Update — The printer arrived Friday. We assembled and printed our first parts over the weekend. We’ll be showing it off at our regular Wednesday evening open house.
We ordered a 3D printer with grant funds from the Framingham Cultural Council and a generous Makerspace member. We decided on the Flashforge Creator Pro. This printer has dual extruder heads and an 8.9 x 5.7 x 5.9 inch build area.
We will provide one to two hours per week, open to the public, free training on use of a 3D printer. Training will include: how to find open source parts others have designed on the web; using the “slicer” software to prepare parts for printing; setting up the printer; various materials available to print; discussion of how the printer works; discussion on limitations on part geometry; introduction to 3D CAD programs to design your own parts. Some nights will be stand alone intro training, while others will be a series of more in depth training. Intent is not for each person to print their own part but to learn about 3D printing capabilities.