What is 3D Printing?

What is 3D Printing?

3D printing, also called additive manufacturing, is a process used to build a solid object based on an electronic design.

How Do 3D Printers Work?

Most desktop 3D printer models use a thin filament that is fed through a heated extruder. Your computer aided design (CAD) software controls the deposition of this filament to build up a solid object one layer at a time.

Stereolithography was invented in the 1980's and uses concentrated beams of UV rays to harden a thin surface of a specialized photopolymer. The platform holding the hardened layer is submerged below the surface and the process repeats until a solid 3 dimensional object is created.

Why Use 3D Printers in Your Classroom?

Create engaging STEM lessons with 3D printers.
Just as 3D printers are being used to solve some of today's real-world problems in fields like medicine, engineering, and infrastructure, 3D printers also allow students to solve real-world science and engineering problems in the classroom, enabling true innovation and preparation for real-world problems solving.

Using CAD software and their imagination, students have the freedom to design and build items that solve problems in the science classroom and beyond.

From fun, simple items like a ball, action figure, or a cell phone case, to complex and life-changing objects like bridge structures or prosthetic limbs, students can create any object to fit the needs of the problem they are trying to solve.