Printing an iPhone case in a matter of hours may seem like a far-fetched idea straight out of a sci-fi film, but University students have already done it with futuristic technology at their fingertips.
The University’s Engineering Communication Studio in Patrick F. Taylor Hall houses a 3-D printer and 3-D scanner that are open to students of all majors as resources for class and design projects.
After making a splash at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, 3-D printers have captured worldwide attention.
But the University’s 3-D printer has been on campus for more than two years, and since then students have been utilizing its services in a variety of ways.
The Dimension Elite Printer can create 8x8x8-inch plastic models in a matter of hours. Costing about $50,000, the printer was a gift to the University.
Shane Moore, mechanical engineering junior, said the printer is convenient for creating models with endless possibilities. Moore said the process begins with designing a model in SolidWorks, a computer program that assists with 3-D crafting.
After some manipulation through other computer programs, the 3-D printer begins creating the model with a melted plastic that soon hardens.
The cost to print is $12 per cubic inch, but Moore said most smaller creations are cheap to make.
Though it may take hours to print a plastic model, the printer can create fine detail that would take far longer to craft by hand, said Shiloh Meyers, mechanical engineering graduate student.
Meyers said he was assisting with University research involving wind turbine blades, which the printer helped recreate.
The printer has produced such items as a large bee and a model jaw bone. Anthropologists once collaborated with the ECS lab to recreate a human skull in an attempt to identify someone who had been murdered.
Making the skull required use of the University’s 3-D scanner, said Warren Hull, ECS manager.
The scanner can reproduce objects of many sizes on a computer program, and costs about $70,000. The scanner was purchased by the University’s FACES Lab in a collaborative agreement, Hull said.
Once an object is scanned, it can be recreated by the printer in a different color or size.
Though the printer and scanner are useful for engineering students, any students can use them for academic purposes.
Learning how to use the printer and scanner has been essential for many engineering students, said Andrew Cosse, mechanical engineering junior.
Cosse said he could possibly get a job solely based on his ability to use the technology.
Hull said many universities also have these advanced technologies on campus, but few use them in the same way LSU does.
“How it’s utilized is different,” Hull said. “We’re unique because we have it in public and open for student use.”
