In today’s world, Computer-Aided Design (CAD) modeling has been the norm in the design world or even in schools. In the older days, students only get to learn about CAD when they were in polytechnics or university; now primary and secondary school introduced CAD to the students, or they get to learn online from free source like Tinkercad where the students can easily create their 3D models.
With the introduction of 3D printing in secondary schools and tertiary, 3D printed models enhanced the teaching experience and activities. Students get a better understanding of 3D objects and get to see the CAD modeling from digital to physical objects. This helps to close the gap and better engagement between the teachers and students.
In tertiary life, the schools will introduce a higher levels of 3D printing technology to the students but for primary and secondary school students, FFF technology is usually introduced to younger students.
What is FFF 3D Printing?
FFF, also known as Fused filament fabrication, is an 3D printing process where thermoplastic material is pushed through a heated nozzle to create the objects layer by layer. FFF is a lower-cost and easier to understand technology that make it ideal for young age students, which is also suitable for designers and engineers.
With the advanced materials for FFF, now FFF 3D printing are widely used for education, prototyping and manufacturing. You can find single extrusion, dual extrusion, or triple/quad extrusion in the market but the most popular are the single and dual extrusion.
Where FFF been used
Kootenay-Columbia School district is a responsive learning community with more than 3,700 school-age students across 10 schools. The district introduced 3D printing to provide new learning opportunity to spark creativity and imagination across multiple subjects and grade levels. The district believes in leveraging new technology to support teaching practices and student exploration and committed to ensure every student’s success.
In their MIDAS Labs, they have 2 Ultimaker 2s and 5 Ultimaker 3s 3D printers and other tools available for public use. They were impressed with ease of use and performance of Ultimaker 3D printers. The printers met their feature and functionality requirements such as active leveling to minimize errors and support for two colours.
The works of Kootenay-Columbia School district’ students.
Growing up with technology at their fingertips, the student can now design and have their printed piece in less than an hour. They can also make adjustment of their 3D ornaments easily. During the learning journey, the student learnt lessons of perseverance and patience. If their projects do not work out right, they need to go back and take ownership to rework their design.
Jessica Joose, the student for industrial design master discovered 3D printing when she was a student at Eindhoven University of Technology and turn the value to design ideas into products. Her aim is to create fashion products ready for the world where consumers can be more connected to designers and brands.
A collar with 3D printed pattern details
“The fourth industrial revolution will enable brands to make more personalized clothing, using new ways of manufacturing like 3D printing and also body scan data.” said Jessica.
Jessica’s 3D printed clothes is the combination of traditional textile with 3D printed fastening, buttons, or patterns. The process starts with researching of the kind of fabric that works well with 3D printing and it will then be placed onto the build plate and secured with tape or clips. Jessica used augmented reality app to get the precision she needs for perfectly position the area of the garment that will be 3D printed on the build plate.
These PLA buttons are printed directly onto the textile
Combining innovative methods and materials enable Jessica to create designs that simply impossible with any other approach. “An Ultimaker 3D printer can make anything I imagine. With a sewing machine you are limited.” Jessica continued.
Florenradica, a design company based near Florence Italy, fabricate prototypes and end-use parts for fashion house. Florenradica has a long background of traditional woodworking and they faced the challenge of delivering of high order volume in the fashion industry. They decided to explore new fabrication methods to reduce physical labour while maintaining high level of details and quality of the final product.
After several tried on various FFF 3D printers, they turned to Ultimaker. Investing an Ultimaker 2 at a start, they found the results significantly more accurate and reliable. In the following years, they expanded their setup to 27 Ultimaker 2+, 13 Ultimaker 3 and 2 Ultimaker S5 printers and arranged into a production work floor.
Florenradica’s production workfloor
Marco Mazzanti, Production Coordinator, explained “With 3D printers, we’ve reached a situation that allowed us to realize objects not possible until that moment.”
With lots of experimentation and evaluate many systems before they embarking on the production choice. With the awesome features of reliability, good quality print and dual extrusion, Ultimaker printers are the best choice that meet their requirement.
Handle was created in CAD software
Using Ultimaker Cura to prepare the model for print
Post-processing with gloss paint and varnish
Finished product