From Thread to Thing
Investigate how a 3D printer turns a thread of plastic into a bird: the layers it builds, the extruder that feeds the thread and the hot end that melts it, the motors that place every line, the G-code a slicer writes, and the limits that gravity, heat and colour set. Taught on a working desktop 3D printer on a workbench. Eleven investigations for ages 12 and up.
Library
A blind machine that follows orders
Lesson 4
Who Moves, the Nozzle or the Plate?
Three motors move this printer in three directions, and one of them moves something you would never expect.
StartLesson 5
The Printer Is Blind
It places every line to a fraction of a millimetre and never once checks where its nozzle is while it prints.
StartLesson 6
Fighting gravity, heat and time
Lesson 7
Lesson 8
Printing on Thin Air
Six planks lean further and further out over the plate, and only some of them print clean.
StartLesson 9
Lesson 10
Lesson 11
Review and assessment
Lesson 12
Test: From Thread to Thing
Review the course ideas by applying them to new situations, with kind feedback after every answer.
Locked till you take the prior lesson