On Monday, I sit down with a local political figure who's interested in incorporating

3D Printing
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On Monday, I sit down with a local political figure who’s interested in incorporating 3D printers heavily in our town of 300k citizens. I’m curious to hear from you all how 3D printers can be utilized on a local community scale.

Some ideas I’ve had:
–Printers in every school & university.
–Personal manufacturing (“Buy Local, Make Local.”)
–Business Advertising & Branding.
–Cosmetic infrastructure repair.
–Art installations.
–College sports swag.

Also, what would change if every person had access to a 3D printer? Could this technology help make everyone more independent? What hurdles do we have to jump to make this possible?

Let me know and I’ll forward my favorite responses.

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Eek, there’s a lot of hype-train going on here. Too much to go over. Printers in every school, awesome. But the printer isn’t what changes things, it’s having the ability to 3D model. A printer cannot do anything without a design to send to it.

“Buy Local, Make Local” is a bunch of uneducated scaremongering and is more a political topic than a 3D printer one.

Business advertising and branding? How do 3D printers enter that equation unless the business is a 3D printing company?

Cosmetic infrastructure repair is a good use; but again, you’re going to need a good modeler, and in the end it’s just probably going to be cheaper to have someone go out and do it by hand (especially on sculptures, statues, etc)

Art installations? These are typically gigantic, and 3D printing isn’t going to help you one iota here without some very specialized machines.

College Sports “swag”? You mean little trinkets and things? Yeah, I guess those would be neat. That’s about the only thing in this entire list that makes any sense.

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at the moment, like @ThantiK said, they don’t have a lot of use unless you can model. they are however an excellent teaching tool, you’ve got everything from electronics, a bit of code if you want to get your hands dirty with the basics of the firmware, 3d modeling, and a whole host of other practical things if you’re putting the printer together.

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I realize that my ideas didn’t really give any detail, I’ll try to address everything @ThantiK A little backstory may help. I am starting up a 3D print shop and gallery in Lexington, KY called ArtLabKY. We’re part of an educational makerspace called Kre8Now which is opening in a few weeks. We want to make 3D printing accessible by offering print/modeling services as well as classes surrounding DIY FDM rapid prototyping & 3D modeling.

Printers in every school, awesome. But the printer isn’t what changes things, it’s having the ability to 3D model. A printer cannot do anything without a design to send to it.

That is very true, with printers you need modelers. I want to emphasize that education is the key to making 3D printers not just accessible, but usable by many people. We will not only be offering the means to learning how to model but print as well. Yet, with that said, utilizing the growing library of existing models available online is a great starting point for most people.

“Buy Local, Make Local” is a bunch of uneducated scaremongering and is more a political topic than a 3D printer one.

As #6 in small business, Lexington has taken the motto “Buy Local” all over the place. It’s just a spin on that. I never really considered a political argument, just supporting the people around you. I can see how it can be a propaganda against mass consumerism though.

Business advertising and branding? How do 3D printers enter that equation unless the business is a 3D printing company?

This is actually one of the biggest topics. A lot of unique & custom branding can be done with 3D printers. Brewer’s could have custom bar tabs for pubs. Comic shops could print out characters busts & tabletop terrain. Etc, Etc.

Cosmetic infrastructure repair is a good use; but again, you’re going to need a good modeler, and in the end it’s just probably going to be cheaper to have someone go out and do it by hand (especially on sculptures, statues, etc)

This was my rather farfetched example. I wasn’t too sure a city official would like people make their own changes to the town (especially if not following any sort of code.) Stuff like printing chainmail to surround light posts, printing sprinklers for public gardens, etc. Doing bigger things like the guy who fixed the broken sidewalk with a lego pattern… yea that’d take some expertise to achieve.

Art installations? These are typically gigantic, and 3D printing isn’t going to help you one iota here without some very specialized machines.

Not necessarily. Installations can be any size suited for the canvas, and in this case a public space.

College Sports “swag”? You mean little trinkets and things? Yeah, I guess those would be neat. That’s about the only thing in this entire list that makes any sense."

“Swag” is usually a go-to thing for promoting just about anything, college sports is just an easy one for this town.

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Just saying each of those things is going to entail their own set of problems. From the Beer handles not picking up grime in the grooves of the print, to UV deteriorating and ruining prints that are exposed to sunlight for a long duration, etc. There really is a lot of hype around 3D printing right now, and you’ve gotta understand it’s amazing for robotics projects, making misc connectors for things, etc but much beyond that, it’s meant for prototyping and not direct-from-printer manufacture.

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Maybe I just disagree then :slight_smile: I think it has a ton of applications outside robotics projects & other engineering needs.

Edit: I should note that I do agree with you that the technology is in no way a Star Trek replicator; it won’t make the perfect object for the purpose every time. I know this from using mine for over 2 years now. I’m just optimistic about the make movement & 3D printers are a great tool for that. The hype doesn’t hurt though.

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I really don’t think 3d printers are good enough yet for mass consumption yet unless you are getting one of the >$10k models. They are finicky, prone to breaking, prone to poor quality parts.

The best place for them within a public arena is as part of a makerspace, where there are enough techies around to help with them, but also lots of other equipment and software to make a wide range if stuff.

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I think a more important reason for “a printer in every school” is that it could be a powerful example of how math, biology, geometry, chemistry, physics, strength and dynamics, economics, etc are actually used. Telling a kid to memorize something without a reason doesn’t work! How many of us sat in class, and said to ourselves “when am I ever going to use this :(”

I still remember, in 3rd grade, one teacher had us build the tallest structure we could with play-doh (clay). Everybody rolled out a long cylinder and tried to stand it up… it failed.
So, we all started trying boxes, tee-pees, pyramids, etc.

And the winner is… the winner rolled out a long cylinder( just like before), LET IT COOL, THEN stood it up :slight_smile:

That practical example of engineering / problem solving stuck with me the rest of my life :slight_smile:

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DMLS service with job training for Tool And Die. If someone were to ask me how to use 3D printing to build my community, this is what I would recommend:
For best success, it requires a coordinated effort of multiple assets.
Thank you for your backstory, it helps a lot. For places like Lexington, I would recommend : Partner with DMLS technology (such as EOS) to create a job training program/ DMLS service that leads to certification from UK (Go Big Blue) for tool and die designers preferably in conjunction with local unemployment offices. Then promote the tool and die manufacturing service in Louisville, Cinci, and Lexington.
Take advantage of NAMII up in Youngstown to promote/help fund its creation and bring GE who is using the technology already for best practices/ possible funding.
By doing this, the politician starts to build a 21st century workforce without waiting for it to grow up and graduate. It automatically becomes “make local” because you’re offering time savings in setup , creation, and shipping of those tools, lines up with Pres. Obama’s manufacturing initiatives, and looks to change out old manufacturing jobs with higher-paying Tech CAD jobs. PS, definitely align with Autodesk to provide the software.
It’s not democratized Makerbot in every classroom, but that is not going to see immediate benefits to the community. It’s also not a couple thousand, but it is within the realm of a local municipality to coordinate and fundraise, especially if the politician or their campaign manager is good at that. And it can be phased.
Good luck! If you want more specifics, I’d be happy to help. However, I’m a Browns fan, so depending on the score of today’s game I may not want to help you for about an hour after it’s over. :slight_smile:

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Get a 3d printer lab set up at the school - get an instructor to teach cad and 3d modeling - get students and interested adults educated in how to create, and what is possible to create. Wait a bit before investing massive cash in a lot of printers that will be obsolete almost as soon as they are unboxed.