How 3D Print Labs Can Meet Modern Student Needs

It’s the new semester and you’re ready to make this one a resounding success. After the chaos of the last exam period, you want to do whatever you can to make your print lab more accessible to the students who need it. The beginning of term is a fresh start - the perfect time to take a step back, look at your current processes, and figure out what can be done to better serve your students. In today’s blog, we’ll discuss how automation increases accessibility of post-secondary print labs, while also making your life as operator so much easier.

The Need for Accessibility

The barrier between students and the knowledge and resources they need to succeed has never been thinner. With e-Libraries and online course resources, the learning materials and tools they need to complete projects are at their fingertips. But physical limitations still remain in tangible processes like 3D printing. Sure, students can design and slice 3D models from the comfort of their rooms, and maybe they can even submit a file to be printed through an online portal. A lot of the time these files still have to be manually checked by someone (likely you or your team) and almost certainly have to be started and removed by someone (either the student or your team). These steps take time and rely on print lab access and/or operators to run smoothly, and unfortunately professors often don’t take all these factors into consideration when scheduling midterms or end-of-term projects.

You probably observe the same pattern each semester, as your print lab goes from empty to overloaded within days. There’s nothing you can do but wait until a printer frees up to start the next student’s print. This leads to long wait times for students, limited printing time (since it relies on you to start prints), and the potential for a lot of back-and-forth with students anxiously awaiting their prints. All of the busyness is overwhelming and takes precious time away from your more important duties like teaching, research, or helping students with slicing and design. But what if it didn’t have to be so overwhelmingly busy? What if there was a better way?

The New Way

Picture this: In the same week, 3 classes have 3D printed projects due. All at once, files are submitted in a mad dash to be printed.

Usually, this would mean an endless rotation of checking files, removing prints, checking filament levels, and starting the next print.

But now, these files aren’t submitted to you. Instead they’re submitted directly to the printers, regardless of time of day, whether or not the building is locked or a supervisor is present. Students use an online portal to submit files, and that online portal checks to make sure the appropriate profile is used. Once the print is approved, this same software actually starts the print on an available printer. Even if it’s 3am on a Wednesday, if there is an idle printer with nothing on it, the print will start.

The printers themselves gently guide prints off the front of the machine and into a collection box, then check to make sure the bed is clear before starting the next print. 

When you get into the lab in the morning, you’re greeted with the sight of completed prints piled in front of each printer. Students whose prints finished come to pick them up as the day goes on - they were sent an email when their print finished and know which machine to collect it from.

If one of the prints didn’t go so well, ending up with spaghetti instead of an architectural model, both you and the student are alerted and the print is halted in its tracks so no more filament gets wasted. Once cooled, this spaghetti creation is also gently guided off the printer so the next print can begin, despite this unexpected disruption.

Your job is no longer putting out fires or juggling communications with students. Now, your job is simply to supervise the lab as it runs almost entirely on its own. Your responsibilities in the print lab are solely focused on the really high-value things, like helping students slice better or training them on printer operation and maintenance. Not only is the lab more accessible in that students can access it from anywhere, at any time, without restriction; it is also more accessible because you are - if they’re in need of advice or assistance with the more technical aspects of printing, you have more time, attention, and energy to help them.

Looking Forward

A lot has changed with the rise in technological reliance. The time has come for us to take the future into our own hands, and use the tools at our disposal to push the limits of this emerging technology. One of the simplest and most effective ways we can do this is to find innovative ways to streamline what we already have, making it more accessible, efficient, and sustainable - for students, for the environment, and for those who run them.

In today’s blog we explained how modern student needs have shifted, and why automated solutions are key to accommodating these needs. Our 3D print farm automation solution, AutoFarm^3D™, provides end-to-end automation for print farms of all sizes and applications. To learn more about AutoFarm^3D and its uses in your university print lab, please don’t hesitate to contact us.