On March 23rd AET Labs and MakerBot introduced the new MakerBot Labs Experimental Extruder to the New England education community. Educators from Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Connecticut came together at Minuteman High School in Lexington, MA for this fun, hands-on day of 3D printing instruction.

MakerBot Product Specialist Chris Franks began the day with a MakerBot hardware overview and 3D printing demonstration followed by Thingiverse CAD design and MakerBot Print software tutorials. Next came a group project where instructors were tasked with designing a floating boat that can hold the most coins using a range of new colorFabb specialty materials – including the corkFill, copperFill, bronzeFill, and woodFill.

Chris went on to discuss how custom material print modes bring new advantages to the classroom, and how this creative flexibility can help push the boundaries for your school.

Other topics covered include:

• 3D Printing with various materials such as composite metals
• Custom slicing modes
• New modifiable hardware and interchangeable nozzles
• User-friendly lesson plans for K12 & Higher Ed

The day also proved to be a great networking opportunity and forum for educators to share ideas, resources and successes they’ve had in their classrooms.

Thanks to all who participated! We’re looking forward to hosting our next series of STEM fabrication workshops coming in August 2018. Stay tuned!