Welcome to the emerging world of 3D printing, where the canvas is digital and the artist’s brush stroke, the builder’s hammer and the carpenter’s drill are a combination of software and hardware.
Silicon Valley residents are beginning to find more opportunities in their communities to try their hand at creating a physical object from a digital model. Local libraries have purchased the devices or are hosting occasional events where residents can see a 3D printer in action or hear from experts. Meet-up groups are forming and 3D printers are reaching the point of affordability for the everyday resident.
A 3D printer reads digital files and then creates objects by laying down one thin layer of different materials–in most cases, melted plastic–layer by layer on top of another until the object is complete. Different printers can use a variety of materials ranging from paper to metal. Objects are designed with software on an X, Y and Z axis.
The Sunnyvale Public Library boasts being one of the first libraries in the Bay Area to get its own 3D printer. The library received a $13,500 Library Services and Technology grant through the California State Library, which helped with the purchase of the printer and supported a series of hands-on workshops called “Printing Old and New.”
The Mountain View Public Library also acquired a MakerBot in 2013 thanks to a similar grant. The library’s first open house attracted nearly 300 attendees from all over the Bay Area, according to the city of Mountain View’s 2012-13 annual report.
The enthusiasm in Sunnyvale has been immense since it began taking appointments in June 2013. The library receives about 20 requests per week for its 3D printers located right at the front desk.
“It’s packed, there’s an interest, and what I like about this is it’s really bringing people in that maybe have not thought of the library as being high tech or relevant. It’s really bringing them in again to see that we are,” says Lisa Rosenblum, director of the library and community services department. “I see people my age, older people, little kids making toys; it’s really bringing the entire community together. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t see somebody back there doing something.”
The star of new printing methods, of course, is the MakerBot 3D printer. Any community member can create a design using the free design program SketchUp and then watch it become a solid object using the printer. The library has since been able to acquire a second printer to serve as a backup.
“Libraries have always been about ideas–the discussion of them or reading about them–and this is just sort of making a more tangible form of an idea,” Rosenblum says. “Now, we can take an idea and create something with it, so I think it’s very much in line with what we’re all about.”
Most people like to design fun things, while others go for the more practical, adds Rosenblum. She has seen anything from a smart phone holder to an elephant with legs that can actually move.
The library’s grant allows free use of the 3D printer. The Friends of the Sunnyvale Public Library also provides the programs and training for the printer, which helps manage costs.
Sunnyvale librarian Rachel Collier added that as a patent information resource center with a 3D printer, the library draws in a variety of inventors.
“We do get a lot of people that have patented things, but they don’t want to pay for that mold, which can be like tens of thousands of dollars,” Collier says. “So they try it out here to see what it looks like or if they just want to go promote their idea they’ll print a little thing, so they could show companies they’re trying to sell it to. We want to gear it toward people like that in a way, and I wasn’t sure if it was going to happen, but it is.”
The Sunnyvale library has offered several classes on how to design using SketchUp: two classes called “Think it, Design it, Make it” and two classes called “Art to Part: Bringing Invention to Life.” More than 270 people attended the first class and about 100 signed up for the others. More are planned.
Lynne Watters brought her son, Matthew, 14, to the library to test out a design he had created for a robotics micro-controller case.
“The 3D printing available at the Sunnyvale library is a wonderful opportunity to explore a new and exciting technology at a very affordable price–free,” Lynne Watters says. “Because this is Silicon Valley, there is a lot of interest among our friends in 3D printers. They are not only fascinating in themselves, but they are a technology that supports the development and physical presentation of other creative ideas.”
Watters says that after Matthew proudly brought home his new self-designed creation, his father ordered a MakerBot Replicator Desktop 3D printer to use at home.
Part of the fun of having a 3D printer at home is to purchase and download user-created objects off popular websites like Thingiverse and Shapeways. A custom fruit picker, for instance, was a featured user-made product on Thingiverse on July 22.
As fun as downloading other people’s work may be, there is a strong educational component with 3D printing that comes when users sit down and tinkers or designs their own creation.
Cupertino artist Corinne Okada Takara is about a week away from wrapping up a six-week middle school summer camp with the Alum Rock Educational Foundation. 3D printing plays a large part in the students’ studies.
She has also done art programs with local schools. At Stevens Creek Elementary, students read a book and were then tasked with creating chess pieces from its characters. Students thought about which characters in their readings would best exemplify rooks, pawns, knights, bishops, kings and queens before getting into design programs to create their pieces.
Once the character is designed, students get lessons on how important it is to tinker and refine a design, as most first prints do not quite turn out as planned.
“You really have to plan this out and understand the different coordinates. The first print is usually a fail, and there is a lot of problem solving involved to get the design just right,” she says.
Takara, who was named Cupertino’s 2006 distinguished artist of the year, will be at the Sunnyvale Public Library on July 27 from 3 to 4 p.m. showing attendees how to create 3D objects using the free web-based CAD program Tinkercad. The event is free.
While the Cupertino Library does not yet have a 3D printer, the Cupertino Library Foundation hosted an event in April and another in June that featured speakers who were experts in the 3D printing hobby. In June, TechShop San Jose came to the Campbell Library to show teenagers how to use a 3D printer and laser cutter.
The speaker at the April Cupertino event was Geoffrey Doyle, CEO of GrowShapes LLC, a Silicon Valley company that works to educate clients about 3D printing products and technologies. In April, Doyle shared the latest 3D printing trends with attendees.
“The point being is that we are very, very embryonic with [3D printing]. A lot of people have heard about 3D printers, but few people have put a hand on it,” he says.
The first 3D printer patent was filed in 1984, according to Doyle. However, 3D printing is quite new to the mainstream, and Doyle estimates that there are only about 100,000 desktop 3D printers in the world right now.
In 2012, Doyle would ask his audiences how many owned a 3D printer, and hardly a hand would be raised. Today, a good percentage of attendees shoot their hands to the air. Doyle has even founded meet-up groups to discuss 3D printing with hobbyists throughout the Bay Area.
Doyle sees lots of parallels between the current state of 3D printers and rise of the personal computer in the 1970s and early 1980s. Doyle roughly estimates that 3D printing today is about where the personal computer was in 1977-1978, when it was strictly a hobby for hardcore users.
“Most of the companies that will define this technology have not even been thought of yet,” Doyle says.
Doyle believes that the 3D printing will explode in popularity once design software is made more user friendly. Doyle also believes that those who harness the power of 3D printing are not currently thinking in modern modes of design. In fact, the future 3D printing makers, entrepreneurs, and innovators perhaps are barely learning to read.
Children “are the ones who are going to really define the technology. The kids that are in kindergarten that have not been compromised with how we think about making things the ‘right way,’ ” he says. “Kids are pure and do not have the baggage of the way we manufacture things today. They can bring original thought.”
To book an appointment at the Sunnyvale Public Library visit sunnyvalelibraryappts.youcanbook.me. For more information, visit 3dprinting.insunnyvale.com.
For more information about GrowShapes and to watch Geoffrey Doyle’s April presentation in Cupertino, visit growshapes.com. To learn more about the art and events from Corinne Okada Takara, visit okadadesign.com.
