The Allen County Career and Technical Center
has a new piece of equipment that can be used to enhance the operation of a 3-D
printer and perhaps aid local business and industry in 3-D printing needs.
Several years ago, the
Tech Center was able to purchase a state-of-the-art 3-D printer for use by
Drafting students---a purchase made possible through a donation from the Halton
Company. Since that time, students have been able to draw objects for the
printer to create. Recently, the Tech Center was able to obtain a Artec
Eva 3D scanner with the purchase funded through the Work Ready Skills
Initiative grant.
The addition enhances student learning and skill development and furthers the
educational opportunities of the 3-D printer.
“This scanner allows
you to scan things rather than draw something,” explained Dolorse
Rice, Computer-Aided Drafting teacher at the Tech Center. “For example, if someone came to me with an old machine part and
wanted me to duplicate that part, it would take a long time to draw it, measure
it and calibrate. The likely hood of error is great. The scanner creates little
light pictures of the object. Using its software, the scanner sends the model
to the computer. The computer-generated model is then sent to the 3-D scanner
which, in turn, generates the replica of the scanned object.”
Recently, Rice received
specific training from Jeremy Standlee from Technical Training Aids
and Prototype Solutions. To demonstrate the effectiveness and usefulness of the scanner,
senior drafting school Brock Meador offered his “head” to be scanned. Standlee scanned
Meador’s head by simply holding the scanner toward Meador’s head while the
student slowly turned in a chair. The result was a life-like image to feed into
the software program.
“Once the scan is
completed, the software allows you to tweak and make adjustments if you need
to,” Rice added. “In our case, the scan produced a very realistic scan of
Brock’s head, with flesh tones and hair color.”
Once the scan and
adjustments were completed, the image was sent to the 3-D printer. After 13
hours of printing, followed by a drying process, Rice and Meador could view the
small, light-weight replica of the head.
“It was pretty cool,”
Meador explained as he looked over the finished product. “I didn’t realize it
would be that accurate.”
Rice is working on learning more about the
scanner and the software program and exploring new ways to both incorporate the
technology into her classes and for use by the community.