Helping Children in Need.

[doubird1 0]

I know alot of people out there help others by either making scarfs, slippers, wooden toys,etc so I don't know how to start something like that but my idea would be that most of us on here have a 3d printer and we often get to the end of a filament roll and don't know what to print. So how about if everyone gets onboard and prints out a lego piece. If we start something like this, we could make alot of kids happy. What do you think? Anyone know how to go about this? Great things start with an idea... thanks

[fbrc8-erin 316]

It's a great idea to want to help. There are some 3D printing related organizations out there geared towards helping children using 3D printing. I haven't worked firsthand with either of these (other people on the forum may have firsthand knowledge), but a couple of organizations for making prosthetic arms for kids in need come to mind. These are two I've heard of Enable and Limbitless Solutions. 

[geert_2 560]

Just randomly printing Lego pieces doesn't seem like a good idea to me, since: (1) they won't fit, as a 3D-printer doesn't have the required accuracy (microns), and so the pieces would be useless; and (2) you will soon run into copyright claims and huge damage claims, as these are protected models.

 

What you could do however, is go to a local school, and say that you have unused printing capacity.

 

And then let the kids design things themself, so they learn how to do it and they get enthousiastic, and then print those models. Also learn them the possibilities and limitations of this sort of 3D-printing. This would give them a lot of fun and satisfaction, and understanding.

 

Kids are very fast in learning new technologies, even (what we consider) complex software as 3D-design.

 

If you explain and show how the printer works, they will understand.