rapman-education's posterous http://rapman-education.posterous.com Most recent posts at rapman-education's posterous posterous.com Fri, 18 Jan 2013 07:09:21 -0800 I've moved! http://rapman-education.posterous.com/ive-moved http://rapman-education.posterous.com/ive-moved I have unfortunately had to move my blog to another platform.

But the good news is that I can now be found here... http://3dprintineducation.wordpress.com/

Like the new name, eh?

Why have I moved? Nothing sinister, it's simply because I use the Blogsy iPad app to do most of my blogging and since early December 2012 Blogsy has not been able to access my blog through the Posterous API.

My apologies to those who regularly visit my blog (and there are quite a few of you according to the analytics).
If you are a regular visitor please update any favourites or bookmarks to my new address, and if you are a new visitor please add this link to keep up to date with the news http://3dprintineducation.wordpress.com/

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]>
http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1324605/me.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5emrVdsQknst Dave White rapman-education Dave White
Mon, 07 Jan 2013 13:18:07 -0800 Cubex A new 3D printer http://rapman-education.posterous.com/cubex-a-new-3d-printer http://rapman-education.posterous.com/cubex-a-new-3d-printer

P76

Introducing the new 3D printer from 3D Systems ... The Cubex (big brother to the Cube printer).
It has a huge print bed (just like its predecessor the Bits from Bytes 3D Touch). 3 colour printing and new software.

Cool!.... I'll have to start saving for one of these!

Further details from the Cubify website http://cubify.com/cubex/index.aspx?tb_cubex_learn

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]>
http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1324605/me.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5emrVdsQknst Dave White rapman-education Dave White
Mon, 31 Dec 2012 08:15:00 -0800 Carbomorph 3D Printing with conductive polymer http://rapman-education.posterous.com/carbomorph-3d-printing-with-conductive-polyme http://rapman-education.posterous.com/carbomorph-3d-printing-with-conductive-polyme

My first 3Dprinting with Carbomorph... It's the school holidays so I have a little bit of spare time to get down to some serious 3D printing!

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to be contacted by Simon Leigh from the School of Engineering at Warwick University, he wondered if I would like to try out some of their new printable conductive polymer "Carbomorph". At that stage the research hadn't been published so it was all a bit hush-hush and a rather busy time in school meant that I didn't have much time to play. With Simon's permission I was able to discuss with some of my students how Carbomorph could be used and coincidentally one of my GCSE Product Design students is looking at designing new ways of controlling his iPad .... And an idea was seeded in my brain... Could Carbomorph control a capacitive touch screen? After some simple tests the answer was yes! So, after a quick bit of designing using PTC Creo2 and processing the files for multi material prints in Bits from Bytes Axon 3 I was able to print my first version of a touch screen stylus.... Although its not the most elegant or ergonomic design it does actually work.

Hopefully next term Simon Leigh will be able to visit us at Clevedon School and my students can share some of their ideas of how they would 3D print with Carbomorph.... And maybe Simon will explain to the students how Carbomorph was developed. We are really looking forwards to meeting up.

And finally I would like to thank Simon for letting us have some samples of Carbomorph... And letting us be some of the very first people to use it outside of the university.

The research paper can be found here http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0049365

 

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]>
http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1324605/me.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5emrVdsQknst Dave White rapman-education Dave White
Sat, 01 Dec 2012 11:22:57 -0800 VEX claw http://rapman-education.posterous.com/vex-claw http://rapman-education.posterous.com/vex-claw

File

In an earlier post you may have seen that our VEX robotics group at my school made a bit of a mistake by starting to build a robot when we didn't have all the parts... Oops!

So we 3D printed some parts instead using our Bits from Bytes machines.

Here is a picture of the first trial... Just to see if the parts fit together. A bit more "tuning" to make sure they move properly is needed, as the bolts are a bit oversize, before we try it out with a motor.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]>
http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1324605/me.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5emrVdsQknst Dave White rapman-education Dave White
Sun, 25 Nov 2012 14:09:29 -0800 VEX robotics and 3D printing ... And new goodies! http://rapman-education.posterous.com/vex-robotics-and-3d-printing-and-new-goodies http://rapman-education.posterous.com/vex-robotics-and-3d-printing-and-new-goodies

File

At my school I have a group of year 9 students building a VEX robot... An extra curricular after school club.

In a fit of madness we decided to not build the standard "protobot" and do a hybrid "clawbot/protobot". All very well but part way into the build someone noticed that we don't have the claw in our kit... Beginners mistake!

So, being a bit brave about it I said to the students that I would search the web and see if I can download the 3D CAD files so that we could print the necessary files.... And I found them!

Talk about a steep learning curve... I fired up Autodesk Inventor (I usually use Creo!) opened the .step file and exported the parts as .stl (then discovered that I could have used Creo anyway!.... Dohh)

So now they were printable files. Most of them are a bit challenging as they need support material, but with Axon 3 (alpha) the support generation looks to be superb, so I was up for the challenge.... And the photos show the results.

Having so much fun I printed most of the parts... I'll have to leave a few for the students to do in school. I don't think the PLA plates will be strong enough, maybe a bit of a redesign for these, but that's an extra project for the students to do :)

There can't be many clawbots out there with printed claws, maybe this is a first ... If it works! I'll post some more photos later (if we are successful of course).

Oh, nearly forgot about the new goodies mentioned in the title of this post.... I have just received (and fitted) a new bed and waste bin (commonly known at BfB as a snot box) and a new wiper (snot flicker?) to my 3D Touch.... Wonderful!.... I'll post some more info about these later.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]>
http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1324605/me.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5emrVdsQknst Dave White rapman-education Dave White
Thu, 22 Nov 2012 11:58:27 -0800 3D printing at university http://rapman-education.posterous.com/3d-printing-at-university http://rapman-education.posterous.com/3d-printing-at-university

Some wonderful new 3D printing developments have been happening over the last few weeks that I couldn't omit from my blog...

Early in November Ian Major from 3DS / Bits from Bytes presented a 3D Touch printer to the University of Bristol for use by their students. See the attached photos.

On the BfB forum the university also posted the following .... "The 3DTouch in the atrium of the Merchant Venturer's Building in the University of Bristol has been available to the students for just over a week now and has been in almost continuous use. So far the student have mostly been using it to print cases for their Raspberry Pis, though there has also been a Rubics Cube and I did a Venus de Milo to decorate my desk".

In another development the University of Warwick has just erased some information about some amazing new composite material that they are using for 3DP. The material that they are calling "Carbomorph" is conductive and is being used in some really interesting ways... Flex sensors, capacitive interfaces, and more. Check out this web page for more information http://www.3ders.org/articles/20121122-printing-electronic-sensors-using-low-... . This new material looks like it could have some real impact on 3DP projects made by students in schools if/when it becomes available.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]>
http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1324605/me.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5emrVdsQknst Dave White rapman-education Dave White
Fri, 19 Oct 2012 13:47:00 -0700 The DfE and 3D printing in STEM http://rapman-education.posterous.com/the-dfe-and-3d-printing-in-stem http://rapman-education.posterous.com/the-dfe-and-3d-printing-in-stem

Department for Education: 3D printing in Physics, Maths and D&T.

 Up before 5am and boarding a train to London at the sort of time I would normally be stirring myself to get out of bed... All a bit keen really!... And the sort of thing that I normally have to have a good reason to do. And the good reason was that I was asked to do a presentation about 3D printing in schools for the Department for Education (the DfE is our government body in charge of education here in England). I must say that it was a real honour and privilege to be asked to do this.

 One of the reasons I was asked to do this was because the DfE is setting up a pilot project to look at how 3D printing can be used in STEM subjects... With special emphasis on the mathematics and physics areas.

 If you are a return visitor to my blog then you might realise that I am a D&T teacher at Clevedon School, but I have some experience of developing teaching and learning projects and resources in other subject areas... In fact I'm currently working on some new projects to try out with my own science department very soon (more of this in a later post perhaps)... And that's why I was asked along to share my previous experiences.

 Anyway I think my presentation kicked off the day ok... Some of the delegates even laughed (or raised a smile) at my feeble jokes (yes I do have a very strange sense of humour) ... Quite proud really as presenting in the first slot of the day can be difficult, people need to warm to the atmosphere and are often wondering what they have let themselves in for!

 But I expect you are wondering where the physics and maths fits in with all this and what the pilot project is all about. I suppose in a nutshell it really boils down to the fact that 3D printing has so far really only been in the domain of designers, technologists and engineers. This project is looking to break out of this and involve mathematics and science. And why not? I have exported some cross curricular links before but this project has really got my mind buzzing with the potential uses for this technology in these areas other areas of the curriculum and there should be more to follow in a later blog post about this.

 So, what else happened at the meeting? The other presentation was led by Stuart Douglas from Ripley St Thomas Church of England Academy. Stuart's school is lucky enough to have some very high end 3D printing equipment and he brought a very different perspective to the project. The delegates were given an opportunity to explore what their first steps will be in introducing this technology to these other STEM subjects and Makerbot gave a demonstration of the equipment that is being made available.

 I have just got home and its now 9:30pm... Feeling pretty exhausted, but it has been a fantastic day. I would just like to say thank you to the DfE for inviting me along to the day, and my school for letting me attend (and also the teachers who covered my lessons during my absence) and of course 3DS/Bits from Bytes for the support they give me (and my school) which has enabled me to have a bit of a head start in "3D printing in schools".

Oh, and finally, I hope to publish my presentation a bit later... It's a bit big to upload at the moment so ill have to do a bit of pruning and editing!

EDIT.... here is the powerpoint... it gives an idea of what my presentation was about, but without the verbal content it may not give the whole story.

 

DfE_presentation.pdf Download this file

 

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]>
http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1324605/me.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5emrVdsQknst Dave White rapman-education Dave White
Tue, 04 Sep 2012 12:49:21 -0700 3DS Cubify web apps... In education? http://rapman-education.posterous.com/3ds-cubify-web-apps-in-education http://rapman-education.posterous.com/3ds-cubify-web-apps-in-education

As most people who follow my escapades in 3D printing in education will have probably gathered I a great fan of the 3D Systems / Bits from Bytes machines... currently RapMan kits and the fantastic 3D Touch. But I Also keep an eye on what is happening in the 3D printing world in general. So unsurprisingly I came across Cubify and the Cube printer (unsurprisingly because it is part of the 3DS portfolio of machines). Anyway, one of the impressive things about Cubify is that they are supporting the use of their machines with web apps to generate parts that can be printed on any 3D printer (they export as .stl files).

At the present time there are web apps to create bracelets, earrings, tags, rings, defenders, UFO's, robots, licences and crowns. The apps can be accessed here http://cubify.com/apps.aspx

Now I'm very keen for students to 3D print their own designs but the Cubify apps open up all sorts of new educational opportunities. Now students can easily customise basic designs using the apps that are very easy to use and then print their own ring, bracelet, tag etc. So exposure to 3D printing technology need not only be for those students who have a working knowledge of 3D CAD software! And of course this also means that we can capture these youngsters at an even younger age.

Unfortunately I couldn't get the app to work on my iPad, so I'll have to fire up my trusty old laptop and see how I get on with this. Hopefully in the near future I shall report back and share my experiences.

 

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]>
http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1324605/me.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5emrVdsQknst Dave White rapman-education Dave White
Fri, 31 Aug 2012 13:33:11 -0700 RC revolution ... And a new competition! http://rapman-education.posterous.com/rc-revolution-and-a-new-competition http://rapman-education.posterous.com/rc-revolution-and-a-new-competition

Checking in on the Bits from Bytes blog I came across a brilliant example of a RC car designed and built by one of the BfB crew using a 3D Touch printer. All the parts (apart from electrical ones and the nuts and bolts) have been printed in ABS or PLA. Very impressive!

I couldn't help but notice that the guys at BfB have also launched a new 3D printing competition with some fab prizes. Check out their blog http://rapmanv3.blogspot.co.uk/ ... Information is inside the RC revolution post. Judging is by "likes" on their Facebook page... And as for rules... Very few, so why not send in your entry and maybe you (or your school) could be a winner.

photos courtesy of BfB

 

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]>
http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1324605/me.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5emrVdsQknst Dave White rapman-education Dave White
Sun, 19 Aug 2012 06:44:03 -0700 3D Printed iPad Sound Deflector http://rapman-education.posterous.com/3d-printed-ipad-sound-deflector http://rapman-education.posterous.com/3d-printed-ipad-sound-deflector

I've been ferreting around looking for new project ideas for 3D printing with my year 9 students and where better to look for inspiration than Thingiverse? Ok this "research" has spawned a few ideas... But more of that later... But I did come across an intriguing device to fit onto an iPad. This device designed by "tomlombardi" clips over the speaker grid on the rear of the iPad and redirects the sound forwards. I was a little sceptical about the idea but thought I would give it a go... So I downloaded the file http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:16140 and printed it out.... Amazing results... The sound is most definitely redirected towards the front, it sounds louder and clearer and of course with the iPad on a stand to watch video or listen to music there is probably a little less sound disturbance for others in the room.

Anyway that's deflected me away from doing some proper work... Suppose I had better get back to it.

 

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]>
http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1324605/me.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5emrVdsQknst Dave White rapman-education Dave White
Sat, 18 Aug 2012 13:32:37 -0700 3D Printing for Microcontrollers http://rapman-education.posterous.com/3d-printing-for-microcontrollers http://rapman-education.posterous.com/3d-printing-for-microcontrollers

One of the things I have been intending to do this year is to look at updating the 'systems and control' work that we do with students in year 8. We have been using the "Picaxe" micro controllers but with the developments that have been going on I decided that we might need to look at Arduino and Raspberry Pi. Both of these systems cost considerably more than Picaxe so before doing some experimenting with students I thought that it might be good to put the boards in some kind of container.

So I found a lovely printable Raspberry Pi case on Thingiverse and printed it in nice shiny red PLA. As you can see in the pictures it came out very well.... But what about Arduino? I couldn't find anything suitable so I fired up my PC and using Creo2 designed my own, again in lovely red PLA.

Well, so far so good... Now to get down to learning how to program!

 

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]>
http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1324605/me.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5emrVdsQknst Dave White rapman-education Dave White
Tue, 07 Aug 2012 08:37:00 -0700 Claystruder 2 http://rapman-education.posterous.com/claystruder-2 http://rapman-education.posterous.com/claystruder-2

Back in 2011 I had the pleasure of meeting up with Dries Verbruggen aka "Unfold" when he visited Bits from Bytes HQ. I had a great time with Unfold showing me his Claystruder for 3D printing with clay, mashed potato and chocolate paste. Using his claystruder and a RapMan machine he produced some lovely clay pots that could probably not be produced by any other pottery/ceramics technique.

Anyway, Unfold has been at it again... And has updated his claystruder. I'm now just wondering what wonderful ceramic designs he will come up with next?

The design for his claystruder has been uploaded to thingiverse where you can find more details, or why not visit his blog here http://unfoldfab.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/road-to-better-paste-extrusion-episode.html

And to see some more of his fantastic ceramic creations check them out here http://unfoldfab.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/print-print-print.html

Note. Photos are from Unfold's blog/website http://www.unfold.be by Kristof Vrancken

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]>
http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1324605/me.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5emrVdsQknst Dave White rapman-education Dave White
Mon, 30 Jul 2012 02:55:00 -0700 iPad tripod... Revisited http://rapman-education.posterous.com/ipad-tripod-revisited http://rapman-education.posterous.com/ipad-tripod-revisited

I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with my iPad. I want to plug things in and control things but I just won't let me do it... But some of the camera apps are superb, however many like the slow motion or time lapse really need a steady/fixed iPad. Hence my desire to fix my iPad onto a camera tripod.

As you might realise I have tinkered around with this before and produced some trial designs, but none of them were very professional or even finished. So here is my latest iteration and it's pretty close to being successful.

My previous designs were trying to be as universal as possible in its fixing to the tripod by using the standard camera fixing screw. The iPad is however pretty big and heavy and using just this single fixing didn't fill me with confidence so I made the decision to use the quick release mount on the pan and tilt head of the tripod.

Of course the "wedges" under the top plate create a huge overhang but this was simply overcome by printing the plate and wedge parts as separate items to be slotted together. Although I have a triple head printer I didn't want to start printing with support material, in that way the design could be easily made on a single head machine.

So I now have a secure mount for my iPad perhaps now I can play a bit more with some of the camera apps and have the peace of mind that it's not going to fall off the tripod. And maybe I'll love my iPad a bit more!

 

Update... Just added a video of the tripod mount to YouTube .... Photos taken with iPad, video created with iMovie, music composed and performed with GarageBand... Perhaps I do like my iPad quite a lot really:)

Component parts can be downloaded from thingiverse iPad tripod mount by davewhite60 - Thingiverse

 

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]>
http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1324605/me.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5emrVdsQknst Dave White rapman-education Dave White
Mon, 23 Jul 2012 13:16:17 -0700 3D printing ... In a roundabout way http://rapman-education.posterous.com/3d-printing-in-a-roundabout-way http://rapman-education.posterous.com/3d-printing-in-a-roundabout-way

File

Check out this blog post by Dughall McCormick (twitter @dughall ) http://dughall.com/?p=276

Dughall is an E-learning consultant for the local authority in Kirklees UK. He has been involved in a 3D printing project in primary schools. The students designed and made 3D models of (Olympic) stadiums. It's obvious from the pictures in the blog that everyone involved had a brilliant day... And the quality of the designing by the year 4 students (8/9 year olds) is fantastic.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]>
http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1324605/me.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5emrVdsQknst Dave White rapman-education Dave White
Thu, 31 May 2012 13:54:44 -0700 D&T erupts into Geography http://rapman-education.posterous.com/dt-erupts-into-geography http://rapman-education.posterous.com/dt-erupts-into-geography

It was one of those days today where a "magic moment" happened in school. Isn't it just wonderful when this happens. One of my students who helped out with a presentation about 3D printing for a visitor earlier this week (see the earlier post "To baldly go") came to see me about his Geography homework... Really strange as I'm a D&T teacher! It turned out that he had to do a project homework about how a volcano works.

This student had started to make connections in his mind. He now knows a bit about 3D printing and he did some independent research and stumbled across the teaching and learning resources I published on the BfB wiki http://wiki.bitsfrombytes.com/index.php/Geography_-_Mount_Saint_Helens_Volcano ... So he downloaded the files and asked if we could print them... How could I refuse?

... And his Geography teacher was really pleased to receive models of Mt St Helen's before and after it erupted.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]>
http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1324605/me.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5emrVdsQknst Dave White rapman-education Dave White
Wed, 30 May 2012 12:28:00 -0700 What's the catch? 3D scan for 3D print. http://rapman-education.posterous.com/whats-the-catch-3d-scan-for-3d-print http://rapman-education.posterous.com/whats-the-catch-3d-scan-for-3d-print

There is no catch.... Just feeble attempt at a "catchy" title for this post about Autodesk 123D Catch for pc and iPad.

 

Earlier in the week the 123D Catch app for the Ipad became available from the Apple app store in the UK... So I promptly downloaded and installed it. It was a parent/teacher meeting last night so I had to wait... Grrrr.

But tonight I had my first attempt... A pretty successfully too as you can see in the photos. And even more impressive is that it really is the very first attempt!

 

I did have a go at uploading pictures using the PC program but somehow never really got to grips with it. But the iPad app is a real dream, ok the app takes the photos and uploads them and then shows you a wonderful 3D representation of your object but you still need the PC version to download the mesh file in .obj format.

 

Anyway having downloaded the mesh you do meed to do a bit of editing. The mesh is not "watertight" and has a huge hole in the base. You will need a program to do this, I used netfabb basic but meshlab is another alternative. I found that slicing off the bottom (which looks very like a pizza on my scan) saved a lot of manipulation and triangle editing.

 

Once the mesh was ready (I only downloaded the medium quality by the way) I converted the file into gcode for my 3D Touch and printed a scaled down version as I was too impatient to wait for a big print.

 

Oh, and what is the object I scanned? It's an antique plaster model of a hand borrowed from our Art Department... Thanks guys! Im not entirely certain but I think the hand is holding a borax cone. These cones used to be used by jewellers and the like, they ground the cone in a wet ceramic bowl to make a paste to use as flux for silver soldering. I used to do a bit of silversmithing so I just love this connection!

 

So, my next thoughts are... What do I scan next? How can I use this in school? And.....

 

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]>
http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1324605/me.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5emrVdsQknst Dave White rapman-education Dave White
Wed, 30 May 2012 12:23:41 -0700 To baldly go... (3D Printing) http://rapman-education.posterous.com/to-baldly-go-3d-printing http://rapman-education.posterous.com/to-baldly-go-3d-printing

If you take a look at the pictures in this post you will see what I mean... And I'm not being rude to Tim, I unashamedly "borrowed" some of the title for this post from him... And as you will will also see we are an almost matching pair!

Anyway, to get to the point... On Tuesday (29th May 2012) we were visited in school by Tim Rylands who was on a fact finding mission about 3D printing in schools for his keynote speech at the West of England ICT conference at UWE (University of the West of England) on 4th of July 2012. And where better to go than the D&T department at Clevedon School.

During Tim's visit we were able to get a small group of year 9 (13 years old) students to lead him through the whole process from 3D CAD design through creating the g-code that drives our Bits from Bytes machines to actually printing their products. For a group of students who have only had about 10 hours of experience of Creo Parametric and a couple of hours on 3D printing they were absolutely fantastic. They gave a very clear and concise explanation and some very perceptive insights into the use of this technology in education.... Couldn't have done better myself!

We also managed to squeeze in a bit of time explaining how we are looking at using iPads to create 3D virtual objects for 3D printing and also for laser cutting... There are some wonderful new apps available now, that do 3D scanning so "watch this space", we could be one of the first schools doing this!

And finally...

So, who is Tim? ...With over 25 years of classroom experience, in the UK, and beyond, Tim is now much in demand for training days, conferences and seminars around the world, presenting the results of his work in an inspiring, practical and often humorous way.

“Tim Rylands is an extremely gifted and inspirational teacher, with a love of the creative potential of technology and an excellent rapport with pupils”.

www.timrylands.com/

 

 

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]>
http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1324605/me.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5emrVdsQknst Dave White rapman-education Dave White
Sat, 19 May 2012 04:04:30 -0700 Unplugged... iPad stand http://rapman-education.posterous.com/unplugged-ipad-stand http://rapman-education.posterous.com/unplugged-ipad-stand

Over the last week I have been introducing students to some iPad apps for 3D printing and laser cutting. To do this effectively I have been using our digital projector and a VGA to Apple dock connector cable (unfortunately I don't have access to apple tv) ... But it became more and more frustrating when the iPad moved on the table and the dock connector kept falling out... Note to self, I must get a longer VGA cable! But in the meantime I need another solution. So that's why I've 3D printed a stand for my iPad. Maybe that will give me a more stable platform to work from and help prevent the cable from being pulled out... I'll give it a try next week!

Being in a bit of a rush to get things done I didn't have time to design the stand myself so after a browse on Thingiverse I found this one ... So thanks to "Hobie" whose design can be found at http://www.thingiverse.com/thing23225

 

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]>
http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1324605/me.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5emrVdsQknst Dave White rapman-education Dave White
Tue, 08 May 2012 11:07:46 -0700 3D Scanning for 3D Printing..Free! http://rapman-education.posterous.com/3d-scanning-for-3d-printingfree http://rapman-education.posterous.com/3d-scanning-for-3d-printingfree

File

Some time ago Autodesk released 123D Catch, a free (beta), online service for creating 3D objects using just an ordinary digital camera. I couldn't resist giving it a go! But I didn't have great success, probably due to my impatience... I just didn't take enough photos... You need to upload about 50 to 70 pictures!

Well it looks like the guys at Bits from Bytes (3D Systems) have been doing a bit of experimenting and judging by the above photo they have been more successful than me!

The BfB guys have also been looking at using a kinect camera to produce 3D objects using the free ReconstructMe software.. Wish I had one of those kinects to play with.

Anyway, if you are interested to give it a go yourself just have a look on the BfB website (just click the "support" button at the top of the homepage and select "technical resources", scroll down to the bottom of the page for the links to the information).

Of course being "free" this is ideal for experimenting with in schools, I really must give it a go again. If you try it yourself or with your students why not let us know how you get on.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]>
http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1324605/me.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5emrVdsQknst Dave White rapman-education Dave White
Tue, 01 May 2012 04:44:12 -0700 #3Dprinting video at Clevedon School http://rapman-education.posterous.com/3dprinting-video-at-clevedon-school http://rapman-education.posterous.com/3dprinting-video-at-clevedon-school

A few weeks ago a film crew from UWE (University of the West of England) came into school to make a "Breakfast TV" style program about 3D printing... Of course, where better to go than Clevedon School to interview Mr White and one of the GCSE Product Design students.

The program not only shows 3D Printing at Clevedon School but also some of the research taking place at UWE.... Can you believe that they are actually printing 3D objects with ice cream!

Anyway, here is the video clip... Watch out for Tyler and Mr White about half way through the video.... Enjoy!

And thanks to the guys at UWE for letting me use this clip.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]>
http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1324605/me.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5emrVdsQknst Dave White rapman-education Dave White