By Josh Bull
No longer are ideas limited to a two-dimensional piece of paper, now they can leap of the page and become a 3D, plastic reality.
The college now has a 3D printer that can be used to print models. Anything can be printed, from in-class visual aids to a water vessel made out of math equations.
3D printers create models using a process known as stereolithography. This process was first conceptualized in the mid-80s and makes models by stacking thin strips of materials, usually ABS plastic or resin.
The printer was purchased by the college for the drafting program to create visual aids for students to use in class but has also been used by the math department to print a water vessel. The models that can be made with the 3D printer are extremely versatile. These models can even have moving parts, according to Damon Feuerborn, associate professor of drafting.
“You can do moving parts in one print, so when it comes out, it will move and slide and do anything,” said Feuerborn.
Students in the math department used the printer to create a water vessel based on a math equation. The project, which has been done without the 3D printer by Brenda Edmonds, professor of mathematics for several years, is meant to show how math can be used to create something tangible.
“I think the biggest thing is helping students make real what they’re working out in theory,” said Edmonds.
3D printers are used in other areas outside of academics, as well. They are used to rapidly prototype potential designs in many fields to save money, time, manpower and materials. There are also several medical uses of 3D printers from printing prosthetic limbs to replacement bones.
3D printers are also used in other fields, including space exploration. NASA is exploring options of using 3D printers in zero gravity to allow astronauts to print tools and parts to reduce the amount of cargo needed to be launched into space.
The class taught by Cathleen O’Neil, professor of mathematics, printed the water vessel that was presented at the Oct. 17 Board of Trustees meeting.
“You can make anything that you could imagine in three dimensions,” said O’Neil.
Contact Josh Bull, reporting correspondent, at jbull3@jccc.edu.