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.

Filed under

Teaching and Learning

See all posts on posterous with this tag ยป
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  
Nov 7 / 4:53pm

Bloodhound SSC and RapMan/BfB3000

Bloodhoundsmall

This resource is about using Bloodhound SSC as a context for designing and making using RapMan and BfB3000 printers.

Bloodhound SSC is the name of a project aiming to break the land speed record with a car powered by a jet engine and a rocket.

It is designed to reach approximately 1,000 miles per hour (1,609 km/h). It is being developed and built with the intention of breaking the land speed record by the largest ever margin.

If funding is obtained the construction should be complete by the end of 2011 and the record attempts may happen in late 2011 early 2012.

The resource contains suggested projects about designing model cars (even rocket or CO2  or balloon powered); printing a 3D map of the desert where the record attempt will take place; engine turbines; and ergonomic controls. There are cross references to other projects where more information and detail can be found.

I would like to thank Bloodhound SSC for the use of their images and ideas in producing this resource http://www.bloodhoundssc.com/

http://www.bitsfrombytes.com/wiki/index.php?title=Bloodhound_SSC

Dave

Filed under  //  Resources   Teaching and Learning  
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 / 9:35pm

BfB, PTC and Scalextric

Two Blog posts in one day! Must be more good news!!!

 

Over the summer holidays I was contacted by PTC (the company who produce Pro/ENGINEER) about testing out some ideas for an international project that they support in schools and colleges. I couldn’t resist the challenge and the opportunities that it might offer for students.

The project is called Scalextric4schools (see http://www.scalextric4schools.org/  ). Basically students can design (using Pro/ENGINEER) and make scalextric slot cars to enter into an international competition.  Tim Brootherhood from PTC was at the DATA Digital D&T conference and wondered if BfB printers could make a scalextric car body shell.. so he sent me the files to see if it was possible (btw the Makerbot guys had already given it a go but the size of their machines means that they can only produce the body shell split into parts). As you can see from the pictures in this post with a little help from the guys at BfB we printed a body shell with support materials (those of you who visit the BfB forum may have seen some of these before when I started a discussion about twin extruders and support materials).

(download)

So, If you are looking for a new project for your school or college you might like to consider taking part in this competition, full details are on the website mentioned above.

When I get all the parts to complete these cars I’ll post some more pictures. If you have a go please think about posting some photos on the BfB forum.

Dave

PS. If you are wondering about the strange looking red car in the photos it’s a printed mould for vacuum forming car body shells... another experiment that we are trying out.

 

Filed under  //  Education   Resources   Teaching and Learning   printing  
Aug 17 / 1:02pm

Printing with support

This resource is for the slightly more advanced. It introduces the idea of printing using support material for more difficult or complex objects

Support_
The full PDF file can be downloaded from...
http://www.bitsfrombytes.com/wiki/index.php?title=Printing_with_Support

Filed under  //  Resources   Teaching and Learning   printing  
Aug 6 / 1:35pm

Blast off!!

How about designing and printing your own rocket.... a real one that flies! Ok so this project is about using sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) and vinegar to produce CO2 to power a model.

Rocket

http://www.bitsfrombytes.com/wiki/index.php?title=Blast_Off

Thanks to "tastybento" for the use of his idea and designs on Thingiverse for this project

Dave

Filed under  //  Education   Resources   Teaching and Learning   printing  
Aug 3 / 6:29pm

"How to" video.... changing settings in BfB Axon

In the previous post I announced a new video explaining how to use BfB Axon. ... Here is another "How to" video that shows how to make new profiles and change settings in Axon.

The video can also be viewed on YouTube Best viewed in HD and full screen.

Other "How to" videos can be found on the BfB Wiki  and more T&L resources are available

Filed under  //  Education   Resources   Software   Teaching and Learning   Video  
Aug 3 / 1:55pm

"How" to video... using BfB Axon

BfB Axon is a fantastic "free" program to generate the g-code to drive your RapMan or BfB3000 printer.

You can convert any .stl file generated in your 3D design software or downloaded from the internet

The video can also be viewed on YouTube Best viewed in HD and full screen.

Other "How to" videos can be found on the BfB Wiki  and more T&L resources are available

 

Filed under  //  Education   Resources   Software   Teaching and Learning   Video  
Jul 21 / 8:19pm

Case Study

You may have seen in the printing section of the BfB forum some of the fantastic prints that Marco has done for his company.   Forum post   The project is about terrain printing and a hydro-electric dam.

Case_study_dam
Marco (Sigma Design in Italy) very kindly sent me some designs, drawings, photos and information about this project to enable me to produce a case study.

This type of case study is extremely valuable for students as it shows them how 3D printing is used "in the real world" of business and industry. And of course the prints were done using a RapMan   

The link to this case study is here- Case Study - Dam project

... and of course a huge thank you to Marco for sending me the files and information that made this possible.

Dave
PS. If anyone else has similar information about a "real world" project that they wouldn't mind being made into a case study then please contact me and I will put together a .pdf that can be used in education.... and of course your business will get a free advert

 

 

 

Filed under  //  Case Study   Education   Resources   Teaching and Learning  
Jul 9 / 9:17pm

Print your own DNA

This time about DNA and the double helix.  http://www.bitsfrombytes.com/wiki/index.php?title=Science_-_DNA

Dna

This resource is heavily based on the work by "Cathalgarvey" on Thingiverse... my thanks to him for producing the .stl files (and to Bogdan for spotting them and realising it would make a good T&L resource)

Dave

Filed under  //  Cross Curricular   Resources   Teaching and Learning