Materialise’s “Ideas Worth Making” Announces a 3D Printing Competition, Winner Gets a MiiCraft+ DLP 3D Printer

3D printing company, Materialise, headquartered in Leuven, Belgium but, quite literally, materializing on several continents, is challenging makers across the globe to join them in an effort to provide high-quality, 3D-printed educational tools for classrooms.

Materialise is applying the technology of 3D printing or additive manufacturing (AM) to most every facet of modern living, from life-saving biomedical research and AM-related solutions to patient-specific surgical and medical solutions involving 3D printing, rapid prototyping and high-quality manufacturing of new products, online creative community building, and educational efforts–and more.

Ideas Worth Making is Materialise’s education-specific online community where people submit ideas. Some contributors suggest 3D-printed models to be used in classrooms, others submit 3D designs, and yet others make those ideas materialize for teachers and students.

Now Materialise has launched a competition where makers can create ideas worth making and win a MiiCraft+ DLP 3D printer. “Do you believe that 3D printing can add value in education?” they ask. “Are you a 3D printing enthusiast? Do you like helping others?” Makers who answer “yes!” are challenged to view the 308 creative and educational Ideas Worth Making, select one idea, create a 3D model and then 3D print it out.

As if taking on this project to do a good turn for teachers and students isn’t rewarding enough in itself, the most successful project will earn its maker the MiiCraft+ printer. The mighty MiiCraft+ is not your average home 3D printer, it’s actually the world’s smallest industrial level SLA-based (stereolithography) printer. It offers z-axis resolution as high as 30 microns and 56 microns on the XY-plane so its precision is quite remarkable.

 

The contest submission deadline is May 25, 2015, so there’s plenty of time to get creative and do a good turn for education and for yourself! The process works like this:

• Go to Ideas Worth Making and choose the idea you want to model. You can contact the idea creator by leaving comments on the idea page.
• Get creative! Create a brand new 3D model or adapt an existing 3D model found on the Ideas Worth Making site.
• Do a test print to be sure your model can be printed on a desktop 3D printer. What? You don’t have a 3D printer of your own (even more impetus to accept this challenge!)? Materialise can help you print your model via their online printing service, i.materialise.
• Upload your 3D model and then upload a photo of it in the comment field. If you have information to accompany your model, share that, too. It’s your opportunity to teach the teacher.
• Go back to the original idea you chose and link it to your gorgeous new 3D model!
• Be sure you’ve completed your entry and then wait for the judges to choose and then announce the winner on the Ideas Worth Making website on May 29, 2015!

Let us know if you have taken part in this challenge.  Discuss in the Ideas Worth Making Challenge forum thread on 3DPB.com.