Mark your calendar: Chippewa Valley Technical College (CVTC) is hosting the virtual 4th Symposium on Affordable Additive Manufacturing on May 14th from 9:00 A.M to 12:00 PM (Central Time).
Check out the 3rd AM Symposium via CVTC
In a recent workshop at Tennessee Tech University (TTU), Kim Grady presented on how to use a 3D Pen in your classroom. She will conduct a similar workshop from this popular event at Chippewa on the 14th. You can learn more about the previous workshop here: Diving Into Additive Manufacturing With 3D Pen Technology. This workshop promises to help educators get a handle on 3D printing through the use of 3D pen technology. Link and info to register for the current workshop is listed at end of post.
“Kim uses the 3Doodler 3D pen in this workshop to demonstrate 3D printing concepts such as layering, joining, geometry and measurement, and adding function to an object. If you are asking: What is a 3D printing pen? — it is a device designed to allow you to make PLA or ABS plastic 3D objects without a 3D printer. Essentially, the 3Doodler Pen is a handheld extruder.” –AM News post on previous workshop
This event is a unique opportunity to talk and learn about recent additive manufacturing trends. CVTC is bringing people from the community, industry, national institutes, international organizations, and high schools to get to know each other and open up opportunities for collaboration.
There are recorded videos of previous symposia, developed modules, and more by visiting the Developing Resources for Enhancing Additive Manufacturing (DREAM) website. If you are interested in joining this collaborative and interactive event please register here. As part of the National Science Foundation grant, Chippewa is providing a small $200 stipend for high school, middle school, or elementary school teachers who want to attend and participate.
For reference, in November 2020, MatEdU News (our sister publication focused on Materials Education and Materials Science), published a story about the second AM symposium organized by DREAM (NSF Award #1902501). You can read about it here: Chippewa Valley Technical College Offers Additive Manufacturing Symposium.
As the TTU Golden Eagle Additively Innovative Lecture Series heads into its final Spring 2021 lecture on Thursday, April 22nd, participants have been learning from some of the world’s most experienced AM educators and instructors. Next week will be a deep dive into 3D printing with metal with Dr. Antti Järvenpää.
Anyone can attend this free lecture, from anywhere via the Zoom video platform:tntech.zoom.us/j/432789883 at 11AM Central Time on Thursday, April 22.
Antti Järvenpää, Ph.D., Research Director of Future Manufacturing Technologies, University of Oulu, Finland will present on the Fatigue Behavior of Additively Manufactured Steel. In this talk, Dr. Järvenpää shares his research into the quality of printed metal (it is similar in strength to wrought metals) as well as the reliability of it. He has some excellent photos that show the surface roughness of various metal AM methods (Binder Jetting, Joule Printing, Electron Beam Powder Bed Fusion (E-PBF), Powder DED -Directed Energy Deposition-, among others). Plus, some “3D printed eye candy” with exquisite finished prints (just one below) for attendees to see.
Image Courtesy: Future Manufacturing Technologies, University of Oulu, Finland
If you have wanted an understanding of metal materials, how to post-treat metal prints to overcome defects, and to explore how metal additive manufacturing is continuing to evolve and improve as a manufacturing method, this talk is one to put on your calendar.
The Golden Eagle Additively Innovative Virtual Lecture Series is partially funded by the NSF Award 1601587, “AM-WATCH: Additive Manufacturing-Workforce Advancement Training Coalition and Hub.
Tennessee Tech AM-WATCH project offers virtual workshop showcasing what’s possible with a 3D Pen.
In early January, Tennessee Tech University offered a special Virtual AM-WATCH Studio Workshop with its full day seminar: Diving into Additive Manufacturing Practices via 3D Pen Technology. In this course, Kim Grady, an accomplished NSF Principal Investigator and Instructional Technologist, created and conducted the 3-hour workshop for high school and technical college educators interested in teaching 3D printing skills.
Kim uses the 3Doodler 3D pen in this workshop to demonstrate 3D printing concepts such as layering, joining, geometry and measurement, and adding function to an object. If you are asking: What is a 3D printing pen? — it is a device designed to allow you to make PLA or ABS plastic 3D objects without a 3D printer. Essentially, the 3Doodler Pen is a handheld extruder.
The original 3Doodler originated with a 2013 Kickstarter (crowdfunding platform) project that made more than two million dollars above the fundraising goal. The company offers a variety of pens including easy to handle models for young hands and advanced control models for professionals.
Of course, there are other makes and models of 3D pens on the market and we will list a couple of reviews that share pros and cons for many of them. This will help you find the best 3d printing pen for your needs or your students’ needs. If you are searching for products and ideas, consider also using “3D printing pen” or “3D drawing pen” as near-synonymous terms. Many consider the 3D pen to be a young cousin to the 3D printer, a handheld one, at that.
Tennessee Tech, through its AM Watch project and team, sponsored and delivered the workshop in collaboration with TEAMM’s Principal Investigator (PI) Mel Cossette and Kim Grady. Kim has been a MatEdU partner since 2004, an active participant for many NSF grants and continues to develop hands-on curriculum for a wide range of educators. She has produced downloadable courses and materials here on TEAMM as well as on MatEdU, including:
You also can find the complete collection of educator resources at the TEAMM Module page and on the MatEdU Module page (well over 100 modules you can download in PDF and PPT formats).
Dr. Ismail Fidan, who leads the AM-WATCH program, opened the workshop exploring and explaining how Additive Manufacturing is “a new way of making.” Graduate students followed Dr. Fidan’s remarks: Seymour Hasanov gave tips on the fundamentals of design, followed by Ankit Gupta highlighting various materials for AM, with Tyler Edwards explaining 3D Printer Parts and Operating Principles.
Kim Grady’s three-hour session was packed with detailed explanations for how to use the 3D pen to teach complex 3D printing concepts. She defined and demonstrated the basic concepts then guided the participants, virtually, through hands-on application.
Participants started with the basics of extrusion by writing their initials and fabricating basic shapes. To get a solid grasp on how wire framing and layering is used to fabricate real-world objects from PLA filament; squares were joined to create a hollow cube (shown below) and half spheres were joined to create a hollow ball. To illustrate and get experience with design, snowflakes with repeating hexagon shapes were constructed. “Real” 3D printing vocabulary and concepts were stressed throughout, making this workshop unique to any other 3D pen tutorial or workshop currently available.
As a “final project,” participants were challenged to apply what they learned to add function to their objects. The cube and ball concepts were used to fabricate a ball and socket, and the snowflake’s repeating shapes design concepts were applied to fabricate functioning gears.
Final project results and ideas for how to use the 3D pen in your classroom can be viewed on the YouTube link above.
Resources:
You can visit the 3Doodler page directly. The New York Times Wirecutter review “The Best 3D Pen” recommends it highly as well. In fact, they do not list others and only recommend this one – a significant statement for them. There are educator-specific classroom kits under their “Schools” tab. Basic sets start around $169 (but is on sale frequently for around $89) and a Pro set is available at $199.
Although a little dated, from 2019, this “Best 3D Pens” list from 3DInsider is well-rounded and linked to the Amazon listings for each pen (no affiliate relationship with us).
3D Pen Workshop Photo Gallery
Diagrams show similarities between the 3D pen and typical extrusion equipment used in Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) which is the non-branded, non-trademarked version of Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) which belongs to Stratasys and is roughly the same method. Dr. Fidan used his smart phone to give a peek at what was happening in the face-to-face classroom at TTU where some participants gathered to participate in the workshop. Math skills are at the center of 3D printing projects. Templates, scales, angles and geometry were used to show how to measure and calculate tolerances when fitting/joining shapes together and use repetition to add precision and strength to a design. All participants received their own 3Doodler pen, all agreed they would be using the pen in their future 3D printing instruction.3D Pen Workshop Participants learn how to make square panels that were then joined to create a hollow cube.
The web-based presentations are shared via the free Zoom platform. On the dates listed, simply visit this Zoom URL ( here it is in plain text should the link not work correctly: tntech.zoom.us/j/432789883 ) at 11am Central Standard Time and you can listen in to the 30-minute lecture/discussion. Mark your calendars for one or all of these excellent presentations.
Thursday, February 18
3D Printing Product Development Decisions
Presented by Jennifer Loy, Ph.D., Professor of Additive Manufacturing, School of Engineering Deakin University, Australia
Thursday, March 11
The Current State of Design for AM Education
Presented by Patrick Pradel, Ph.D., Lecturer in Product Industrial User-Centerd Design Loughborough University, United Kingdom
Thursday, April 1
The Challenges of Additive Manufacturing in Medical Devices
Presented by Gaffar Gailani, Ph.D., Professor and Director of the Center of Medical Devices and Additive Manufacturing, New York City College of Technology of the City University of New York
Thursday, April 22
Fatigue Behavior of Additively Manufactured Steel
Presented by Antti Jarvenpaa, Ph.D., Research Director of Future Manufacturing Technologies University of Oulu, Finland
The Golden Eagle Additively Innovative Virtual Lecture Series is partially funded by the NSF Award 1601587, “AM-WATCH: Additive Manufacturing-Workforce Advancement Training Coalition and Hub.
In its third virtual symposium on Additive Manufacturing (AM), the NSF-funded “Developing Resources for Enhancing Additive Manufacturing (DREAM)” project at Chippewa Valley Technical College, will focus on how you can earn an Additive Manufacturing certificate.
Registration information is below.
The tentative agenda shows that participants in this half day event will learn more about how to get an AM certification with speakers sharing about the Certified SOLIDWORKS Associate – Additive Manufacturing (CSWA-AM), as well as Dremel and NC3 Certs.
9:00 – 9:15 Introduction
9:15 – 9:30 DREAM Website – Resources
9:30 – 9:50 How to get AM certification
9:50 – 10:00 Break
10:00 – 10:30 SolidWorks – CSWA-AM
10:30 – 10:50 Kahoot Activity
10:50 – 11:00 Break
11:00 – 11:20 New Achievements in 3D Printing Certification
11:20 – 11:45 Dremel and NC3 Certificates
11:45 – 12:00 Filling out the Survey
Additive Manufacturing Certificates
Most people within the industry use the term “additive manufacturing” interchangeably with 3D Printing (although the latter is more popular and used widely in student and professional discussions). Think of an additive manufacturing certificate as a mini “3D printing degree.”
Due to current job and workforce trends, there is a shortage of technicians in almost every technical career specialty in the USA. Educational institutions, particularly 2-year institutions, are working hard and smart to develop new programs for technicians of all types. This workshop will help you get a basic understanding of the training needed to get started in additive manufacturing.
DREAM is hosting the third virtual Symposium on Additive Manufacturing on Friday, February 12th at 9:00 A.M – 12:00 P.M. CT. Supporters include Dassault Systèmes (SolidWorks), Ashley Furniture, Zeiss, and Desktop Metal.
You can find recorded videos of hosted symposia, developed modules, and more by visiting the NSF DREAM Project website. NSF will provide a small stipend for your time (in this workshop symposium) if you are a high school, middle school, or elementary school teacher ($100).
In November 2020, MatEdU News (our sister publication focused on Materials Education and Materials Science), published a story about the second AM symposium organized by DREAM (NSF Award #1902501). You can read about it here: Chippewa Valley Technical College Offers Additive Manufacturing Symposium.
Advanced Technological Education (ATE) is a core part of our work here at AM News and we encourage you to visit some of our other recent posts about training and degree programs to help you learn about the perfect job or career path and educational programs that will get you there. Take a look at this lecture series: Digging Deep with Online 3D Printing Lectures.
