rapman-education's posterous

rapman-education's posterous

Dave White  //  A place for educators, teachers, lecturers and students to find "stuff" about RapMan,BfB3000 and BfB 3DTouch printers... The unofficial Blog by Dave White, Advanced Skills Teacher and Head of D&T in Clevedon School UK.

Nov 12 / 8:11pm

Students visit Bits from Bytes

Last week a group of Design and Technology students visited the Bits from Bytes Headquarters in Clevedon, UK. The visit was intended to allow them to see first-hand different production methods in action. It is probably best for me to allow one of them to describe their visit....

 

In our recent visit to Bits from Bytes, we learned various things about the way in which their business works and how they operate. We were taken on a tour of the Bits from Bytes production facility, in an order identical to that of the resources used, what is meant by this is that we started where Bits from Bytes get there raw materials delivered, we then moved on to where the plastic is cut and shaped by laser cutters and finally finished where the products are finished and boxed ready for delivery.

The factory itself is divided into two parts, one side was dedicated to creating the RapMan kits for customers to purchase and build the machine themselves. A great investment for those who would like the experience of building it themselves and also would like to save money, as the kits cost less than the pre-built machines. The second area was dedicated to making BfB3000 machines for customers to buy and install without having to build or configure any parts, although these are charged at a higher price.

It was good to see the differences between the two methods of production and to be able to see one-off, batch production and production lines all operating in the same place.

Learning about manufacturing and production systems in a real life situation was much better than just researching or reading about it and should help us with our A ‘Level Design and Technology exam. Thank you to everyone at Bits from Bytes for allowing us to visit and making us so welcome.

Ollie Elson

 

… Couldn’t put it better myself!

But I would just like to add an "official" thank you from The Design & Technology Department at Clevedon School.

Dave

 

 

Filed under  //  Education   News   Teaching and Learning  
Oct 21 / 10:44pm

TCT Live

Imag0064

Apologies for the slow posting…. End of term and lots to do!

Anyway, some of you may be aware that BfB and 3D Systems asked me to attend the TCT Live 2010 show in Coventry, UK. I was lucky enough to do a presentation at the show about “The Democratisation of Additive Technologies” …. Obviously RapMan and BfB featured heavily in this! I was really proud that my presentation had a large audience – nearly full to capacity and even people crowding around the edges. So I’m really pleased that we were able to capture so much attention. Even if only a few of those present will now start thinking about ways of using this sort of technology to help students to become better designers and engineers in the future then it was a really worthwhile “event”.

Talking to some of the visitors to BfB’s stand has also generated some interesting ideas for further projects and possible links to develop more educational projects and learning resources…. So keep an eye open for some more developments!

Iain at BfB has posted a Blog entry with more details of the event. http://rapmanv3.blogspot.com/2010/10/tct-live-great-success.html

Filed under  //  Conference   News  
Oct 8 / 9:01pm

Want to see a RapMan or BfB3000?

There are some opportunities to see RapMan and BfB3000 machines at a few events over the next few months

19 -20 October 2010- TCT Live 2010, Coventry, UK.  http://www.tctmagazine.com/x/exhibition.html “THE event for the Product Development and Manufacturing Industry!” Exhibits cover the vast range of RP&M machines and technologies. In addition, the exhibition brings together major players from the sectors of Inspection, Scanning and Digitizing, CAD/CAM/CAE Software and Materials all of whom showcase their latest offerings presenting the perfect opportunity for the prospective visitor to appraise all of the latest technologies on the market.  BfB are on stand G1 /H6, 3D Systems on stand M6/8

18 -20 November 2010 – D+T with ICT Education Show, National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham, UK. http://www.dteducation.co.uk/ The Design & Technology exhibition is the only subject specific event of its type relating to teaching Design & Technology in schools. It brings together suppliers, educators, resource providers, associations, professional bodies and teachers who have one common goal - to develop and encourage a technologically motivated generation of students who will provide the UK with the engineers and designers that the country needs in the future. Technology Supplies Ltd the UK distributor for education will be at Stand C62… there are sure to be machines on other stands too Denford Ltd? A1 Technologies? And more!

01 – 04 December, 2010 Euromold Frankfurt / Main, Germany, http://www.euromold.com/index.php?id=51&l=1 World Fair for Moldmaking and Tooling, Design and Application Development…. Sorry, no details at present but check on the website.

… so if you are thinking of buying a machine or just interested to find out more have a look at these events…. You never know we might even meet up there!

Filed under  //  Education   News  
Oct 5 / 8:06pm

BfB Teams up with 3D Systems

First of all I would like to add .... Congratulations to all at BfB.

For a huge company like 3D Systems to be teaming up with BfB must mean that they respect what BfB has done in the development of new machinery for 3D printing - and making it available to many people who would not otherwise be able to enter the world of RP and manufacture.
From an educational point of view many schools, colleges, students, teachers and lecturers now have contact with methods of designing and making that could only be dreamt of only a couple of years ago. The dream is now a reality, and this has only been possible because of BfB’s dedication and interest in making their products “accessible”. The next generation of designers and engineers are in our schools and colleges now... how will the world continue to develop unless we capture their interest and curiosity and expose them to exciting developments and technologies?
Teaming up with 3DS will, I’m pretty sure, enable BfB to invest even more in ensuring our young people can become excellent designers and engineers.  I look forwards to seeing what the future holds and the developments that this teaming up will bring.

 

More information on the BfB  Blog

 

Discussion on the BfB forum

Filed under  //  News  
Sep 23 / 7:57pm

In the news

Times

In my previous post on 9th September 2010 I reported about the donation of a new BfB 3000 printer by BfB for me to use in my capacity of Advanced Skills Teacher for North Somerset (UK). Well the local press have eventually caught up with this fantastic development and two newspapers have published a report. I thought you might like to see it so I’ve attached a copy here.

Dave

Filed under  //  Education   Media   News   Teaching and Learning  
Sep 9 / 8:31pm

Thanks to BfB.

Bfb3000

Ok, so by now most of you guys in “RapMan Land” know a bit about me and the things I am getting up to with 3D printing in education, but I thought I would break some fantastic news I have about some recent developments.

I am what is known in the UK as an AST (Advanced Skills Teacher) so as well as teaching Design & Technology in a “normal” secondary school (11-18 year olds) I also work with schools in my local area of North Somerset.... It also means that I try to get involved in some of the new developments in teaching and learning and that’s one of the main reasons I have been so enthusiastic about what RapMan and 3D printing can offer to D&T (STEM) students.

To help schools and colleges get the best out of setting up and using 3D printing I started to produce some Teaching and Learning resource and I made these freely available on the BfB Wiki http://www.bitsfrombytes.com/wiki/index.php?title=Teaching_Resources  and to date the main page has been accessed over 4500 times.... so, if only a small portion of these visits have resulted in these resources being downloaded and used by teachers with their students then I’m more than a little bit happy... and as it turns out so are Bits from Bytes!

So, what is the fantastic news? .... well, BfB have donated a new machine to me for use in my school and around the local area.... It’s a lovely twin head BfB3000! Of course what this means is that students will be able to experience some of the new advances in printing with support materials and a choice of ABS or PLA without too much filament swapping etc.

The other thing is that students (worldwide) will also benefit as I am now in a much better position to produce Teaching and Learning materials specifically for the BfB3000, printing with support and other more advanced technologies.

You may be wondering what’s going to happen to my RapMan.... well it won’t be forgotten now that we have a new machine to play with... RapMan Roadshow is about to start happening... The unfortunate RapMan is going to bounce around in the back of my car visiting other schools and as I mentioned previously I’m going to look at doing Masterclasses in cross-curricular projects that involve 3D printing.

Anyway, much too excited to blog any more tonight (Ok so I am a bit of a geek) ... I’m now off to process some .stl files to print on the BfB3000 tomorrow morning when i get back into school... watch this space and I’ll post some photos.

And most importantly.... Thanks to all the guys at Bits from Bytes, from me and students all over the world!

Dave

Filed under  //  Education   News