Welcome back. In Part 1 I explained the basics of 3D printing up until the time we start the printer itself, ie. the virtual design using Blender.

To get an idea of the printer, this is an introductory video from MiniFactory, which is a Finnish company. It costs 1,500 EUR, about 1,800 USD, and it can print objects using either PLA (a corn starch based substance), ABS plastic, or even nylon. It was delivered almost ready to print, and I think it is an extremely useful and suitable device for entering the fascinating world of 3D printing.

Installation is minimal: you plug in the USB cord, install Repetier Host, run through a calibration routine, place the material spools in the rack, and you’re good to go. The next picture identifies the main parts of the machine – click on the image to see it better.

Continue reading Part 2 of the 3D Printer post →

Oops – a little time has elapsed since my last post; my apologies.

But now there is something new to report. HAAGA-HELIA, being the progressive school it is, approved my purchase request in short order, and bought a MiniFactory v3 3D printer to augment the 3D capabilities of the school.

As it stands, we have a course in Basic 3D Design with Blender (3 ECTS), and another one called Extended 3D Design with Blender (3 ECTS). These are a package that will first give you a solid understanding of how to do 3D, and in the extended course, students get a problem-based view into a subsection of Blender that they get to choose. It can be material creation, texturing, animation, modeling for game engines, or whatever can be deemed sufficiently large to warrant the 3 study points. Now we can add 3D printing to that, but at this point I am not sure of the format of the course.

Continue reading 3D Printing has arrived at HAAGA-HELIA, part 1 →