Novi High Adds New Dimension With $2,000 3D Printer

Novi High School computer-aided design (CAD) and graphic arts students are geeked about their newest addition to their class — a 3D printer.

The "MakerBot Replicator 2 Desktop 3D Printer" arrived at the school two weeks ago. Teacher Dale Rogers has been using the printer for his elective classes in 3D CAD, Advanced CAD, Video Game Design and Graphic Arts 1B.

The school paid $2,099 for the 3D desktop printer, he said.

"It was part of the normal funding for the year," he said. "I try to use the money well."

The 3D printer prints objects out of PLA, a plastic that comes on a roll looking like a fishing line, that costs $48 per roll, Rogers said. The printer feeds the PLA through a tube to the "extruder," which heats it up to 230 degrees Celsius and dispenses the material onto the platform to create the object.

"One of my students described it as a glue gun," he said.

>>Watch the video above of the 3D printer printing a pawn chess piece.

The 3D printer, which has a wide platform, allows students to print multiple projects at one time. The idea is that they will come up with a project that has interchangeable parts, he said.

Rogers said his students previously would go to the workshop to create their designs, which they design with software on the classes' iPads and computers, out of wood.

"This will add a new dynamic to all of that," he said.

He said the 3D printer gives students a chance to see their designs come to life and the students, as designers, will be able to create prototypes. These prototypes can be adjusted if any flaws are found in the 3D object that were overlooked in the preliminary designs.

Students have been printing pawn chess pieces, which take 10 minutes, and more elaborate pieces such as a castle that one of Rogers' students designed in 2009, which took 72 minutes to print. 

Rogers said students use the software already available to them such as AutoCAD and Inventor, which are made by Autodesk in Novi. Then, they import their designs into the software that came with the 3D printer. 

Rogers and the students have only been experimenting with the printer so far. He said he hopes to incorporate it into the curriculum soon.

An earlier version of this story contained an incorrect value of the printer's cost. It has been updated with the correct amount.