Memorandum Monday in 3D

Hello everybody and big waves on a blustery morning.

I had a fabulous new experience this week - a 3D party which involved a nice mix of techie geek, futurism and creativity. 

A lovely lady brought a 3D printer along to the house and set it printing while she talked about how it works. 

it took about 20 minutes to print this chain - fully interlocking links with no assembly afterwards - yes the printer can leave a small gap between the bits it prints and it can print a layer onto air - not just the platform or existing printing.  The flat layer at the bottom - called a raft - is broken off afterwards but is printed to provide a stable base for the shape. 

Good to be able to watch the printer at work without having to look over the heads of kids or past crowds as has been the case when I've seen 3D printers before at the science festival or makers faire.

Then we played with 3D pens - yes I know all pens are 3D in shape but these pens let you draw in 3 dimensions - they extrude plastic that dries immediately so you can draw on air - draw a line straight up - create a shape that will then stand up. 

The plastic comes in lots of lovely colours. 

I'd watched some videos and looked at images before hand and thought I'd make it easier for us all by printing out some basic shapes that we could use as templates - the dragons, sun, butterfly, paperclip and initials were all done this way.  Lots of fun and we all had a play.

This 3D party was our birthday gift to my Mum who is fascinated by 3D printers.  I came across the woman who runs the parties when browsing the people who would be at the makers faire and noticed she offered kids 3D parties so I contacted her and asked if she would do one for adults - and of course all family members were keen to be involved too.  She is now going to advertise that she will do adult parties too.  A fun new event enjoyed by all of us.

Hope you all have a good week