3D Printing

This morning I finished reading a article in Business Week on how 3D printing is being used in the health industry to rebuild body parts. I then picked up The Economist and when I opened the cover I saw a add for 3D Printing. The history of 3D printing is short, just a laboratory fantasy project in the early 80’s. In the late 80’s Steve Crump and wife Lisa developed and patented a 3D printer process. They formed a company called StrataSys located in Eden Prairie Minnesota. StrataSys has a annual sales of over a billion dollars.

My own journey started in 2007 when I started to hear the phrase “additive Manufacturing” and then 3D printing. When the Hazelton building was built, the vision was to someday have a molding operation added to our building. This was soon replaced with a vision a vision of thirty or forty printers making RightStart manipulative on a just in time production basis.

But the cost was prohibitive! Machines were $30,000 each, one color and plastic material was $30 a pound. But this was the year 2009. This Christmas Joan and I bought a hobby machine for $2500 and material was available in various colors at $15 a pound. On April 1, 2014 our machine is absolute! In January MakerBot introduced a  two color machine.  And today it was announced by Stratasys they have developed a multi color 3D printer. Very soon material will be in the five to seven dollars a pound, well in the cost range to print a ALabacus.

 So what next for Activities for Learning and 3D printing? Stay tuned!