How I Donated 3D Printed PPE to fight against Covid
*The article and images are original from the author and not by Curiosity3D
Hey what’s up, I trust you are doing well.
My name is Utprabh Mishra, a student by profession and a Curious learner by heart.
Being the curious person I am, I decided to learn 3D Printing during the Lockdown. To say it was great would be an understatement and thus I am going to explain the whole experience further.
My interests have always been around science, I have always had a special love for science and I always try to find ways and answers to the curiosity I have within. So, to list my interests they are: - Automotive, Space Engineering, Aircrafts, and Artificial Intelligence.
The way I got to know about 3D Printing was when I was busy searching on ‘How to Build Iron Man’ as a kid. To me, it almost seemed magical because of the neatness and the ease of printing 3D items. After I passed out of school, I set on the path to satisfy my curiosity again.
Time passed and after researching 3D printing on my own, I found and was intrigued by this 3D Printing Program by Curiosity3D. Before I took the program, my knowledge around 3D printing was just a mess, I knew little things from here and there, but didn’t completely understand the process, when I thought of buying a 3D printer, I saw they were too costly to afford, also I couldn’t see 3D printers making their way outside of industries.
But the moment I found this program, my opinion changed. After the completion of the program, I was able to put together the bits and pieces of knowledge I had and was able to know the different type of 3D printing that goes into different types of industries, and my opinion that 3D printers can’t make it beyond the industries completely changed.
The experience of learning 3D printing was surreal to describe in just one word. Performing operations and printing stuff on my own that I could use in daily life was amazing. I utilized it to its maximum potential and learned a lot more than I thought I would.
I made various kinds of projects, from Face Shields and Mask Straps to Mobile Stand, Labyrinth puzzle, and a Lamborghini Logo as well! The Face Shields has its application in protecting the Covid warriors from the virus and the mask straps help in reducing the strain that gets created when wearing masks for prolonged periods. As for the Mobile stand, its main application for me is that it helps me in attending calls and classes as it’s not very comfortable to hold the phone for hours.
The method was a bit difficult to understand at first but I eventually got a hold of it. I just had to transfer the design of the object I wanted to print in an SD card, upon inserting it, I had a few options, then I simply had to check if the plate on the printer was leveled or not, after ensuring the grounding I had to give the command, then the heating element rose to a temperature such that the material (PLA) could melt, then the object was printed in some time according to the size.
Talking about the results, I faced quite a lot of setbacks when I forget to Level the Baseplate or when I forget to bring the motor to its original coordinates, and a lot more, but under the guidance of the amazing teacher I had, I was able to complete the targets and the projects that I wanted to make. I successfully donated Face Shields and Mask Straps to Covid warriors near me!
Now coming to the point, why I feel that 3D Printing is important is because we don’t have an unlimited amount of resources on earth!!
The resources are finite and at the rate, they are being consumed the future doesn’t look very good, but here is the part where 3D printing comes to the rescue, we no longer need to set machinery that weighs tones of kgs, that costs a fortune to run, consumes a lot of electricity and still doesn’t produce a justified product.
With the help of a 3D printer, an individual can produce the same quality of the product (if not better) than the Multi-billion-dollar MNC’s and at their own pace while sitting in their home.
And the reason why I think that it will help students is that the world now knows the potential of 3D printing, various industries have already started to adopt it, space and automotive companies are already going hard on 3D printing, so if a student doesn’t learn about 3D printing in today’s age, that student is soon going to become “irrelevant” because the industry demands individuals that are up to date with the technology and if someone is not, the industry will simply not welcome that person.
I have a lot of interesting ideas, if I had to list down a few, that would be in Space shuttles, particularly the Outer Hulls of the Ship, I am also looking forward to applying 3D printing in the Motor and the battery pack of EVs. I will probably use 3D printing in the future to use research about the science projects that I have in my mind and maybe even print daily household items
An interesting article that I recently read was about the application of 3D printing in the chassis and the Developments of various parts in the automotive field, I also saw the practical application of generative design in the suspension setup of a Hyper-Car. Check it out here..
The other thing that I want students to know is that “change is the only constant”; till the time you are evolving, till the time your knowledge is evolving (it doesn’t matter in which field you are) the world will have a place for you. 3D Printing is one of those things that can revolutionize the whole world and gaining knowledge of it and its applications is always going to give you an upper edge in the Industry.
Thank you
