You've got to feel comfortable to NOT to know how to do something and you have to feel FREE to make mistakes... These are LARGE takeaways from my Makerspace experience this summer with UNCG. I have been experiencing both of those with supreme anxiety these last couple of days....
So, after we printed the cube, (see previous post), I designed a paperclip/bookmark for the staff using TINKERCAD. If you've not used Tinkercad, go there right now - yes, stop reading this even. If you are looking to use a 3D printer and want a simple, FREE program that will TEACH, (yes, teach) you to do 3D printing, then Tinkercad is it. I created the 3D model all by myself after completing some of the Tinkercad lessons, and last Monday, we (Mike R. (UNCG) and I printed it. Now, I will tell you even though we had to stop the printing process because the line snapped, I pulled off three slim bookmarks and ran, as if I were Tom Hanks having created fire to our Principal's office to show one off! The next day, I re-vamped it and I printed 2 more!! So proud I was of myself, (best Yoda voice). Then, I had to challenge myself, (that's with a sarcastic tone..) I decided to change to the other type of filament. We'd been using PLA, I wanted to switch back to ABS - (different color... :) ) . So I did the changes and it wouldn't print!!! Nothing came from the extruder! I thought the bed was off so I leveled the bed.. nothing. I switched it back to the other filament and still nothing! - Not to mention every time I changed something, I had to restart both my computer and the printer to sync them! I gave up, and went home thinking - guess I'm not such a hotshot now am i? I decided I would call Mike R. after another attempt yesterday. Still wouldn't print - even adjusted the bed MANUALLY after research - nada. Here's the humbling part... Mike S., our school counselor came into the Makerspace to see what I was doing and I asked him, "Looking at the printer, tell me which is the right extruder and which the left?", (you see where I'm going with this?) I had gotten a niggling that perhaps I couldn't tell my left extruder from my right extruder. He confirmed my suspicions and guess what I got it to print!!
Another thing - I have other work to be doing, but I keep getting drawn back to the Makerspace to "play" on the printer - When I tell people I am playing, they say "how else are you going to learn?"
Maybe I should leave it right there for now.
So, after we printed the cube, (see previous post), I designed a paperclip/bookmark for the staff using TINKERCAD. If you've not used Tinkercad, go there right now - yes, stop reading this even. If you are looking to use a 3D printer and want a simple, FREE program that will TEACH, (yes, teach) you to do 3D printing, then Tinkercad is it. I created the 3D model all by myself after completing some of the Tinkercad lessons, and last Monday, we (Mike R. (UNCG) and I printed it. Now, I will tell you even though we had to stop the printing process because the line snapped, I pulled off three slim bookmarks and ran, as if I were Tom Hanks having created fire to our Principal's office to show one off! The next day, I re-vamped it and I printed 2 more!! So proud I was of myself, (best Yoda voice). Then, I had to challenge myself, (that's with a sarcastic tone..) I decided to change to the other type of filament. We'd been using PLA, I wanted to switch back to ABS - (different color... :) ) . So I did the changes and it wouldn't print!!! Nothing came from the extruder! I thought the bed was off so I leveled the bed.. nothing. I switched it back to the other filament and still nothing! - Not to mention every time I changed something, I had to restart both my computer and the printer to sync them! I gave up, and went home thinking - guess I'm not such a hotshot now am i? I decided I would call Mike R. after another attempt yesterday. Still wouldn't print - even adjusted the bed MANUALLY after research - nada. Here's the humbling part... Mike S., our school counselor came into the Makerspace to see what I was doing and I asked him, "Looking at the printer, tell me which is the right extruder and which the left?", (you see where I'm going with this?) I had gotten a niggling that perhaps I couldn't tell my left extruder from my right extruder. He confirmed my suspicions and guess what I got it to print!!
Another thing - I have other work to be doing, but I keep getting drawn back to the Makerspace to "play" on the printer - When I tell people I am playing, they say "how else are you going to learn?"
Maybe I should leave it right there for now.