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3D Printing

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3D printing will allow your students to apply and explore their math skills through project based learning. Students will use the following core math skills when they use 3D modeling;

  • Coordinate Plane

    • X, Y, & Z

    • Coordinates & Midpoint

  • Integers 

    • Positive & Negative

  • Angles of rotation

  • Scaling

  • Volume

  • Surface Area

  • Geometric shapes

  • Combing shapes to create new products

  • Measurement

    • Metric & English

  • Different Planes

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Printer Requirements

Requirements

There are a ton of different 3D printers out on the market today, and it is very important to make sure your 3D printer has certain capabilities. One of the most important features is a heated build plate. If you don't have a heated build plate you will not be able to work with ABS or other types of materials. Another critical requirement is the ability to use third party filaments, which will allow you to purchase better performing and inexpensive filaments. The most important feature is the extruder, and it is important you have the ability to repair and replace the extruder parts. Too many printers have extruders that are not repairable and are considered expendable. Having to replace the entire extruder is too costly and inefficient. 

3D Printer Must Have Capabilities!

  1. Heated build plate

  2. Build plate size is at least 7" X 7" x 6"

  3. 3rd Party filament capability

  4. PLA & ABS printing

  5. Dual Extruders 

  6. Extruder maintenance & modification

  7. 3rd Party Software capability

Heated Build Plate

Heated Buildplate

Having a heated build plate will allow you to have more control over your print quality, performance, and materials. Not having a build plate will limit it you to using only PLA filament, which is not useful to industry grade environments that have high heat or cold environments, chemical agents, and high pressure. Many printers on the market today don't have a heated build plate and it is almost a non-negotiable element. 

Heated Build Plate Positives

 

  • Print in multiple types of filaments

  • Control the warping and sticking of your filaments

    • Sometimes your parts will move or not stick to your printer bed, and raising the temperature will improve the stickiness of your print. 

  • ABS requires a 110 degree Celsius print bed temperature

  • Cleaning

    • You can easily remove the filament waste by heating up the build plate and use rubbing alcohol and scrub pad. 

       

Buildplate Size & 3D Party Filiament

Buildplate Size & Filiament

The Cube 3D printer is a good example of a limited 3D printer. The Cube has a print volume of 6 x 6 x 6 inches, and this will significantly impact you when you are designing or printing objects with a length over 6 inches. Most printers today allow you to print up to 9 x 6 x 6 inches, and are similarly priced. Also, the 3D Cube is another example of 3D party filament limitations. 

 

If you own the 3D Cube you can only buy filament from their company. This will limit you in some very important areas. Sometimes there is a quality difference in the companies that produce the filaments and price.

 

You don't want to have a printer that requires you to buy their filament and cartridge technology. Several filament companies produce filament that is superior and cheaper to others. Having a printer that limits you to their filament is definitely a significant drawback and should be avoided.

3D Printer Filiament

Filiament

PLA

ABS

Pros

Pros

Cons

Cons

Tips

Tips

  • Cheap

  • Easy to print

  • Don't need to heat the build plate

  • Resistant to warping

  • Prints are very reliable

     

  • Fragile

  • Easy to melt under warm to hot temperatures

  • Changes in temperatures affect the strength and performance of the plastic

  • Chemicals can destroy it

  • Print at 190 to 230 degree Celsius

  • Heat the build plate to 40-50 degree Celsius

  • Use painters tape and painters edge to remove parts

  • Durable

  • Strong

  • Heat and chemical resistant

  • Industry grade performance

  • Expensive

  • Difficult to work with

  • Warping can easily occur

  • Have to really control the environment

  • Have to use Aqua Net 10 or glue stick to avoid warping

  • Heat build plate to 110 degree Celsius

  • Heat extruder to 230 degree Celsius

  • Spray a ton of Aqua Net 10 on the build plate before print or spread a ton of glue stick onto the surface.

  • Enclose the printer and keep the temperature in the room at 76 degrees Fahrenheit

Extruders!

Extruders

MK9

Smart Extruder

VS.

Bad
Good

It is very important you avoid buying a 3D printer with a replaceable or complicated extruder assembly. The Makerbot 5th generation 3D printers incorporate what is called the smart extruder and have been known for malfunctions or clogging. The MK9 extruders come apart and are easy to work on. If you ever have a clogged extruder or gear, you can easily take apart the extruder to clean or fix the issue.

 

Having dual extruders will allow you to have more flexibility with your printing experience. You will be able to print simultaneously in different filament colors and types, which will allow you to create products that impossible or difficult with one extruder nozzle. 

 

Having the right extruder technology will make all the difference in your classroom 3D printing experience. Please do your research and look up the extruder reviews for the 3D printer you looking into buying. 

Recommended 3D Printers

Recommended Printers

Beginner

Expert (Engineer)

FLASHFORGE Creator Pro Dual Extrusion 3D Printer

Unassembled-Geeetech i3 pro C dual extruder 3D printer

The Flashforge Creator Pro is incredibly easy to setup and use. The software is compatible with Makerware, which is the same slicing software for the Makerbot. The printer is also compatible with other slicers. The prints are high quality and it is very reliable. 

The Prussia i3 printer is very cheap and the print quality is similar to $1,000 dollar and up printers. The printer, however, is not easy to assemble and some parts need to re-print in ABS and modified. This printer is not for the beginner and requires patience and engineering knowledge.

Georgia Standards & Project Based Learning Ideas

GA Standards

Students will apply and use numerous math skills when they design in a 3D modeling program. I highly recommend using Tinkercad.com as the first 3D modeling program and progress upwards toward AutoCAD Inventor or Solid works. Students need to visually understand and comprehend how to draw in 3D. 

 

There is no limit to how a teacher can use 3D modeling and printing in the classroom. Any standard that can be demonstrated or constructed is a possible 3D printing project. For example, the 2nd grade social studies standard requires students to know the five regions of Georgia. The students can easily create a 3D topographical map of Georgia, label the regions, and even create working lakes and rivers. 

Recommended Software

College Prep English High School Language Arts Project

Tips, Tricks, & Avoiding Print Fails

Tips

Leveling the Build Plate 

Having the bed level and distance from the bed to the extruder right is key. If the build plate is unleveled, the extruder will either dig into the build plate or be to far from the build plate during the print. Also, the extruder distance from the build plate should be about the thickness of a piece of paper. When you calibrate and setup the distance it's very important you are patient and take your time. You should feel a slight tug on your piece of paper, and you should not be able to move your paper around without feeling any tugging or friction. I have failed on numerous prints because I didn't have the build plate distance setup correctly. Also, the build plate might need to be calibrated every so often. Make sure you calibrate and check your build plate after a few print jobs. 

Cleaning Build Plate Video Tutorial

Having the bed clean will ensure your prints will stick to the bed. If there is any dirt, plastic residue, or dust on the build plate it can cause your print to move or not stick during the print process. Also, your print accuracy or quality might diminish too. 

 

To clean the bed, you will need to have a few items and easy steps to follow. You will want to get rubbing alcohol and cleaning pad. Heat your bed up to 100 degree Celsius and put a little rubbing alcohol onto your pad. Gently rub the build plate, so that you do not mess-up the calibration. 

 

Also, you will need to apply lithium grease paste to the thread rod after 40 hours of printing. This will ensure your printer will perform well. 

Getting your part to stick and off the build plate!

If you are printing with PLA you will want to get your build plate temperature to around 40-70 degree celsius. If you are printing with ABS you will need to heat your bed to at least 110 degree celsius and spray a ton of Aqua Net 10 hairspray or spread a ton of glue stick to your build plate. Also, if you are printing with ABS you will need to cover your printer and keep the temperature room warm. ABS plastic has a shrinking tendency, and you don't want it to cool rapidly. 

Please don't make the mistakes that I have made when trying to remove your parts from the 3D printer. Do not remove your part if the bed it still very hot, the part actually has a stronger adhesion to the bed! Let your bed and part cool down and always use the paint putty knife to slide under your part and gently remove it. To often I have tried to force the part off early, and the part actually warped because it was still hot gooey. Please note that you will have a more difficult time if the surface area is large, please try to avoid printing giant rectangular shapes. 

How to remove your part!

The putty Knife is your best friend!

Makerbot or Slicer Settings

Never print with a raft, I have sliced my fingers open more than I can count on my two hands. A raft is a temporary layer, which is used to assist with warping issues. Rafts are a complete waste of time and can actually cause your part to be wasted. If you have the proper settings and environment, you will never have to use a raft. I ignorantly printed rafts every time when I first started to 3D print and tried to use a sharp edge to scrape off the raft layer. 

 

When positioning your part on the slicer, make sure your part does not have any over hangs or areas that have a large distance from the build plate to the part. If you print and there are no supports on your over hang, the plastic will drip and potentially clog or mess-up your part. You can use the support feature found in the slicer, however, it is insanely difficult to remove all of the supports from your print. The best option is to position your part so that it will print with no over hangs or areas with a significant distance from the main part and build plate. 

  • Never print with a raft

  • Heat the bed appropriately

    • PLA: 40-70 Celsius

    • ABA: 110-130 Celsius

  • Heat the extruder to the right temperatures

    • PLA: 190-230

      • I have found 230 works really well when you print at a high speed rate on the printer

    • ABS: 230-240

      • You must heat ABS at a higher temperature than PLA

  • Make sure your fill rate is used appropriately

    • Use 10% fill for models

    • Use 40-80% fill for parts that will experience stress or need to be strong

  •  

 

How to modify an STL File

If you have ever visited Thingiverse.com and found something amazing but it needed to be changed, you were probably very frustrated. There is a very simple way, however, to edit or customize the STL files found on Thingiverse.com. You simply have to download the STL file and then import it into Tinkercad.com to edit or change the 3D model. This is incredibly helpful and can greatly increase your ability to produce parts or products. I have a short tutorial on the left that shows you how to import STL files into Tinkercad.com

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