There are few things more frustrating than a small plastic piece of a home appliance breaking, rendering the entire contraption obsolete. Or how about when the kids “misplace” an integral part of a family-favorite board game?

Wouldn’t it be great if you could just fire up the computer, download a schematic and literally print out the needed piece from the convenience of your own home?

Thanks to the modern marvel known as 3D printing, that could very well be a feasible solution to these types of problems in the future.

And that’s exactly what Fountain Hills High School students Dylan Northern, Chris McClean and Reilly Brande are spending their senior years investigating.

The trio of inquisitive Falcons has an independent study class every morning with Dr. Paul McElligott, which is where they are currently researching their very own 3D printer.

The device consists of a metal frame in the shape of a cube. There’s a heated bottom panel that moves up and down to account for the height of the 3D object being printed, as well as a mechanical arm and nozzle where plastic thread is melted and “painted” into the shape of the desired object.

The entire contraption is connected to a computer, where the team has access to a whole suite of features and options.

Schematics for 3D objects can be downloaded or created from scratch, which the printer uses to then create the physical object.

The guys explained that they have control over aspects like the heat of the base plate and the nozzle, as finding the right settings can mean the difference between a perfectly crafted plastic iPhone case and a warped monstrosity.

The team has only had their printer about a week now, so most of their time is being spent learning the ins and outs of the hardware and the software that drives it.

They all crowd around the computer as they configure their next would-be project, then shift the huddle to the printer to watch it do its work.

Battle dino

The printer springs into life, adjusting the bottom plate and the nozzle before going to work, building a solid base before working on the walls, filling in the space in the middle with zigzagging lines.

“What it’s doing right now is called honeycombing,” Northern explains.

“You can set it to create a solid object, but that uses up more plastic and isn’t really necessary. Doing it like this gives you a solid 3D object, but it saves on resources.”

Before setting the printer to build the simple cube, the group started the day working on a “battle dino,” a creation they grabbed from an online archive of schematics.

This particular creation features a pentaceratops dinosaur with a castle tower strapped to its back. The printout wasn’t going as expected, however, so the team decided to scrap the project for now so they could recheck their settings.

But a 3D printer isn’t just for creating toys. Pretty much any object with proper schematics can be built in the device. Several pieces of the team’s 3D printer were actually made in another 3D printer.

“3D printing has only been around for maybe a couple of decades,” Northern said.

“It’s only come to the DIY (do it yourself) end- user community in the past six or so years because the technology was too expensive.”

Nowadays, Northern said that crafty creators are able to build their own 3D printers, like the one they’re currently using, at a price of around $800.

Printing in 3D

“In 3D printing, you make a model on the computer using CAD software,” Northern continued.

“The nozzle on the printer is something like a glue gun, only it gets really hot and uses a spool of plastic wire instead of glue.”

The nozzle then moves around the base creating the desired object one layer at a time. According to McClean, these recent advancements in technology have fueled quite a few people to get into 3D printing.

“You’ll be able to print out little household items and things like that,” McClean said.

“It’s ease of life. If you need a new part for your vacuum, you can just print it out instead of trying to find a way to order a replacement.”

According to Brande, he and his buddies got into 3D printing when they first saw a printer being used during a recent robotics convention.

“There was a guy out there with a model printer creating a bunch of random objects, and we thought it was interesting,” Brande said.

“Dr. Paul thought it was interesting, too. So we talked to him and decided to use this class period to get into it.”

Practical uses

So far, the group has printed off a few robotic gears, a plastic iPhone case and a few different cubes to see how different settings would affect their outcome.

“The printer only arrived this week, so we’re still trying to figure everything out before we start trying to make too many things with it,” Northern added.

In the next several months, the group will be preparing for an upcoming International Science Engineering Fair (ISEF).

“The idea is we want to look at how we can make 3D printing useful to an average person,” Northern said.

“Basically, we want to look at how to make it more available to the consumer and figure out practical applications for the printer,” Brande added.

Northern said that he hopes to reach a point where the group is making high-quality components. If he goes into a career in engineering, he figures there’s a good chance he’ll need to use a 3D printer someday.

McClean said the group is also hoping to apply their 3D printing to the Robotics Club, possibly printing out interchangeable parts for their own creations.

For now, though, they’re focusing on the ISEF project, which they have the rest of the semester to work on. But hopefully they’ll find the time to print off a battle dino or two as well.