3-D Print Workshop

On August 5th, Erik Petersen held a 3-D print workshop in his home. Attendees were Richard Howell, Sid Vandover, Barry and Tracy Halsted. The first thing was to design the object, using software provided. This seemed easy for the engineers in the group to grasp. For me, not so much.

The program was copied to an SD card, which was inserted into the 3-D printer. Note the big spool of plastic coil on top of the printer. That is the material that is used to create the object. Erik explained the large variety of material that can be used, including different colors.

Here, Barry, Richard, and Erik are watching the printer. The printer works like a regular printer, except instead of ink it lays down a thin layer of material. The object is build one layer at a time, Even for our simple wings, there were many layers.

Here, the printer is working away on the object. Sorry I can’t include a video. It was amazing to watch!

Our object, a pilot wing pin with EAA 430 insignia on it, is being built here, one layer at a time.

Here, the wings are almost complete!

Erik also talked about the vast number of objects that can be made with 3-D, and how there are many templates available that can be used as a starting point. Harry Cook from our chapter made a part for his new Sonix, with Erik’s help. That’s how easy it is! The Sequim Museum of Arts has a 3-D printer onsite that was donated by Erik. Anyone who wants to build an object at home can take their program on an SD card to the museum and do the printing there.

Any questions, please ask Erik. Thank you, Erik, for a wonderful demonstration! Tracy Halsted EAA 430 member Even closer to being done!

Here is the completed wing.