3D Printers & Early Design (2012-2018)

Motivation:

In middle school I was in a class where we built and made lots of things. The green reprap printer came from a kit and was one of the first things that I built (with like 3-4 other students). Soon after, I bought my own 3d printer (Printrbot simple metal) and assembled it from a kit.

Description:

The green piece (that was finished with sharpie and a soldering iron) was printed on the group 3d printer. The white cube was the first thing I made on the printer. The mockingbird logo was something I printed from thingiverse, but was one of the first things I made with accurate layers. The small circles were jibitz for my high school softball teammates’ crocs. That was my first introduction to designing around other objects and constraints, as well as trying to build multiple of the same thing. The name tag was also something I was playing with and was where I started with trying to use different artwork in my designs. The train was for a high school project and was one of the first bigger things I designed. It was printed in multiple parts and glued together.

Lesson Learned:

This was my first introduction to constraint, and also my first introduction to complicated machines. I learned about tolerances, began designing things, and just generally making things. Looking back at this, a large amount of how I try to mentor other students when they make things comes from the middle school teacher who helped me along the way.