Stacey Loeffler and her family spent Sunday in Vancouver basking in a different kind of glow than the warm, sunny weather outside.
Instead, Loffler, her husband Luke Loeffler, her best friend Sarah Haarshma and her father Terry Boyd descended into the Vancouver Community Library to bask in the glow of computer screens as they learned the basics of designing items to be created with the library’s three-dimensional printers. The free class, Intro to 3D Design, which runs the last Sunday of each month, is the first step toward learning how to create objects for 3D printers. And the group, who are all into crafting, came out of it bursting with new ideas.
“Once you start thinking about 3D printing, you see things all over the house and you realize there are a lot of little everyday problems you can solve with it,” Stacey Loeffler said. “In one case, I saw somebody make a hook that they attached to their baby stroller so it could hold their bag. There are a ton of things like that.”
During the class, her father — an avid woodworker — realized he could use the technology to save money on alphabet templates for wooden inlays, which add patterns or words to wood products. Letter sets for the inlays can cost well over $100, but by 3D printing only specific letters, Boyd realized he wouldn’t have to pay for a full set to work on projects.
“I’m starting to get the hang of it,” Boyd said, puzzling over the floating grid on his computer screen as he manipulated various shapes into a 3D design. “Alphabet templates, they’re expensive. But if you only need a few letters for someone’s name, you can just print the letters you need and save money.”
The Vancouver Community Library has been running 3D printing classes for about three years, and they continue to grow in popularity, said Kelly Lamm, branch manager. The classes were designed by Jamie Bair, the library’s experiential services librarian.
“The classes are usually at capacity,” Lamm said, noting that the library system is working to expand them to all branches. “Soon we’ll have a 3D printer that floats between branches, along with the main one here and two more — one at Cascade Park and one at Three Creeks.”
Intro to 3D Design is the first class, teaching students how to build objects in a program called Tinkercad, which is free online. After that class, which takes about an hour, students can use the library’s 3D printer for free under supervision during printing lab hours.
The follow-up class, 3D Printing Certification, is a two-hour class that runs the first Sunday of each month and teaches students how to operate 3D printers by themselves. After that class, students can use the library’s 3D printer without supervision.
During Sunday’s class, teacher Kelsey Nakaishi showed students how to use various features of Tinkercad and provided an overview of the program. Students designed their own keychains with their names on them, although some also spent the time playing with designs that were more difficult.
Luke Loeffler, who volunteers frequently at Burnt Bridge Creek Elementary School, took the class with a goal of eventually teaching kids about 3D printing, he said. He worked on the keychain, but also had several springs and other shapes floating around his screen as he played with the technology.
“I want to learn more so I can talk to the kids about it,” he said. “I’ve been playing with Tinkercad for about a week already. My brain asked what’s the first easy thing I can build, so I built a spoon first. Now I’m opening up to other things I can design and print.”
His next project was playing with designs for a carabiner that he wants to print and test, while also looking for some good projects for the kids.
“There’s a lot of these kids that have never touched a power tool, they’ve never designed anything,” Luke Loeffler said. “Watching these kids get fired up about design, about things like electrical circuits, it’s really fantastic. I think they’ll love 3D printing.”
Stacey Loeffler hit her eureka moment as she was playing with her keychain and realized she could use the technology to trick out her garden.
“I could make little elevated tags for every plant in my garden,” she said enthusiastically. “I’m going to do that! That’s so fun, and really easy to do.”
After that, she realized she could also use the design technology to make custom pots for air plants.
“There’s also a whole bunch of different kinds of filament you can use,” she said, referring to the material that 3D printers use to print.
The library system uses a type called PLA Filament, which is made from corn starch and is a bit like plastic. Other 3D printers use a wide variety of filament types, including metals, carbon fiber and other materials.
Students can also use the technology to make their own repair parts. For instance, when a small piece of a refrigerator or other appliance breaks off accidentally, a repair part can be designed and 3D printed, then glued in place. That’s another thing Stacey Loeffler is interested in.
“We’ve moved into a society that’s replaceable instead of repairable,” she said. “But repairable things save so much money.”
After the class, Haarshma, who spent much of the class working closely with Stacey Loeffler, said she wasn’t sure what she wanted to do with her newfound knowledge just yet — but she was eager to start brainstorming.
“I have no idea what to do yet,” Haarshma said. “Now I’ve just got to look around the internet and see what else is out there. What can I make? This is exciting.”
