3D Print Big! WASP and Opendot to Offer Five-Day Workshop on Large-Scale 3D Printing

WASP (World’s Advanced Savings Project) has developed multiple 3D printers in varying sizes, but they’re probably best known for their gigantic mega-printers, capable of 3D printing entire houses and villages. The great thing about the Italian 3D printer manufacturer, however, is that they refuse to keep their ingenuity to themselves. The purpose of the organization has been, from the beginning, to develop sustainable and self-sufficient living through 3D printing, and their efforts to do so are far-reaching.

While 3D printing on the scale of what WASP does is hard to imagine, the organization has provided plenty of encouragement and resources for people to use and adapt their technology for their own purposes – such as the recently released Maker Economy Starter Kit, for example. Now WASP, in collaboration with Milan-based FabLab Opendot, is offering an immersive course on 3D printing on a big scale.

The five-day workshop, which will take place at WASP’s Massa Lombarda headquarters from January 9 to 13, will involve intensive instruction from professional designers, technicians, architects, and other experts on how to design and 3D print large objects such as furniture. Instruction will be offered in the form of both practical and theoretical lessons, hands-on projects and more.

Attendees will learn how to create models for extra-large 3D printers, with the intention of developing the skills to produce larger items that generally require much more time and money to create through traditional manufacturing processes. They won’t be 3D printing any houses during the workshop, but items such as furniture, games, and assorted equipment will be designed, offering participants a stepping stone to much larger projects in the future if they so choose. Skill-building is the focus here, with emphasis on learning how large-scale printers work, their applications and limitations, and their potential for the future, as well as how best to design projects, create 3D files and G-code, and operate and manage 3D printers with a working area of a cubic meter.

The course will be introduced by WASP founder Massimo Moretti, and teachers will include WASP’s Giorgio Gurioli and Nicola Schiavarelli, as well as Opendot’s Enrico Bassi and Gianluca Pugliese. Also involved in the workshop will be Alessandro Ranellucci, creator of Slic3r software, and Dario Pizzigoni, founder of TreeD.

The workshop is open to anyone: designers, architects, engineers, technicians, companies and businesspeople, and average makers and 3D printing enthusiasts. Attendees should, ideally, already have some skill and knowledge in CAD and 3D printing, however – this isn’t a beginner-level course, but participants should certainly expect to come away from the workshop with greatly enhanced knowledge of 3D design and printing, and its possibilities on a large scale. A certificate of attendance, signed by all teachers, will be presented at the end of the course. The registration fee is €350; for more information or to register, email federica@opendotlab.it or go to Opendot’s website. Discuss in the WASP Opendot forum at 3DPB.com.