New dimension

Libraries use 3-D printer to show new technology

From left,  Venessa Ford, Ward Public Library branch manager, and Meagan Ashcraft, Lonoke/Prairie County Library System project manager, hold up objects made with the system’s 3-D printer.
From left, Venessa Ford, Ward Public Library branch manager, and Meagan Ashcraft, Lonoke/Prairie County Library System project manager, hold up objects made with the system’s 3-D printer.

— With the click of a button, the MakerBot Replicator Mini 3-D printer came to life at the Ward Public Library on Wednesday afternoon. Components moved, and futuristic sounds emitted from the black box while onlookers anxiously awaited the contraption’s finished product.

Meagan Ashcraft, project manager with the Lonoke/Prairie County Regional Library System, checked on the estimated time for the project. In about 16 minutes, according to the computer, she would have a brand-new thimble made entirely of plastic.

The 3-D printer is a new part of the library system’s outreach initiative, and Ashcraft said it is a great way to show people in the community new technology, which goes along with the educational mission of the libraries.

“It’s really important for us to remind the community that the libraries are a center of learning. It’s not just with books; it’s with new technology,” she said. “We’re starting these programs to allow the community to learn more about this and similar kinds of technology.”

While the thimble, toy car and miniature igloo produced by the library system’s 3-D printer are interesting to look at, 3-D printing has endless practical applications.

“There’s been a lot of stuff on the news about what you can use the 3-D printer for,” said Venessa Ford, the Ward Public Library branch manager. “To me, I was impressed by a story where a little boy had lost his hand, and some kids used a 3-D printer to make him a hand that actually works.”

The MakerBot Replicator Mini 3-D printer is the second 3-D printer for the library system, but Ashcraft said it is much smaller than the system’s first printer and can be moved from one of their library branches to another easily.

The printer works by taking designs from a computer and replicating that design with heated PLA — or polylactic acid — plastic. Ashcraft showed the crowd at the Ward Public Library how the PLA plastic comes in strands coiled up like weed-trimmer line. After placing the PLA plastic in the 3-D printer, the printer heats it to 400 degrees and uses a pen-like tip to build the object layer by layer.

“I like to think of it like a really big hot-glue gun,” she said. “[The plastic] melts and comes out of the tip.”

The layers are .25 mm thick, leading to a nearly seamless finished product.

“If you move your fingernail against it, you can kind of feel the bumps,” Ashcraft said.

In the past, the library system has utilized the 3-D printer at special programs at different branches. Ford said that last summer, the Ward Public Library had summer programs where participants received printed bubble wands, which were a big hit.

Around the world — and even in space — 3-D printing is becoming more common. A two-legged Chihuahua named TurboRoo used to use a makeshift set of wheels to get around until someone printed him a custom harness with wheels. On the International Space Station, astronauts are able to print items they do not have on hand.

“People are applying this everywhere,” she said. “They’re using this to get children interested in technology.”

These practical applications are why Ashcraft and Ford want to introduce children to the new technology early. In her tour of the library branches, Ashcraft said, she has been impressed by children and the projects they think of for the 3-D printer.

“They can be so creative,” she said. “Sometimes it’s hard for me to keep up with the technology we have, but it’s getting them thinking.”

Staff writer Angela Spencer can be reached at (501) 244-4307 or aspencer@arkansasonline.com.

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