The East Coast RepRap Festival (ERRF) was held on October 8 & 9, 2022 at the APGFCU Arena at the Harford Community College in Bel Air, Maryland. I attended ERRF in 2018, 2019 and in 2022. It was a great experience where I was able to connect with many of my digital friends in person.
Be sure to connect with The East Coast RepRap Festival (ERRF on twitter) and keep up to date on the latest news regarding the event.
We The Builders Community Build
The 3D Printing Community has several community builds every year. The community members can contribute by printing one or more parts of a larger build following certain specifications. While at the East Coast RepRap Festival we were able to see these community builds. Below is the table from We The Builders where Todd Blatt showcases previous years community builds.
In this video you’ll learn more about larger prints from Todd Blatt and also learn about the coordination. You’ll also see the community build that we were able to contribute a significant number of parts. This helped alleviate the stress to the community organizers. It’s already stressful enough to be responsible for building this let alone also be responsible for printing each part.
Community Prints on a Larger Scale
Here’s a video from Josh Ajima of Design Make Teach where he provides a sneak peak of the We The Rosies while Adam Savage, Jen Schachter, Todd Blatt and team of Tested assemble the large model. I love the engineering aspect of this approach. The team devices the 3D model into many layers vertically along the z-axis and blocks along the x-axis and y-axis. The block size fits the majority of 3D printers in the world. Chances are that if you own a 3D Printer then you can print a part as the size was chosen to fit the majority of printers in the world. Each contributor applies for a part. The software selects the contributor for that part temporarily.
Coordination
The contributor writes the x/y/z coordinates on the part and also writes their name or brand name. For instance, I wrote U Do It. The contributor also supplies photographic evidence of this along with x/y/z measurements. If you part were accepted, then the part submission status would change to “waiting for delivery”. We The Builders would then wait for arrival of the part.
Meanwhile, it is the responsibility of the contributor to drop off the parts at the post office or carrier in a timely manner. Equally as important is packaging them correctly and shipping the parts immediately reduces stress endured by the assembly team. It is important that the parts arrive on time without delay. Imagine what it is like to manage this from over 700 contributors worldwide while coordinating the delivery of the parts to the venue where the assembly will take place. This organization and coordination completely amazes me.
It’s the community that makes 3D Printing great. For example, this is one out of thousands of reasons why this community is amazing. If you haven’t been to a 3D Printing event this will set the z-axis high for you when you attend. If you have been to a 3D Printing event but haven’t been to ERRF you will be blown away by the staff’s friendliness, the layout, the vendors and the participants. And tell them U Do It sent you!
Picked out for you
How to Improve your 3D Print Quality – By IQ Workshop
U Do It – Anti Cheese (Feat. Savvy Turtle, Northside Nate) (Official Audio) – By U Do It
U Do It – Bigginz Group Therapy (Feat. Savvy Turtle) (Feat. Northside Nate) (Official Music Video) – By U Do It
Savvy Turtle – Afterlife (Original Artist) – By Savvy Turtle
U Do It – Bigginz Group Therapy (Feat. Savvy Turtle, Northside Nate) (Instrumental) – By U Do It
Savvy Turtle – Rock On (Original Artist) – By Savvy Turtle
Savvy Turtle – Rock The Shell (Original Artist) – By Savvy Turtle
Music of the Day
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What’s next? Check out About U Do It, History of U Do It, and Mrs U Do It to learn even more about U Do It.