As my friends and I went into the Maker Hub Pop Up Makerspace event, we were surprised with how empty the room was; as it only consisted of three students on their laptops listening to an instructor teach them about 3D programming and another student in the back of the room talking about engineering to another instructor. Since we didn’t have our laptops with us, we weren’t able to fully follow what the instructor was teaching about 3D programming. We decided to sit in the back of the room, where an accumulation of various 3D printed toys were scattered on the table. As we explored what all the toys were, the 3D printer in the corner of the room caught my attention. It was being used to 3D print a yellow toothbrush which was programmed on Thinkercad.com to make the design. To make the designs, you’re able to use Thingiverse.com to choose from various default designs then alter to your liking. The process was really cool because on Thinkercad, you could choose from the shape and how hollow the design was to what color you wanted your design to be.

The 3D printer that was in the room was one of the cheaper versions in the 3D printing world, coming in at $3000 per machine. It used a plastic called PLA, which was very cheap compared to other 3D printers such as the ones that used liquid or powder to make 3D objects. You would first have to insert a roll of PLA plastic into the printer then plug in your USB that had your design in it to start the process of printing. The toothbrush that was being printed took around 2 hours to make, since it was a fairly simple design. The instructor also told us about the Google Cardboard, which was a cheaper version of a virtual reality device. The Google Cardboard consisted mainly of cardboard with the main component being the curved lense and a slot to insert your phone in. After we downloaded the Expeditions app, we were able to see the Taj Mahal, Great Wall of China, Northern Lights, and outer space. We also learned that some designs needed support material so it wouldn’t sag down due to gravity such as 3D printing a chair but for other designs, you could get away without using support materials by using itself to support it. You could also mass produce designs by first making a template then programming the printer to repeat its process until you got the amount you needed. This event was very informative and has furthered my love for creativeness.