Everything about 3D Printing
We are an educational project born from a unique fablab in the South of Portugal (www.buinho.pt). As a fablab, our main motivation for offering this course was to contribute to the dissemination of the 3D printing revolution through all the schools. Buinho currently coordinates an Erasmus consortium (PT01-KA121-SCH-000010598) dedicated to this mission.
By taking this course you will learn everything about 3D printing. Its a very practical course where we will be using 3D printers during all the days. By the end of the week you will be able to use 3D printers in an autonomous way, troubleshoot printing problems, teach 3D modelling to your students, and develop some activities with 3D printing in your classroom.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
In the “Everything about 3D Printing” course, you will be given an individual Creality Ender 3 Pro 3D printer to work with during the entire course. We will have one 3D printer per participant to make sure you have the best learning experience.
All the tools will be provided, we just ask the participants to bring a laptop as it will be needed for the software installation.
The training will take you through all that involves the use of a normal 3D printer – the initial testing, calibration, troubleshooting, improving printing results, slicing 3D models, and also 3D modelling.
The courses are made in a fablab/makerspace environment, which means that the participants will be granted free access to other digital prototyping equipment like laser cutters or vinyl cutters, which can be helpful for the customization of the machines – Inside a fablab, the only limit is your imagination!
During the time dedicated in learning how to 3D model for the classroom, we will focus on the use of free software Tinkercad. Learning not only the basic operations but also some useful tips and examples that can be later used with your students. Participants will also be trained on how to use a free software called Cura, learning how to optimize the printing quality and time spent by a proficient use of a CAM software. With Cura, we will learn how to set the best parameters for your machine according to the requirements of your project.
The last day of training will focus on providing assistance in individual projects and doubts, as well as share some special resources Buinho developed only for our course participants.
In Portugal, Buinho has been successfully teaching 3D printing to children from elementary to secondary school years, and we want to share some of our experiences with you. We have vast experience in teaching and capacitating teachers from different school years and with zero experience in these subjects. We want to empower teachers and schools, capacitating teachers to effectively use 3D printing and 3D modeling inside the classroom. We will also show you how to save money by making smart investments and improving the workflow, and how to fix 3D printers that may be lacking maintenance in your school
By taking this course within a fablab, participants will also have free access to one hour of online courses and tutorials prepared by Buinho and available in our e-learning platform. Finally, the course also includes a cultural program free for the participant, providing the opportunity to visit Portuguese landmarks and experience a bit of our Culture.
Target Groups – Elementary, Middle and Secondary School teachers
Duration of the course – Five days
Total Cost of the Course – 400€
Note: Each class will have a maximum of 10 participants to provide higher quality standards and more individualized support.
Timetable
Day 1
10:00 – 12:00
Welcome session and introduction
We will receive the participants in the working space, making a short introduction to Buinho’s experience in the educational field. We will dedicate some time to getting to know the participants but also their sending schools. You can bring a presentation.
We will then present a brief history of the evolution of 3D printing, and presentation of the technical specificities of the Creality Ender 3D Pro 3D printer. And afterwards we will start practical work with a 3D printer. All participants will be designated to a specific printer to which we will first introduce basic things as calibration, extrusion settings, printing a file, etc.
13:00 – 15:00
Introduction to CAM – Cura and Thingiverse
We will start the afternoon workshop by visiting the most complete 3D model repository. Thingiverse allow us to download 3D models for free that can be either used for final printing, modified for user original designs, or simple inspiration.
Afterwards we will prepare our machine to print the selected 3D model by use of CAM software. CAM designates the use of software to control the use of fabrication equipment. 3D printers are digitally control and will follow a set of instructions (GCode) created by a CAM software. We will introduce you to Cura, an opensource and very intuitive CAM free software for 3D printing. You will learn how to set up your 3D printer, what are the most common printing parameters, and how to change settings in order to get the best printing results.
A good use of a CAM software will make participants save a lot of hours in printing with the best settings. A very common and painful mistake identified in schools, and due to insuficient preparation in this subject.
Day 2
9:00 – 12:00
Introduction to 3D Modelling and Tinkercad Classroom
We introduce the free software Tinkercad for 3D modeling design. We will set up a teacher account and explain the advantages of using Tinkercad Classroom when working with classes of students.
After creating our class account we start learning how how to use Tinkercad as CAD software to prepare and design 3D files from zero. Tinkercad is the best selection for schools since it provides a very easy and fun learning experience to all age groups (elementary and secundary students). In this first workshop we will cover the Workplan, Shapes, Workplan tools, group/ungroup, align tools, among other features. Participants will develop a first assignment where they will have to use the technics learnt, but also creative and logic thinking. After lunch participants will be able to print their creations while setting up new projects to improve experience.
13:00 – 15:00
Export, slice, and 3D printing
For the following two hours, we will guide participants on how to set up printing parameters, explaining the main aspects of 3D printing. Participants will prepare a file chosen individually, and according to their preferences, and print them in their assembled 3D printed with the best printing parameters.
While the 3D printers work we will propose a small change to the initial design / challenge in order to exemplify the best methodologies and workflow of 3D printing with schools.
Day 3
10:00 – 17:00
Cultural Day
The group will travel together to the beautiful and romantic town of Cascais for a special cultural day that includes sighseeing, visits to museums, shopping, and a visit to the most Western point of Europe!
Day 4
9:00 – 12:00
Final project and Tinkercad advanced features
In this session, we will continue with the teaching of Tinkercad, now learning how to use more complex forms. These include special shortcuts, import of SVG and STL files for editing, among other advanced practices.
We will also focus on developing a final 3D project where participants will have the opportunity to practice all that they learnt, and that they can print to take home.
13:00 – 15:00
3D Print Yourself workshop
And to make your experience even more special, we have prepared a completely mindblowing workshop where you will be able to 3D scan and 3D print yourself! We will share the best setup and techniques in order for you to replicate this popular activity with your students back in your school.
You will then have a mini digital copy of yourself that can be altered and transformed in so many different manners and objects.
Day 5
10:00 – 12:00
Final discussions, e-learning platform, and amazing brunch in the Makerspace!
For the last day Buinho organized a final morning brunch to commemorate the end of the training.
We will start with providing to all of our students acess to our e-learning platform where you will find free online content that our team prepared specially for each course we provide. These online contents include video tutorials, explanations, activities, and useful work documents that aim to provide additional support for the continuation of the activities after the training in Portugal. Because we know that the biggest challenge is the implementation of what we learned, these contents will be an aiding hand to refresh the memory about certain topics and help structure the past learning into daily practice.
After presenting these and other useful contents for your future activities in the classroom we will have an opportunity to further discuss, and in an informal environment, the next steps when returning to the school. It will also give us the opportunity to share some best practices and advices according to each participant specific reality and fear. This includes sharing of activities, methodology, and evaluation strategies.
12:00 – 13:00
Delivery of the final certificates and Europass
To finalize these seven days training courses we will take the group session, prepare a final surprise gift for all participants and deliver the final certificates of attendance and Europass.