One hundred 3D printers appeared in schools, as it were

Just less than a month ago

I wrote about our plans to promote 3D printing in schools. 300 schoolchildren from 100 schools were to come to school makertones and assemble their own 3D printers according to Ultimaker Original drawings.
Actually, they collected them, and this article. Here is a little timelapse: one

two , three , four , five .

Hypothesis one. Schoolchildren will be able to figure out what 3D printing is and be able to prepare normal projects.

As planned, only those teams passed through the school makertones, were selected and defended the project on using 3D printing in school. The hypothesis was fully confirmed - the schoolchildren had no problem with 3D printing and its capabilities. For example, here is such a project (from the urban-type settlement of Bavly , population 22,000 people). Or this (from the village of Tyulyachi ).

Hypothesis two. It will be more interesting for schoolchildren to collect 3D printers than to buy

We feared that the assembly would be too complicated, the printers would refuse to work, and schoolchildren would lose interest in the assembly five minutes after it began. But the makertones were just a bang! The fire in the eyes, in the heart, in the hands and the first printer warmed up the nozzle for printing the calibration model after three hours instead of the planned six. Next, the guys downloaded a model of the bracelet from the thingiverse and printed it out. We used a calibration cube model to test the quality of the assembled printer and test the calibration.
Following it, they asked to print a handle for the regulator on the printer’s control panel to show that it is possible to print parts for the printer on the printer.
At the end of each makerton participants were photographed with printed models. 30 best photos .

Hypothesis three. After makerton printers will definitely be used.

Complication. The last school makerton was held on May 26, that is, just before the holidays.
The essence of the hypothesis was that the schoolchildren assembled with their own hands the schoolchildren would not let them hide in the closet and would actively use it. Before the makertons, I was afraid that students would not be allowed to touch the printer as soon as the makerton was over. And in vain. Schoolchildren actively use their 3D printers and even post their work on the social network, for example, once , from the same team , two , three , four , five , six , seven .
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And I regularly watch that the guys put in a special section for 3D-printers in Marabaka - a social network for those who do all sorts of things with their own hands. For example, an active vykladyvschik , but in my personal opinion the most cool work , but one of the most commented . Here are some more examples: 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20

After the makerton, each participant received a task, for which he receives a badge. This is what must be printed to get the title of “3D printer”

Toothbrush Holder
The Eiffel Tower
Bird house

A very interesting work is planned for the future with the participation of all school printers, a large crowdsourcing project , the details of which I will not disclose now, but it will be a big composition using the work of all 100 printers;)

Thank you

The entire project of school makertones took place thanks to the administration of the Republic of Tatarstan, President Rustam Minnikhanov and his assistant Ayrat Khairullin, who immediately appreciated the idea and supported our proposal. Thanks to the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Tatarstan, Minister Engel Fattakhov, a number of deputies, department heads and just employees! Of course, I also thank the entire campus Navigator team for their dedicated work, all assistants for their willingness to help, and all the participants for participating. Thanks to the parents for letting the children go (often to another city), teachers and principals who helped their children, experts, suggested to critics, criticized. Thanks to all!
We have made, perhaps, the largest project in Russia to popularize 3D printing!

Pro format from the point of view of the state

Offering a makerton as both a way to popularize 3D printing and a way to provide schools with 3D printers, we proceeded from the ability to kill two birds with one stroke. In fact, the budget for the cost of the cheapest printer provided schools with a high-quality modern 3D printer and gave students practical experience in designing, assembling, calibrating, 3D modeling, made it possible to get acquainted with the engineers of our hackspace and involved students in the real living community of young technicians. After the makerton, some of them had already become guardians of our hackspace and began to come to us regularly.

How the printer was chosen

In general, printers of all manufacturers are like brothers and the main problem of all manufacturers is to stand out from the crowd at least somehow. In Russia, there is (their own classification):

• the very first
• the biggest
• most aluminum
• the most steel

The situation as with cars, all on four wheels, all with ICE. To stand out is very difficult and for the average person there is no big difference. With printers everything is like with cars, you can always find cheaper, smaller, simpler. But the result and labor costs for operation will be appropriate.
At cost, printers cost about 1000+ dollars. Of the common and very good ones for its price, Printbot , but look at it:



Cheap and harsh. Choosing a printer, we proceeded from the fact that it should be:

• open source
• with a large community
• with modern construction (not Prusa, not RepRap)
• with good print area
• robust in construction and easy to operate
• with wide possibilities of development

All requirements are met by the Ultimaker Original model. Bravo of Ultimaker and its founders Martijn Elserman, Erik de Bruijn, Siert Wijnia for creating such a simple model of assembly and handling of a 3D printer and laid out in open-source. It is clear that such trends, when companies lay out their solutions for universal access (as recently, for example, Tesla with all its patents did) greatly help the technology community and generally benefit mankind. Moreover, the company itself doesn’t usually remain in value, the value of Tesla’s shares after the news about patent disclosures increased by 10%. After our makerton sales of the main Ultimaker printers in Russia will grow and this brand will be known to much more people. But their official representative unofficially demanded to stop carrying out the makertons with the Ultimakers. Not a problem, because it is impossible to prohibit, in addition, there are other printers: Makerbot , Witbox , a number of Russian printers, or even the Chinese equivalent of Ultimaker Joysmaker .

Makertones everywhere

Sometimes, requests from other regions come to me by mail and in social networks for the same makertons for their children, but school makertons are possible only with funding from the government and a large company. In a number of regions, negotiations are already underway, there are even two requests not from Russia.
In addition to school there are still ordinary, public makertony and we plan to hold them every month. July 4, August 8, September 5 and beyond.
We need people who want to create a technical community in their city and who are ready to gather participants for this, to carry out the makertons. For the time being, the makertones are being made only on printers, but approximately from the autumn there will be copters, CNC machines and “smart home” systems. Anyone who wants to participate in the makerton or organize - I send to makerton.org , where you can see if there is an event in your city, and, if not, to become an organizer. Join now!