive and subtractive methods
 * 7) Introduce constraints - 3x3x6

Futures plans for improvements:

 * Back to more basic creations
 * Create simpler things because of the print time
 * Possible "101" and "102" classes