A 3D look on printing

By Jennifer Eisenbart

Editor

Joy Schnupp, the youth services director at Burlington Public Library, is like a kid with a new toy.

Literally.

With a recently purchased 3D printer rotating among the 15 Lakeshore Library System facilities, it is Burlington’s turn until Sept. 17 to house the small device.

The printer – and supplies for it – was purchased by funds from a Library Services and Technology Act grant, through the Institute for Museum and Library Services.

The printer cost $1,350, and the plastic used for the 3D printing process is about $25 a roll. Lakeshore is using a refurbished laptop that was within the system already to work with the program that provides the “schematics” for the prints.

“We are having so much fun and generating so much interest,” said Schnupp, who is working with other library staff on the project. “We want to keep just sharing it and sharing it.”

Any library patron who would like to have an item printed on the 3D printer can sign up for an appointment. Schnupp said that patrons are asked to go to the website www.thingiverse.com to find up to three items to print.

The lists of those items should be brought to the appointment, which is set for an hour and a half. There, staff works with a patron to determine what item will work best on the printer.

Already, the staff has printed several items that are on display at the library. There are small models of dogs, cats and even a horse, as well as small models of bicycles, a lantern and chess pieces.

But in looking at the Thingiverse pages, there are almost unlimited options. Animal models, small tools, thumbtacks, wall plates for switches and even vases are included among the patterns.

In the space of a day, Schnupp went from one end of the spectrum to the other, creating a toy soldier for one patron – and a finger wrench.

“It’s probably the most functional thing we’ve done,” said Schnupp of the finger wrench, requested by a man who repairs lawnmowers.

Schnupp had to measure and fit the wrench to fit, and when used, it gives the man who requested it the ability to hold a nut to a bolt.

Not everything has gone perfectly. At times, the staff has had to scale down projects to get them to fit in the time allowed, and different patterns are turning out to be tricky.

Schnupp had to make several tries at a small toy horse Tuesday. One ended up with only three legs, while another didn’t get a full mold on the platform.

“It’s been a real learning experience all the way around,” she said, adding that the different rolls of colored plastic – green, pink, grey, black, purple and blue – have slightly different qualities that make some work with some projects, and others not.

What has Schnupp so excited, though, are the possibilities for the future. Schnupp wondered if there would be a time in the near future that 3D printers would be as commonplace as a home computer.

For children, she said, new inventions like this are common. For adults, she pointed out, it’s different.

“This is a real experience for those of us who’ve been watching it virtually online,” Schnupp said. “The thought is that many of us will have these in our homes, like many of us had desktops.”