In my own words · Jones County, IA

Why I love 3D printers

Two large gantry 3D printers extrude curved concrete walls of subscale habitat structures side by side at NASA's 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love 3D Printing" page — read by families in Jones County, IA. — Two large gantry 3D printers extrude curved concrete walls of subscale habitat structures side by side at NASA's 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge. NASA · Public domain

I draw it and then I can hold it.
It builds up in tiny layers, over and over.
If it does not fit, I change it and print it again.

You can love 3D printers in Jones County.

What it really is

A 3D printer builds an object one thin layer at a time.

Three things to try today

Draw a part you wish existed.
Measure something it has to fit.
Write down the measurement to the millimeter.

Members of the Penn State team prepare their gantry 3D printer before starting a habitat print at the NASA 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love 3D Printing" page — read by families in Jones County, IA. — Members of the Penn State team prepare their gantry 3D printer before starting a habitat print at the NASA 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge. NASA · Public domain

For the grown-up reading this

Jones County is one of 99 counties in Iowa. The question is not whether Jones County, IA has children who love 3D printers. It is whether anyone told them that counts as something.

Tolerance is the lesson. A part that is a millimeter off does not fit, and that is the point.

If the kid who loves this is a girl

Read what one popular teacher said to one little girl who took out the classroom trash without being asked — and what that girl did with the rest of her life.

Girls are great at math — Jones County, IA →