Metric Problems!

I encountered this problem quite heavily in teaching the adult course, but designs made in inches would automatically register in Makerware as millimeters. The problem this year is that designs in Sketchup that students make in inches need to be resized in Makerware. 
It presents a huge problem for pieces that need to be glued together. So I am going to have to actively show students that all designs must be laid out on paper with dimensions in metric form.

Teaching Adults

So we are just about to wrap up our first ever semester of teaching adults how to use the 3d printer.  I have learned a lot about the process from doing it.

First off, adults and children alike are equally as amazed when they print out their first object.

Second, people who post to Thingiverse don't really print out their designs often because the resulting objects come out pretty awful.  I can tell you the exact number of times we've had to reprint because people's Thingiverse designs came out wrong: 4.

Third, adults and children alike are equally into painting their finished designs. Makerbot has put out a Replicator that can print in two colors.  Eventually, 3D printing will evolve into a multi-color process, which will eliminate the entire post-printing paint process. I think that will be a loss to 3D printing, because people will lose out on the experience of artistic rendering.