For the “Real World” assignment, I visited the 2014 World Maker Faire at the New York Hall of Science in Queens, NY on Sunday September 21, 2014.
After getting off the 7 train at the 111th Street station, it was a short walk to the event location from there. Since I was surrounded by small children on the train and during the walk to the event, I wondered if this so called Maker Faire was in fact an event targeted toward children. Perhaps because of this bias I created before walking into the event, at first glance all I saw were a bunch of booths with small children working on arts and crafts projects and I wondered as I walked around, why on earth the professors of this class suggested that we attend this event…
After doing a full circle (or what felt like a full circle) and being disappointed at what I had seen thus far, I convinced myself to do another round given that I didn’t see many 3D printing booths despite my expectations based on what the professors had mentioned during class about the Maker Faire. For some reason I completely missed the row of 3D printing booths during my initial round and the second round was what made my trip to the Maker Faire worthwhile.
The following were some of my favorite pieces from the event:
This was a 3D printed car in a frosted plastic material. I was immediately drawn to all the minute details that were included in the tiny model. As you can see in the photo, the printed model was about the size of a penny. It was amazing to see how 3D printing allowed for such intricate details despite the model’s size. The model even had movable doors that actually opened!
This was a 3D printed piece of jewelry. Again I was drawn to its intricate details and I was amazed at the level of detail 3D printing can open up to a designer. The piece was inspiring, as it made me want to attempt creating design files of this sort myself.
This was another model printed in plastic. This was a fascinating piece as it was comprised of numerous interlocking gears and when you moved the outer circle, all the other gears moved and followed suit. It was incredible to think that all the interconnected pieces were printed in position, already assembled as opposed to the gears being printed as separate pieces and then assembled together such as in traditional manufacturing.
Visiting the Maker Faire helped to make 3D printing come to life for me. Until visiting this event, the only real-life interaction I had with 3D printing was during the very first class where a toy octopus was printed for demonstration purposes. However, at the Maker Faire there were countless 3D printers in action at varying sizes busily printing different sized objects. It was also filled with people who were passionate about the world of 3D printing. It was quite an experience to interact with individuals who were “makers” who created objects because they genuinely enjoyed expressing their creativity.