3D printer in action!

As you may know, I've been helping in school with a project to assemble a 3D printer. Today was the day of the final inspection by the organization that is helping schools with these projects. It turned out we did a great job. Only a few corrections were needed and after that it was time to test the printer. During assembly we broke one part. I expected a spare to be delivered, but no: we were given the 3D model to print the spare ourselves.

Once everything was running and our mentor had left, I downloaded a 3D model of the Martinitoren, the highest church tower in Groningen. I downsized it somewhat so the print would actually finish before school was out and the children all could have a look at the printer doing its work, printing the 5.5cm high tower. This already seemed to spark a lot of ideas for print projects with the children so I'm sure the printer won't be collecting dust any time soon.

I'm not usually a fan of collages but in this case I felt I had to show both the printing action and the final result.