The Business of 3D Printing

thingiverse

The Future of Education is Here: Incorporating 3D Printing into Business Classes As educators, we are constantly seeking innovative ways to engage our students and prepare them for the challenges of the modern business world. One exciting development that has the potential to revolutionize the way we teach entrepreneurship and cost/benefit analysis is the integration of 3D printing into our business classes. Printer Settings: A Key Factor in Success When it comes to 3D printing, having the right settings can make all the difference between a successful print and a disappointing failure. In this lesson, students will learn how to optimize their printer settings for maximum efficiency and minimal waste. Keychain Design: A Case Study Using Tinkercad, I designed a simple keychain with a cylindrical body and a tube attachment. However, when I attempted to print the design with an .svg of a polar bear inside a paw, the results were less than satisfactory. Undeterred, I settled on printing just the paw, which proved to be a more successful venture. Overview and Background As 3D printers become increasingly prevalent in educational settings, it's essential that we provide our students with the skills they need to effectively utilize these machines. This lesson plan is designed to help students develop a comprehensive understanding of product development, marketing, and cost/benefit analysis. Key Skills: * Develop a management plan for an entrepreneurial venture * Develop a business plan * Analyze customer groups and develop a plan to identify, reach, and keep customers in a specific target market Duration: This project-based lesson can be adapted to fit the needs of your classroom, with options for part one to last several weeks or as long as a semester. Lesson Plan and Activity To begin, students will need to have a basic understanding of product development. If they lack this knowledge, some time should be spent discussing what goes into bringing a new product to market. Next, students will brainstorm ideas for products that could be sold in their school or community. They will work in teams to determine the feasibility of their idea and conduct market research to gauge interest from their peers. The design process will follow, where students will use 3D design software (such as Tinkercad) to create a prototype of their product. They will need to consider factors such as supports, filament requirements, print time, and cost analysis. Using the Makerbot Desktop software, I was able to determine that my keychain would require 11.28g of filament with default settings, resulting in a cost of $0.60 and a print time of 1 hour and 8 minutes. By optimizing the design, I was able to reduce the filament requirement to 7.99g, lowering the cost to $0.42 and reducing the print time to 1 hour. Students will then develop their own cost analysis and price their product accordingly. The culmination of the project will be having students print out their products and market them to their peers. Materials Needed: * Computer access and software accounts for each student group * 3D printer with filament Rubric and Assessment: * Students will be graded on the completeness and reasonableness of their business plan * A separate grade will be given for their design and marketing campaign References: * http://www.thesekidsmeanbusiness.org/incl/LESSON_12.pdf