IEEE Nepal’s ‘Extrude: 3D Printing & Prototyping’ Event Successfully Organized
On 17th Nov, 2017, IEEE Nepal, in support of Zener Technologies and in association with LOCUS 2018 and Hult Prize, organized “Extrude – 3D Printing and prototyping” event. The event was held at D-Hall, Pulchowk Campus with 135+ attendees from different academic and professional background.
The session started with a short introduction video of IEEE presented by the host Ms. Barsha Pandey followed by a wonderful presentation on ‘IEEE: Introduction and Opportunities’ by Prof. Dr. Arun Kumar Timalsina. He pointed out that IEEE is one of the largest professional society with 423,000 engineers and scientists expanding across 160 countries, 334 sections in 10 geographical regions worldwide. He also mentioned that about 28% of the membership coverage is by the engineering students.
Despite the professional and academic advantages entailed within an IEEE membership for students, Prof. Arun stated that an IEEE Student’s branch hasn’t yet been formed in Pulchowk Campus, however, there is a goal to establish one by 2018 and he encouraged students to pursue IEEE membership. IEEE promotes the advancement in Electrical and Electronics engineering. It is the major publisher of scientific journals in the world. Being IEEE student member enhances the quality of engineering students aspiring to be researchers and boosts them for further achievements. IEEE also helps to accredit educational programs. IEEE contains a total of 39 societies, some of the main societies being Computer Society, Electrical Society, Robotics, and Automation Society. He also talked about the students’ membership under IEEE. Prof. Arun also informed us that a team of engineering students from Nepal had been listed under “IEEE Computer Society Top Ten Finalists in the 2004 CSIDC”.
Q: Is there any IEEE society for 3D printing? (– Bishwajeet Shrestha)
Arun Sir: Not by the exact name of IEEE 3D printing society, but it has been overlapped in many different societies like Electronics society, Robotics and Automation society etc.
The main event, Extrude 3D printing presentation started with a short introductory video on 3D printing which was an informative piece on the basics of designing and printing through a 3D printer.
The CTO and co-founder of Zener Technologies, Er. Ram Chandra Thapa, then started his presentation acquainting himself of the familiarity of the audience about the term ‘3D Printer’. About 20% of the attendees were very new to the term “3D printing” while the rest had a theoretical understanding and only a very few had a previous hands-on experience. The first step of 3D printing is making the CAD design, which is then converted into machine code called G-code, which is used by the 3D printer to print the 3D models. He added that 3D printing technology is an additive manufacturing technology, a complete opposite of lathe machining which is subtracting manufacturing. The 3D designs designed with any 3D designing software can be saved in to .STL format, which will then be ready for the 3D printing. Er. Ram also provided the audience with various free online 3D design resources, the majority being with Thingiverse, GrabCAD, etc. Worth mentioning was the short in-between video of 3D printing a mouse which was a comical and informative piece. He defined the major market of 3D printing to have been rapid prototyping of any of the 3D designs.
He also came up with the various applications of 3D printing to be for research or educational purposes, patterns in molds, functional models, for decoration purposes, for spare parts and repairs and many others. He demonstrated with the industrial examples and real-life application of uses of 3D printing in robotics, and in the automobile industries, agriculture, architecture, medical and prosthetics. More than 90% hearing aids today are made via 3D printing. He also explained about the parts and functions of the 3D printer, their types, and methodologies of 3D printing and types of filaments used in the 3D printer. He also discussed the use of 3D printing in product design process.
In addition, he showed the best designs and tips for 3D printing relating to brims and supports,
3D printing terminologies, etc.. He also talked about slicing software, like Sli3er, or Cura, etc. Finally, he announced “Extrude: Biggest design and 3D printing challenge” event to be held soon in Nepal. He displayed some of the 3D prints, which Zener Technologies had worked on. Looking at the vigor and interest of the students towards 3D printing at the live printing showcase, it can be clearly stated the event reached its milestone of inspiring young students to learn and use the marvels of 3D printing in their future endeavors. The great enthusiasm of the students towards the latest technology of the 3D printing was the major treat of the event.
The event finally closed with the handing of Token of Love to Er. Ram Chandra Thapa of Zener Tech by Prof. Dr. Arun Kumar Timalsina.
Light snacks were served to the attendees after the event.
