3-D Printing at Bridgewater State College


  • The College recently purchased a Z Corp. Z450 3-D printer. This device (located in Room 305 in the Moakley Center) can take data in several CAD (computer-aided design) formats and turn it into a physical object...in full color
    • See http://www.zcorp.com/Products/3D-Printers/ZPrinter-450/spage.aspx
    • See the video: http://www.zcorp.com/documents/114_450Video.wvx

  • The use of this device is open to all and is limited only by your imagination!
    • Colleagues in both art (Magaly Ponce) and chemistry (Frank Gorga) are already making models. Other colleagues in geography and in mathematics have already expressed and interest in building models.
    • We invite you to think about how you could use 3-D models in your teaching and scholarship.

  • We will need to charge a (volume-based) fee (to be determined) for each model in order to cover the cost of materials and (student) labor used in making models. We expect that a typically sized model will cost $40-50.

  • The "hard part" will be getting your data (if it does not come directly from a CAD program) into a format that the printer can read. This is a one-time "problem" and we can help!

  • For those who are anxious to get started, here is a list of file formats we can print from:
    • .stl files are monochrome 3D model files exported by several 3D CAD packages.
    • .wrl (also known as VRML) files are color files that are exported by many 3D CAD packages. (We expect that this may be the most common denominator but time will tell!)
    • .ply files are 3D model files exported by several 3D CAD packages.
    • .3ds files are color files created in Autodesk 3D Studio Max.
    • .gis files are Geographic Information System files.
    • .sfx files are 3D color model files exported by SolidView Pro.

  • If your program does not export to one of these formats, we may be able to convert via intermediate programs. We are available for consultation and to help you experiment!

                           

Contact: Magaly Ponce (Art) or Frank Gorga (Chemistry) to get started!
        Magaly: mponce@bridgew.edu, x2451
        Frank: fgorga@bridgew.edu, x2827

Last Modified: October 20, 2009