Building 3D printers

Building 3D printers, with a little help from my friends

Naomi VanDenBerghe is the proud owner of the first ever Prusa 3D printer built from a kit at St Philip's College. She received help from her friends Kaitlin McGrath and Evie Holzmann who chipped in while waiting for their kits to arrive. 

This was achieved through the 3D printer build group created at St Philip's this year. The idea is that families buy the kits and they are then built at the schools with help, when needed, from a couple of teachers. This is a great way to learn how 3D printers work.

Towards the end of the build the door to the electronics cabinet broke. But teacher, Mr Bill Kerr was able to print a replacement part from his printer. This is possible because the Prusa company supports open hardware and software. Apart from that setback the girls showed tremendous initiative and needed very little assistance. 

The Prusa kit came all the way from the Czech Republic and was put together by the three girls in roughly 13 hours. Not an easy task.

Then came the nerve racking business of testing and troubleshooting any errors. There were a few but the girls solved the problems with flying colours.