EFFINGHAM – The Cumberland County High School Science Club visited the Innovation Center in the Lake Land College Effingham Technology Center on Friday to learn more about 3-D printing.
Cumberland County High School teachers Tiffany Gibson and Rocky Lewis brought the club’s five students – Hunter Achenbach, Rachel Willenborg, Addison Johnson, Lauren Stevens and Derrick Oakley – to observe the six Bambu Labs 3-D printers in action, along with learning more about the endless possibilities 3-D printing has to offer.
The printers range from $200 to $2,000, said Special Assistant to the Vice President of Academic Services Scott Rhine. Rhine is also in charge of the Innovation Lab.
“I’m the nerd that does all the stuff,” said Rhine.
Over the 10 years Lake Land College has been 3-D printing things, Rhine has created a tyrannosaurus rex skull, a tyrannosaurus rex skeleton, mini Laker Louie – the school’s mascot – game pieces, and coasters for each councilor’s office with a QR code on one side to direct people to the new-student website – just to name a few.
Previously, Rhine got some brown, color-changing filament that when it’s warm, it turns green.
“I had this lab assistant, and I said, ‘We need to find something to print because this goes from brown to green,’” said Rhine. “He was like, ‘Oh my God. I got the perfect thing.’”
So the pair created handfuls of quarter-size poop emojis that change color, and each of the CCHS students took one home. It’s one of many knicknacks Rhine has created.
Rhine uses an accelerant and super glue, which is stronger than the filament. It chemically bonds the plastic together.
Rhine says the 3-D printers have issues with fine details, but 90% of the time when issues arise, it’s due to user error.
He had a few printed-out sheets that had some type of error on them and showed the students a special technique. If the sheets are soaked in boiling-hot water, they become flexible and can be molded in certain ways. This is used for different casts or splits, says Rhine.
“We did a lot of prosthetics,” said Rhine. “You’d be shocked at how many people who have lost their fingers in Coles County or the surrounding counties – farmers, especially.”
Gibson told the students and Rhine that Cumberland County High School will be getting a Bambu Lab H2S 3-D Printer, which is slightly bigger in size and includes a heater.
“I loved the Innovation Lab. We were able to do so many things that we wouldn’t have been able to do at the school this year. I think it was an amazing educational experience,” said Willenborg. “I would love to do more 3-D printing in the future. If we had a class about 3-D printing, I’d be tempted to take it.”
“There’s not an office on campus that doesn’t have something 3-D printed,” said Lake Land College Chief of Staff Jean Anne Highland.