From Superhero Rings to Tangled Plastic Spaghetti: Our Year With a 3D Printer Wendy Prince Greg Toth Ken Wierzbowski The College at Brockport

3D Printer

Introduction ● The Drake Memorial Library has been working with a MakerBot Replicator 2 for almost a year. ● The initial excitement was quickly tempered by questions of logistics, management, application, and policy. ● During the Spring 2014 semester, we made an effort to answer these questions, establish a place for the 3D printer in the library, and garner interest on campus from students, faculty and staff. ● We will discuss the challenges we encountered as we try to move from a knick-knack factory to active faculty and student involvement.

Spring/Summer 2013 Timeline ● Spring 2013 o LITS (Library, Information & Technology Services) purchases a MakerBot Replicator 2 3D printer ● Summer 2013 o 3D printer is moved to the Drake Memorial Library o Library also receives a NextEngine 3D scanner through a Faculty/Staff Technology Grant  Summer spent learning how to operate and use the 3D printer ● Librarians enraptured. Stare at printer for upwards of 2 hours each day.  MakerBot is brought to the Faculty/Staff Opening of School Convocation in late August.

Drake’s 3D Tech Work Space - Fall 2013

Fall 2013 Timeline Fall 2013 o Received approval from library director to offer prints for free for the semester o Acquired a dedicated student assistant and a student volunteer to work exclusively with the 3D printer. o Created a 3D Printing libguide portal o Accepted project submissions from campus community through webpage form

The Nitty Gritty ● Filament supply chain secured through library secretary ● All submissions reviewed by staff o “We reserve the right to refuse any request. This includes requests for multiple copies of the same item, weapons and *ahem* "inappropriate" objects.” o Received submissions for shot glasses, non-working gun ● Statistics kept through submission form application, MachForms (similar to Google Forms) ● Patrons informed via that their projects were ready to pick up ● Projects generally printed in order they were received, as submission numbers boomed projects were printed in batches by print color ● Vast majority of files sourced from the ThingiverseThingiverse

The Numbers We were inundated! ● 172 submissions during the Fall 2013 semester until we shut down the submission form to catch up. ● Primary submitters were students. ● Most popular color was clear. ● A few ‘enthusiastic’ patrons requested multiple builds

“Mistakes were made.”

Challenges ● Hardware offered a learning curve ● “Hobbyist” printer, quirky procedures & frequent breakdowns ● Overwhelming demand ● Unprintable or inappropriate requests

Obstacles in the Printing Process

Interlude: Overview of 3D Technologies ● Computer-Assisted design ● 3D Contour Mapping ● CGI simulation ● Data-generated imaging ● Medical Imaging/Scanning

Drawing: Computer-Assisted Design

Drawing: Sketchup Study of Drake Main Floor

Scanning: Contour Mapping

Lockheed-Martin Flight Simulator

Plot: Space Junk Tracker

Medical Imaging

Diagnostics Homer SimpsonMelvil Dewey

Applications of 3D Technology: A Not-Very Technical Schematic Create/Capture --copy --draw --scan --generate --plot, etc. 3D File Display Print Replicate Animate? Modify, Remix, Mashup, etc.

NextEngine tabletop laser scanner

Replicating a Solid Object

Spring 2014 Timeline ● Scanning ● Printing scanned objects ● Art Faculty member’s test objects ● Pay-for-printing system ● Student assistants’ Scholars Day presentation ● Presentation to faculty to promote academic use

Pay System Shift 1st semester free printing 2nd semester developed payment system ● Decide on price ● How to inform patrons of change ● How to convey potential cost o Size/Cost Example Chart Size/Cost Example Chart ●How to accept payments

Printing Requests per Semester

Promotion any way we can

Academic Use April 4, 2014 ● Effort to inspire academic use ● Presented at CELT (Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching)

Student Presentation April 9, Scholars Day Joint presentation by student employee, Evan Spencer, and student volunteer, Brian Fitzgerald Poster presentation earned an article in the online campus newspapercampus newspaper

What’s Next? ● Grant for 2 more printers and a filament recycling machine in collaboration with Art Dept. ● How will collaboration with Art Dept. work? ● Training for classes/groups, individuals? ● Create a Makerspace: location? scope of projects?

Q&A