Summer's 3-D printing hub: Libraries

Programs attract students interested in creating puzzles, cufflinks, even a Camaro

Ian Morse
The Journal News
White Plains Librarian Erik Carlson helps Mariana Naulaguari, 11, create a cube on the computer during a 3-D printing camp at the White Plains Public library on July 11, 2016.

On a hot summer day with pools, parks and "Pokemon Go" beckoning, the last place you might expect to find children is the local library.

But recently seven kids gathered around computers in the White Plains Library for a project. The next day, seven others came and left with new toys. The attraction? They were designing 3-D puzzles, phone cases and model cars with the library's equipment.

The two sessions were part of the library’s three-week 3-D printing camp, but White Plains is not the only library providing summer programs to teach the technology. Students at the New City, Yonkers and North Castle libraries have joined the 3-D trend this summer.

“They’re just like, ‘I want a car,’ or ‘I want a phone case,’ so they just download it and get it printed,” said White Plains librarian Erik Carlson, the teacher of the design class. Students from libraries across the area have used 3-D printing to make cufflinks, model cars, puzzles and even a winged lion.

The technology is relatively new — 3-D printers take digital files and lay out plastic filament in layers to "print" the digital idea into a physical copy.

When White Plains bought the 3-D printers two years ago, it was among the first local libraries or schools to have them. Carlson and library Digital Media Specialist Austin Onley wrote a syllabus and now hold 3-D printing sessions and classes throughout the year for young children, teens and adults, in English and Spanish. Other libraries have begun to follow suit this summer.

Carlson and Onley have also helped librarians in Somers and Yonkers, schoolteachers at Eastview and Byram Hills middle schools, even instructors at Manhattanville College learn how to use the printers.

“We had someone come in and show us how to do it, and when you’ve printed so much, you just learn a lot on the job,” Onley said.

“It’s a huge, huge movement in the library world. Every conference you go to now, there’s usually a session on 3-D printing,” said Veronica Reynolds, community relations coordinator at New City Library.

In the design class at White Plains Library, recently granted $2.4 million for renovations, students of all ages can use programs like Tinkercad or MakerCAM to design their own models and puzzles, although sometimes graph paper can be the best starting point.

“Hopefully they will get out of this some critical thinking skills, some math skills and some engineering skills,” Carlson said. “But basically they’re getting a puzzle to challenge their brothers and sisters and friends with.”

From left, Juan Paulino, 14, Juliany Marte, 13, and Michael Governor, 13, work on a model cube during a 3-D printing camp at the White Plains Public library on July 11, 2016.

“Right now it’s extraordinary, it’s novel,” Reynolds said of the 3-D printing experience. “Part of being a librarian is mastery of new skills.”

Students at North Castle Library in Armonk have 3-D printed ships and name tags. One seventh-grader designed and printed a flying car. Library trainee Gabby Madera’s favorite, however, was a model of a Nike Air Jordan shoe.

“Our goal right now is to make the community aware of the opportunities, how to take their projects and ideas further,” Madera said. Ideally, she said, people could design their own creations and bring them in to the library to have them printed as one would with a normal printer. Reynolds said that New City would also like to open the printers to the public, but space constrains the library there.

At North Castle, 10 to 15 people from sixth grade through adulthood have attended classes for three weeks during the summer. Some don’t know what a 3-D printer is; others want to learn to use a technology about which they’ve heard so much. In New City, about 15 students ranging in age from 11 to over 80 years old have taken part in lectures and printing classes.

Mariana Naulaguari, 11, creates a cube on the computer during a 3-D printing camp at the White Plains Public library on July 11, 2016.

Yonkers Technology Instruction Coordinator Christine Bitetti, who attended a training session at White Plains Library, noted that the 3-D training sessions are some of the most well-attended at her library.

“In class, they design key chains so we have printed a lot of them,” Bitetti wrote in an email, “but we have had several requests for items to be printed, including an Apple watch stand, a business card holder and a 3-D image of someone's daughter, which was cool.”

At each library, every class and every print is free; the printers themselves cost about $2,000. Librarians said the cost is definitely worth it for the value it adds to the library.

“I think it works really well in line with what we’re already doing [at the New City Library],” Reynolds said. “One of our big missions is to augment learning, and not only for people in school … It’s another skill set and design technique.”

“We’re in the process of recreating what we do,” North Castle Director of Youth Services Megan Dean said. “We offer a lot of science programs, and now we’re dabbling in technology. We’re looking into makerspaces technologies.”

Peloson Richard, 13, creates cubes during a 3-D printing camp at the White Plains Public library on July 11, 2016.

Seventh-grader Chad Davis came in to White Plains Library for the second time this summer to print a big thing on his mind: cars. On Tuesday, he printed a Chevrolet Camaro model with wheels that could rotate.

“I don’t know what else I would print. I wanted to print an engine block, but that’s too many pieces,” he said.

The process is simple — download the file from Thingiverse, a 3-D design database, select it on the printer, and wait 15 minutes.

Unfortunately the axles on his Camaro were too small this time, but that just means that he’ll print it bigger next time.

“I’ll come back because I want to print more stuff,” Davis said.

Twitter: @ianjmorse
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