Accessible options: The Ultimaker 3D printer, made largely of wood, costs just under €1,000
We are driving from Chorley station to an industrial estate in the Lancashire town. “Excuse the insalubrious surroundings,” says Paul Croft, director of 3D printer supplier Ultimaker. “We’re sharing offices at the moment.”
The offices, as it turns out, are not so much insalubrious as small. Perched in the corner of a complex that also includes a radio station, Croft and business partner Alex Mayor are hoping to spark a 3D printing revolution that builds up among the nation’s schools. They’re importing additive layer manufacturing (ALM) machines from the Netherlands and trying to persuade school design and technology (D&T) departments across the country to take them on.
Chorley’s industrial heritage was in cotton: now, Ultimaker hopes the town will become known for ALM. And there are signs that the company is already succeeding.
“With ALM, it is possible to make things that aren’t possible through traditional subtractive manufacturing technologies,” says Croft, an entrepreneur whose interest in 3D printing is the latest of several enthusiasms. “That’s exciting for us, and we want to give people the chance to make a difference.”
Ultimaker has so far sold 100 machines into schools, and predicts that it will sell another 2,000 units within the next 12 months. Meanwhile, the 3D printing machines for which it is the sole UK distributor are still being manufactured in the Netherlands, where production has been “massively upscaled”, according to fellow director Alex Mayor, who has known Croft since schooldays and worked with him for years.
The Ultimaker machines, which rely on an ALM technique known as fused deposition modelling, use spooled materials such as polylactic acid – a thermoplastic derived from renewable sources – and have open production chambers, so it is possible to witness the process in action clearly.
Unusually, compared with industrial ALM kit, the machines are largely made of wood. The latest Ultimaker machine retails for just under ¤1,000. By contrast, Selfridges is quoting a price of £1,150 for the Cubify, the only 3D printer “certified for safe at-home use by adults and children”, according to the retailer.
Croft says self-assembly 3D printing kits can be purchased for around £500 but that the quality of the final print is lacking, whereas the accuracy of the Ultimaker is comparable to top-of-the-range Stratasys systems.
Levels of manufacturing accuracy range from +/-20 microns on the Ultimaker to +/-200 microns on some comparable desktop systems, he claims. In addition, consumables or feedstock may also be more expensive on a cheaper 3D printer, he says.
The Ultimaker can help to interest children in manufacturing, especially given the relative immediacy of the ALM process. “A lot of children might not get manufacturing – especially at a young age,” says Croft. “The question is: how do we help build a bridge to get them interested and understanding more of the process of manufacturing?”
It helps that the design cycle is changed in terms of the rapidity of transforming an initial design into a physical model, believes Mayor. “We’ve reduced the cycle by having the ability to produce something accurately on the end of your desk, for low cost, once you’ve invested in the hardware. And if you can show them something whereby the nature of the design is such that it can only be produced on a 3D printer, then straight away you have their interest. They want to learn more.”
Part of the attraction of the Ultimaker is the short time it takes from coming up with a design in basic software to seeing a child holding the finished object. “It blows minds,” says Mayor. “They are in awe, and it’s rewarding.”
There used to be a “raft of skills” required to take a design into production, says Croft. “I can remember doing craft, design and technology or woodwork, and you might have the design but not the tactile capabilities to be able to produce it. Now we’re thinking about not how you’re going to make, but what you’re going to make. That’s the paradigm shift – thinking not ‘how am I going to do it?’ but ‘what am I going to do?’.”
Do kids, necessarily, ordinarily think about how things get made? “I think people are oblivious to it unless they see it for themselves,” says Croft. But this technology, he and Mayor believe, could help interest a greater proportion of youngsters at school age in engineering. Other groups, such as architects, the fashion industry, and the film industry, are also interested, “but we want to start with the kids”, says Mayor.
Manufacturers, too, will have the opportunity to change the way in which they operate, if domestic 3D printing does take off, says Croft. “What is going to be truly disruptive is when manufacturers start to make the computer design file for an object available online, and, rather than going shopping, consumers download the file from a site and press ‘print’.” But we are a long way from this scenario, owing to limitations in 3D printing materials and the desire of manufacturers to hold on to their current capabilities, says Mayor.
Meanwhile, getting involved with 3D printing can introduce children to the concept of factories, he says. “This is the next industrial revolution. It’s the first time in industry that we’ve made stuff up, rather than breaking it down – additive rather than subtractive manufacturing. And people get to be their own factory – they don’t have to go for mass production. The world is moving toward tailored, personalised assets, rather than generic, mass-produced stuff. 3D printing is a route for people to grab hold of that.”
If education is about instilling confidence in children that they can fulfil roles in the professional world, Mayor adds, then ALM offers a way of quickly demonstrating to a child that they, too, can be a designer or an engineer.
Stoke innovation pod aims to spark Stem subject interest
Plugged in: The Qube could top up the Stem experience that schools lack the means for
In Stoke-on-Trent, Ben McManus is hoping to introduce locals to cutting-edge manufacturing technologies through the creation of a dedicated space in the town for young people to explore them.
This month will see the launch of his Bitjam Innovation Qube, which will include virtual reality, 3D printing and robotics technology.
The project, which is backed by a local ‘angel’ investor, intends to bring to Stoke some of the capabilities available to youngsters in Manchester and Birmingham. It is also being supported by local universities. “It’s all about making a shout around this space: there are global manufacturers in Stoke that can be quiet about what they are doing,” says McManus.
The aim is to spark interest in Stem subjects, where secondary schools can be lacking in means, he says. “Most kids have smartphones, so they are using technology that is beyond what we had at school. But the schools themselves are not necessarily up-to-date. We would like to invigorate Stem projects.”
The project could also prove useful to local industry. For example, Stoke-on-Trent still has a substantial ceramics sector. “A ceramicist could come and play with some of this new stuff and see where they could take it,” he says.
The idea could be replicated in other places, he suggests. “This mixture of industry and research and development could be repeated elsewhere when you start thinking about five years down the line.”
The project’s role in local industry means it should eventually finance itself. “We see the Qube as becoming self-sufficient as an incubator for local businesses. We may eventually move into something bigger.”
But the Qube is just one element to support development, he says. No matter how sophisticated the technology employed there, “it’s just another tool on your tool belt”. “If paper and pen are needed, we’ll use them. We will use wax casting. We don’t try and shoehorn virtual reality headsets into everything. Or 3D printing.”
However, the project may have a knock-on effect on technology in schools. “If the kids are impressed at a workshop, they may persuade the school to buy a 3D printer. Technology doesn’t have to be difficult to use, or expensive, and every year the price of things is coming down.”