- Associated Press - Saturday, January 28, 2017

MORRISON, Ill. (AP) - The class of high school students sat at their computers Jan. 12, following teacher Chris Scott’s instructions to create a three-dimensional model for translation to the real world.

“Take time to think about where they’ll start and where they’ll end,” Scott told the 10 students at Morrison Institute of Technology, as they worked on using software to design a bracket to send to a 3-D printer.

The technique, in which plastic or another substance is laid down in layers to create three-dimensional objects or parts for assembly, is becoming more widely available as the technology improves and the cost of the printers comes down.

At one point, 3-D printers could cost $1 million, but today, some are available for a fraction of that, in the thousands or even less. Steve Bierdeman, a vocational welding and machining instructor at Whiteside Area Career Center in Sterling, said his second-year students assembled a 3-D printer from a $200 kit over the course of 2 to 3 months this past school year.

The novel approach to learning is far more than a novelty, though. Like the printer itself, the classes provide a multi-layered approach to design and engineering, honing students’ design skills, fine-tuning their problem-solving abilities, and putting their engineering talents to the test. A project starts in a student’s head, becomes a two-dimensional model in a design program and, if all goes as planned, graduates to a successful translation into the third-dimension.

It also adds another tool to an increasingly technological tool belt that students will need to succeed in today’s job market.

Before beginning printing, though, the design must be created. Scott’s class is made up of high school students taking a dual-credit course, in which they learn about creating 3-D digital prototypes, assembly modeling, and other techniques.

“The rule for us is keeping our sketches simple,” Scott said.

This marks the first year for the dual-credit program, in which students from Erie, Fulton, Morrrison, and Prophetstown-Lyndon-Tampico school districts can participate, Scott said.

Tyler Williams, 18, of Fulton said he loves working on computers.

“I’m probably going into heating, ventilation, and air conditioning, but it’s a cool skill set to have,” Williams said.

Kade Kovarik, 16, from Prophetstown, said he’s planning to go into law or civil engineering.

If it’s the latter of the two, the lessons learned from 3-D printing will give him insight into engineering, Kovarik said.

Once the design is finished, the program can be sent to a printer; the more complex the object, the more challenging it is to create them.

WACC has had a 3-D printer for 2 years, donated by Wahl Clipper.

Students in Denis Mennie’s graphic design class at the center are working on creating a working ukulele. When they printed the body of the instrument Thursday, it lacked enough internal support and split apart in several places.

“It’s an intriguing problem,” Mennie said.

The students now are printing the ukulele in six pieces, which can be assembled, and should be strong enough to stay together.

Mennie said the center is partnering with professional designers so students can experience design and printing work, and are looking to expand the partnership with local businesses.

One WACC student working on 3-D design is Dominic Knapp, 17, of Erie, who was designing the head and eyes of a 3-D cartoon character.

“My main goal in life is creating cartoon characters. 3-D design would allow me to create characters to animate later on,” Knapp said.

Whether models make it to the printer, engineers using 3-D printing have one goal in mind.

“It’s to take what we’re doing in the space of composition or a drawing board, and getting it out where we can physically hold it,” Scott said.

While 3-D printers can use a variety of materials to turn programs into solid objects, the basic process remains much the same.

Chris Scott, president at Morrison Institute of Technology, said the printers take a computer model and slice it into layers of machine code. The machine code tells the printer how to lay down layers of the material being used to create an object.

“We can use wood fiber, plastic, or nylon. We can push the envelope pretty far,” Scott said.

Whiteside Area Career Center’s 3-D printer uses ABS plastic, said Denis Mennie.

The material is heated to a high temperature to be pliable enough for molding into the desired shape. In the case of wood fiber, the printer reached 240 degrees Celsius, or 464 degrees Fahrenheit.

Scott cited one design which took only 5 to 10 minutes to get to a printer.

“By lunchtime, we could have a fully printed product,” Scott said.

When creating an object with a hollow interior, designers may need to create supports in the design to prevent the object from collapsing. Once printed, the supports can be removed, and pieces of the object can be assembled.

The printing technique isn’t limited to technology. Certain kinds of tissues and organs, such as replacement joints and skin grafts, are already being printed, without the heating aspect of the process for inorganic materials.

Mennie said that while the career center couldn’t do skin graft printing, they would like to partner with CGH Medical Center in Sterling on various projects.

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Source: Sauk Valley Media, https://bit.ly/2jttw2w

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Information from: The Daily Gazette, https://www.saukvalley.com

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