Erasmus+ 1st activity experience, Serbia (1)

  The seminar was extremely well-organized, and the instructors had extensive experience with FreeCAD. They managed to convey their knowledge in a pleasant, simple, and understandable way. The knowledge I gained from this seminar led me to try my luck in an educational competition on three-dimensional design held in my country. I feel quite confident and hope that I can meet the challenge and perhaps even excel.

The experience of interacting with children from the other two countries was excellent. We shared different knowledge and ideas, while also exchanging cultural information. The only negative aspect was that the Serbians and the North Macedonians spoke the same language, which sometimes made us Greeks feel uncomfortable and isolated.

 The school was perfect. It is located in a very nice area, with many classrooms and large sport fields that provide a pleasant environment for activities. I was impressed by the workshops, which were well-equipped, and I was particularly interested in the automotive specialization, which offers trainees an interesting and practical educational experience. Overall, my experience in Pirot I would describe as unique, as it broadened my horizons.

   BEJDOLLI SERXHJO:

   My experience at the school was perfect. The workshops had     machines and equipment that are not available in our school. The   teachers and the students were extremely welcoming and friendly.   Our collaboration was flawless. The students who had more   knowledge than us in FreeCAD were supportive and helped us   successfully complete all activities.

As a future mechanical engineer, my participation in this program enriched my knowledge and experiences. The exposure to three-dimensional technology combined with practical application of knowledge helped me develop my skills and deepen my understanding in my professional field. This experience was a valuable asset for my future career and made me feel confident about my abilities as an engineer.

All extracurricular activities and visits were very interesting. I particularly highlight the visit to the Turkish house. Its atmosphere and architecture transported me to another era, while the history revealed during the tour fascinated me. In one word, my experience from the visit to Pirot was excellent.

 MOIDIS KONSTANTINOS  :

    The seminar was an extremely positive experience for me. The collaboration with all the children and the teachers was very good, and I felt like I belonged to a team. The sports activities helped us build bonds and bring all the children together.

  Pirot is a beautiful city filled with shops and many young people. The city’s activity created an enthusiastic atmosphere that won me over immediately.

It was my first participation in an Erasmus program and at the same time my first experience outside Greece. The feeling of the new experience and my eagerness to discover new cultures and meet new people were integral parts of my experience. This initial contact with the international environment made me feel alive and eager to explore everything this new experience had to offer. I savored it all to the fullest.

                         PAPANASTASIOU GEORGIOS                                           Initially, I would like to thank my teachers for giving me the opportunity to participate in the program. Through this experience, we learned how to design in three dimensions… They treated us with kindness and respect, without separating us because of our background… Everyone was hospitable and polite, and we managed to create bonds that will endure… The highlight of this experience was the sports activities, as they brought us even closer together… I truly had a wonderful time, and this experience will remain unforgettable to me.

BEZAS KONSTANTINOS – SAMIOTI VIOLETA

   As teachers, we seek to engage in Erasmus programs and     encourage our students” participation in them, as we believe that     intercultural exchange and experience in different educational   environments enhance their personal and professional development.

Our experience in Pirot was exceptional and constructive, both for us teachers and, of course, even more so for our students. They were trained in three-dimensional design, acquiring new skills and knowledge in an environment that encouraged creativity and innovation. This experience opens up new horizons for our students and equips them with the tools they need for their future in the modern world of technology and design.

The school headmaster and the program coordinator would like to thank our hosts in Pirot for their excellent hospitality and the impeccable organization of the seminar.

Hull defines this process as: «A system for generating three-dimensional objects by creating a cross-sectional pattern of the object being formed», but this was previously invented by Kodama. Hal’s contribution is the design of the STL (Stereolithography) format widely accepted by 3D printing software. His contribution is also the digital cutting and filling strategy, common to many processes today.

During these years, other technologies and processes of 3D printing appear, but the simplest method is layering. The printer ejects the molten plastic onto the work surface, layer by layer. The plastic cools down and these layers merge. The printer creates a specific object from the bottom, moving quickly to the top with each new layer.

In January 2009, the first commercially available 3D printer based on the RepRap concept appeared. The RepRap project is an initiative to develop a 3D printer that can print most of its own parts. RepRap (short for replicating rapid prototyper) uses a variant of depositional fusion modeling, an additive manufacturing technology. As an open design, all printer types produced by the project are released under a free software license, the GNU General Public License.

To date, the RepRap project has released four 3D printing machines: «Darwin,» released in March 2007, «Mendel,» released in October 2009, «Prussia Mendel,» and «Huxley,» released in 2010. The authors named them after famous biologists since «the purpose of RepRap is replication and evolution». Because of the machine’s self-replicating capabilities, the authors envision the possibility of cheaply shipping RepRap units to people, allowing them to create (or download from the Internet) complex products, without the need for expensive industrial infrastructure, including scientific equipment. Their intention for the RepRap is to show the evolution in this process.

At the heart of RepRap is a thermoplastic extruder. Early RepRap extruders used a geared DC motor that drove a screw that pressed firmly on the plastic fiber, forcing it through a heated melt chamber and narrow extruder nozzle. However, because of their high inertia, DC motors cannot start or stop quickly, and therefore were difficult to control precisely. Therefore, newer extruders use stepper motors (sometimes geared) to move the fiber, pressing the fiber between the toothed shaft and the bearing.

Almost any 3D modeling program or CAD can be used with RepRap, as long as it is capable of producing STL files. Authors use tools they are familiar with, whether they are commercial CAD programs like SolidWorks or open source 3D modeling programs like Blender or OpenSCAD. RepRaps can print objects from ABS, polylactic acid, and similar thermopolymers.

If we take into account the materials used for 3D printing, we can say that they became diverse. An increasing number of metals are used especially for industrial 3D printing. One of the strongest and most commonly used metals is stainless steel, which is used in the form of powder, using the sintering technique, combining the powder into solid objects. The sintering technique uses various powdered materials from metal to ceramics. Powder fusion is performed under the influence of a laser, but electron beams or a focused heat source are also used. Stainless steel gives a natural silver color, but it can be coated with other materials to give a bronze or gold effect. In the last few years, both gold and silver have been used as materials that can be printed directly. They are used in the jewelry industry as well.

Ceramics are a relatively new group of materials used for 3D printing with varying degrees of success. 3D printed paper models are economical, safe, easy to recycle and do not require any post process. Wood, Styrofoam, plasticine are also used as materials. There is a lot of research into the potential of 3D printing with bio-materials. Bioprinting involves taking cells and possibly multiplying them outside the body and making replacement organs. It is believed that if the cell for reproduction is taken from the person who will be the recipient, the body will more easily accept such an organ. This part already really feels like science fiction with the ideas of immortality and printing the organs we need.

Experimentation with food printing has become more frequent in the last few years. There are printers that work with sugar, paste and meat. Probably everyone dreams of printing chocolate or a complete meal.

Below, we embark on a journey through time to revisit the major milestones that have paved the path for 3D printing in architecture, arousing it to its current status and unlocking the doors to a bright future.

Surprisingly, the history of 3D modeling began long before the first PC appeared. It all started with mathematical ideas which are behind 3D visualization. In fact, some of the basic ideas came from Euclid, sometimes referred to as the “founder of geometry”, who lived in the 3rd century BC. Then, Rene Descartes in the 1600s gave the world analytic geometry, also known as coordinate geometry, which allowed to accurately track distances and locations. Later in the mid 18th century, English mathematician James Joseph Sylvester invented matrix mathematics which is now at work for every computer-generated image where one can see reflections or light distortion.

In the 1950s, computers were developed and put to many mathematical uses – mainly military and scientific, but not much else. However, this was a stepping stone in history because someone thought of making it useful for a realistic simulation of products and designs.

As we all witnessed through history, 3D printing could not have been imagined without the development of 3D modeling. The first advancements in the history of 3D modeling came when the first commercially available CAD or Computer Aided Design systems started coming out in the 1960s. The biggest breakthrough came from Ivan Sutherland who introduced Sketchpad, also known as “Robot Draftsman,” in 1963 with its revolutionary interface. Sketchpad established that computers can be used not only for engineering or repetitive drafting but interactively by Designers and potentially Artists. In the same year, the General Motors and IBM partnership created the DAC-1, Design Augmented by Computer, which was publicly presented in 1964 and used by General Motors for the rest of the decade to speed up their car production workflow. It demonstrated that computer design visualization can cut down workloads which would have taken forever if the drawing boards were used.

At the end of the decade, in 1968, Ivan Sutherland and David Evans founded the first 3D graphics company, “Evans & Sutherland”. They started the company to produce hardware to run the systems that were being developed but were soon also developing software. Their appearance and success in the market inspired others to take a big leap of faith, set up their own companies and work on developing the technology.