New 3-D printer spurs school, industry partnering

(Photo by Kris Todd) Teacher Scott Rettey shows a diagram of the hold down clamp, shown at left on desk, using the local school district's SolidWorks 3-D animation software. Students and industry representatives alike are now able to feed design files into the software and make them into three-dimensional models made of ABS plastic courtesy the machine, at left, and a new printer. [Order this photo]

The addition of a 3-D prototype printer in the Spencer High School (SHS) Tech Ed building is benefiting area industries, while at the same time teaching SHS students marketable skills.

Students will be allowed to use it for the first time this upcoming school year.

Representatives of Cycle Country, Tecton Industries, Eaton Corp. and Maurer Manufacturing were notified of the Dimension BST1200es printer's arrival in late May. They've been utilizing it ever since.

"This is exciting because it gives me the opportunity to work directly with this rapid prototype machine. It's also exciting to have this at our disposal, so we can use it on a regular basis," a local company's design engineer said.

It's believed the addition of this $18,900 printer will help to solidify a continued learning process for students. Besides allowing them to move from the two-dimensional sketching of potential products and using the district's SolidWorks design and animation software to make adjustments to them, the rapid prototype printer will give them an actual three-dimensional model of their product. Their end results will be formed from narrow threads of ABS plastic which are built up in layers and fused together within the new printer.

"With this, we can put it together, paint it and it can be cloned. In other words," Scott Rettey said, "we can make it and see if it actually fits together and works. ... So, you're looking at a senior in high school now that would have the capability of doing that. And, if they wanted to spend the money, they could buy (the model they made) and take it with them. Taking a printed portfolio and a model (to an interview) makes students a lot more marketable (to potential employers) today."

(Photo by Kris Todd) This Dimension BST1200es printer, which is based in the Spencer High School Tech Ed building, makes three-dimensional models from narrow threads of plastic which build up in layers and fuse together inside. [Order this photo]

SHS students enrolled in classes in the Tech Ed building -- especially those in Tech Ed B, Technical Graphics and Pre-Engineering Technology -- will witness and take part in portions of this process.

"If a kid really has a great interest in it, they can take it to the next level," Rettey said. "The big advantage is now if they go to industry directly out of high school, they're familiar with the process and should have a real good grasp of what industry does. The same is true if they choose to enter a one-, two- or four-year school."

A handful of high school students were allowed to advance through the design-and-model process with the new printer prior to the dismissal of 2008-09 classes for the summer. One student in Gary Rustwick's Pre-Engineering class made a three-dimensional carbon dioxide-powered race car. Several other students designed and made hold down clamps.

Rustwick, who anticipates the carbon dioxide cars "catching on like wildfire" among students during the 2009-10 year, suggested he may have Pre-Engineering pupils also work to design models of vertical wind generators.

"All you do is limit yourself by your own thought process or imagination," the teacher said of the possibilities now available to students with this new technology. "Because you can do it if you can see it and draw it. That's what industry is excited about."

"The turnaround time from idea to market is so important in industry today," Rustwick added. "This just enables them to do it a lot faster and, if they don't have to incur the cost, a lot cheaper if they just have to pay (the district) for the material and a maintenance surcharge."

Industry's response to printer

Working with area business and industry representatives isn't a new concept for the SHS Tech Ed department. Representatives collaborated with Iowa Lakes Community College and Iowa Workforce Development officials in 1999 to build the department's CAD program. Department representatives also solicited donations from community members for the metal shop six years ago. A push for the department's welding area, as well as the purchase of several SolidWorks software packages, came about in 2008. According to Rettey, the application of more computer-controlled manufacturing devices and increased student production with the possible additions of a Plas-Cutter table and new DaVinci mill for the shop area will more than likely be the department's next focuses.

(Photo by Kris Todd) Cycle Country Drafter/Programmer Pat O'Brien proudly displays the plastic hub model he designed for this wheel cover in a relatively short turnaround time on the Spencer school district's new rapid prototype printer. [Order this photo]

Credit is also given to the Spencer Community School Foundation, which picked up approximately $14,500 of the department's tab for its new rapid prototype printer, and to advisory board members who have proven instrumental in guiding the department's direction.

Jeff Tetzlaff, the CEO and president of Cycle Country Accessories Corp. in Spencer, is among the department's 12 advisory board members.

"I like working with the school because we don't use a printer like this every day. I have committed that we will print at least four parts a year," Tetzlaff, a former technical education instructor himself, said. " ... But our engineers are already finding new applications and new uses for it."

"What this allows us to do is more rapidly get to market with our products," he continued. "We can also look for new products to prototype and take out to show the market and gauge market acceptance."

Besides crediting SHS teachers Rettey and Rustwick with being on the "forefront of technology and economic trends," Tetzlaff deemed the district's partnering with local industry essential for both parties' longevity.

He explained his company has already witnessed the financial benefits of having a 3-D printer based in the high school building. To illustrate this point, Tetzlaff said instead of waiting several weeks for a piece to work its way between Cycle Country staff and a service bureau, Pat O'Brien, a company drafter and programmer, was able to design the hub for a wheel cover, and make alterations to its plans three times, during an afternoon setting.

"Without this printer, we would not have been able to do something like this. We were outsourcing this type of work before," O'Brien, a 1988 SHS graduate, said.

"There's nothing that can hold us back as to what we can make now," an energized Cycle Country drafter and programmer added. "We could make anything out of metal, but there are no boundaries now."

Gene Buhr, the local company's design engineer, has worked with the SolidWorks software for 10 years.

"Now that we have this rapid prototype machine to add to that, it just keeps getting better," he exclaimed. " ... SolidWorks is our main staple here at Cycle Country. We use it for everything from design to art images we use in our manual to animation we use on our Web site. It's very powerful and very broad range. And Spencer school system's new software and rapid prototype machine interfaces directly with (our system). ... That's huge for a school. There aren't many around doing that. There's not many colleges around doing this either. So, the Spencer school has a big step up in that regard."

All three industry representatives, meanwhile, expressed a desire to partner with SHS in the hiring of its students familiar with this process.

"That's definitely something we hope to use in the future," Buhr said. "Somebody who is even remotely familiar with SolidWorks could have a place here."

"If I had enough work that I needed someone to supplement our workforce, I'd call Scott and take one of his top kids," Tetzlaff added. "I'd give him some real-world experience and I'd get a kid who was an asset because he'd already be trained and up to speed."