Shopbot and Cub Scouts

[jdwykrent]

Hey all.

The local cub scout troop will be using my shop to build their Pinewood Derby cars this Saturday. There will be about 15 boys and their parents. They are interested in the Shopbot and 3D printing machines I have.

I am going to try give a brief explanation of them... but I'm having a hard time trying to figure out how to be brief.

Do I dive into XYZ CAD CAM etc... or do I KISS and show a basic AutoCAD drawing, Basic 3D Modeling, Basic import into Aspire and toolpath? Or even more basic and explain how the machine computes the XYZ data we enter, draw a part in aspire, then go cut?

What would you do for cub scouts?

[Brady Watson]

The key is to keep it real simple...Think of it as an introduction to digital fabrication.

I would give a broad overview of the technology and not get into much technical detail. This would intrigue those truly interested & weed out the ones that just need a briefing on the technology to be relevant in conversation.

I would look at the big picture -

1) You can buy or download for free, ready to go projects or create your own from scratch.

2) You can use Subtractive technology, like a ShopBot to machine some of these designs

3) You could also use Additive technology, like a 3D printer to print some of these designs.

I would let 'PowerPoint' tell the story with pictorial examples of each.

I would then pick a common part, 3D machine it AND 3D print it - and pass around the result.

That should be more than enough for both kids and parents to rattle around in their heads for one day...

I totally get it...it is often hard to dumb things down when you need to know all the technical details in your own work from day to day. It's real easy to forget or not even realize what others don't know.

-B

[Red F]

Being the father of a Cub Scout, just remember most of them have a pretty short attention span. I would plan for a couple educational segments with time in between for them to be hands-on.

And as always, what Brady said.

[Brian Harnett]

I like that layout Brady, I assume people understand the basics already when I am explaining something until 5 minutes into the conversation I am getting a blank look.

[zeykr]

When my daughter was learning Cartesian coordinates in math and graphing x,y pairs, we went out and entered the same thing she was graphing into the machine. I.e. Type J2,1,5 and watched it move 1" in X and 5" in Y. Took a lot of mystery out of how the machine worked for her. She drew up a simple shape on her graph paper and figured out the x,y pairs for it, then we wrote a simple program using jog statements to reproduce the same shape on the shopbot. She quickly figured out it even the most complex shapes are just a lot of small x,y movements.

[Kromet International]

When my daughter was learning Cartesian coordinates in math and graphing x,y pairs, we went out and entered the same thing she was graphing into the machine. I.e. Type J2,1,5 and watched it move 1" in X and 5" in Y. Took a lot of mystery out of how the machine worked for her. She drew up a simple shape on her graph paper and figured out the x,y pairs for it, then we wrote a simple program using jog statements to reproduce the same shape on the shopbot. She quickly figured out it even the most complex shapes are just a lot of small x,y movements.

Ken,
That is a great idea! It really puts math to work and the kids won't ask the question when will I use this in real life?

[ssflyer]

Ken,

Sounds like a perfect use of a plotter pen! I made mine out of brass fittings and shortie Sharpie pens.

[zeykr]

I made one of those also Ron. They can come in handy!

http://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/showpost.php?p=48041&postcount=23