Our First Maker Enrichment Class and Selecting Our 3-D Printer
This week we began the second trimester of our Maker enrichment class, having finished the first trimester of the class on February 27th. The classes have been filled to the maximum capacity of 28 students each trimester, and we have been developing the curriculum as we go along. It has been an interesting learning curve, although I think it is fair to say that the kids have enjoyed the class and so have we.
One of the greatest challenges so far has been managing the class in classrooms that need to be used for other courses except for two afternoons a week. Fitting 28 Makers into this space is difficult. Our long-term goal is to establish a dedicated Makerspace at our site, shared between the elementary and middle school populations. Meanwhile we are doing the best we can with our two regular classrooms. Storage of tools, materials, and ongoing projects is challenging, as is having adequate workspace for Maker projects. Susan Donner and I have taken turns hosting the class in our own classrooms, although we have been team-teaching most days. At times we have split the kids between both classrooms to have more workspace, or to have different activities in process in each room simultaneously, such as soldering in one room and making paper circuits in another.
We have also spent a lot of time and money this trimester acquiring the tools and materials we need for the class. We now have a vinyl cutter and 3-D printer (I purchased that using my own money), as well as hand tools, soldering irons, hand-held power tools, etc. We plan to have the vinyl cutter and 3-D printer up and running for our students in the next week or so. The kids have already had some experience designing with Inkscape. We are still awaiting our clamshell heat press for imprinting t-shirts and sweatshirts with designs from the vinyl cutter. We are also exploring the purchase of a "low-cost" laser cutter for the class......... more on that another time.
Batteries, LEDs, motors, copper tape for paper circuits, and other semi-consumables have been purchased from Amazon or e-Bay. If one can wait three weeks for items to arrive from China, most of these can be purchased fairly cheaply through e-Bay. The cost goes up if you need things from a more local source. We have also spread the word that we need donations of cardboard, caps from plastic bottles, CDs, paper tubes, etc.
Regarding our 3-D printer purchase, it is a Printrbot Simple Metal (http://printrbot.com/shop/simple-metal-kit/), named as the "Thin-Wallet Winner" in Make Magazine's "Ultimate Guide to 3-D Printing 2015" issue. I selected this model because it offered us the best balance between quality prints at an affordable (for our school) cost. I purchased the printer in kit form. Yes, the kit saved us some money compared to the cost of an assembled printer. (I used the savings to help offset the cost of purchasing the heated print-bed upgrade. The heated bed helps prevent the bottom layers of prints from warping around the edges as the print progresses.) However, the greater benefit in buying the kit is that you have to assemble the printer. It takes 4 or 5 hours to do so if you take your time, including installing the heated bed. By the time you are done, you know the inside and outside of the printer IN DETAIL. This will make maintenance, repair, and modification much easier in the future. It also helps you understand the basic theory and mechanical process behind 3-D printing.
Step-by-step instructions for assembling the printer are found in the "Support" section of the Printrbot website:
http://help.printrbot.com/Guide/Printrbot+Simple+Metal+%28Model+1403%29/142
The instructions are fairly well documented, with added advice and comments for each step contributed by other Makers who have assembled the kit. Not having assembled one of these before, I elected to try the first assembly without having our Maker class students assist. This was due to the heated bed upgrade that I purchased. The instructions for installing the heated bed during initial assembly hadn't been completed yet by the Printrbot support team. To install the heated bed I had to jump between the instructions for assembling the standard Simple Metal printer kit, and the instructions for installing the heated bed on an already-assembled printer. This required a bit of figuring, focused attention, and even some "guesswork" at times.
I was concerned that having a class of 7th and 8th grade Maker students assist in this process for the first time could lead to a costly wiring mistake that could fry the heated bed or the printer's motherboard. Even on my own I made a few distracted / careless mistakes that required some assembly-step backtracking to fix something. Ultimately the assembly was a success, and the heated bed was well worth the cost and extra assembly time. We do plan to add a few more of these printers to our Makerspace, and plan to purchase those in kit form too. I will have the students assemble those printers, now that I understand the complete assembly process, and can be an additional resource for them to resolve mistakes before we power up the printers.
Please don't let these observations discourage your from buying this printer in kit form. The assembly process is fun and really does enhance your understanding of 3-D printing. Besides, assembling your own 3-D printer from a kit is truly a Maker experience.
If you are interested in getting an assembled Printrbot Simple Metal printer for your school, Printrbot has a "One 3-D printer per U.S. School" program to assist schools in getting a printer. If your school is accepted for the program, they will allow you to purchase one of these printers for $399. There will be a wait list, so you will need to be patient. Here is the web link:
http://printrbot.com/education/printrbot-educational-ambassador-bot-program/
Now that our 3-D printer is running and ready for students, one of my main goals this trimester is to fully implement 3-D design and printing as one of the ongoing lessons / activities in our Maker enrichment class. This ties in with my final project from our previous Maker Certificate class. Likewise, we want to fully implement 2-D design and production with the vinyl cutter, and possibly with a low-cost laser cutter as well. In a few weeks I hope to make another blog post about the laser cutter, as well as an update on how the 3-D printing instruction has gone in our Maker class.
