Yesterday, I made my first item on a 3D printer at the Chicago Public Library's Maker Lab. We'll call it a widget. It's my own design, made of plastic.
Initially, I designed the widget in the Maker Lab using a program called Tinkercad, which is available online for free.
Then a second program, Makerwave, analyzed the design in a process similar to a CAT scan, determining what each .3mm horizontal "slice" of the widget would look like and wrote manufacturing instructions for the 3D printer.
Here's a picture of the widget being manufactured on the 3D Printer, a Makerbot Replicator #2, named Larry. "Larry" took about 45 minutes to
print out the hundreds of "slices," one at a time from bottom to top.
Inside, the widget is about 20 percent solid with a honeycomb pattern inside.
This was a very exciting project; it was thrilling to see and imagine the future! It felt very much like the early years of computing or the pioneer days of the Internet. Everyone in the lab was extremely optimistic and helpful to me. They included "John" and "Tom," librarians who patiently showed me the process and other patrons who shared my enthusiasm. In this lab, gray hair and Millennials work together, energetically embracing shared visions.
The widget does look like something from the Jetsons, doesn't it?
