Prototyping with 3D Printing – students apply “Learning Lab” know-how for their bachelor thesis

Written by Prof. Dr. Joachim Günther (HM)

Starting March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic caused extensive restrictions. Even though further Learning Lab POW workshops (‘Print Your Own World’) weren’t held, students kept utilizing their know-how and realizing new products. Figures 1-3 show functional models and prototypes that were the outcome from various bachelor theses.

One important decision upfront is which prototype components should be printed and which ones should be bought. Components such as shafts or steel pins are cheaper and quickly acquired in DIY supply stores.

Figure 1: Cardan joint that is able to transfer rotation and torque from a driveshaft to an output shaft, even if both shafts are positioned angularly.

Below, two mechanical functional models integrating 3D printed components are displayed.

Figure 2: Functional model with two cardan joints that are arranged consecutively. Thus, the torque in between the shafts that have offset can be transferred. One common application is found in machine engineering.
Figure 3: Gear range from a drive shaft and a pulley. These basic gears were used in mediaeval times as powertrain for water-powered mills.

These bachelor theses were super-visioned by Prof. Dr. Joachim Günther (Hochschule München, Faculty 09, Engineering Economics). For further information please contact me.

Learning Lab contributes two articles at EDUCON 2020 (IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference)

The EDUCON 2020 (IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference) was setup to take place at the faculty of engineering sciences in the Polytechnic of Porto in Portugal from April 28th to 30th. Instead of in presence the conference was re-organized as an online event due to the COVID-19 restrictions.

Therefore, we presented our works on ‘Teaching 3D Printing Technology Hands-on‘ and ‘Problem-based learning for teaching new technologies‘ virtually:

Live snippet of the virtual presentations.

The first article covers the domain ‘Experience-driven teaching of 3D printing technology‘. At universities, new technologies such as additive manufacturing are mainly thought theoretically with use of graphics or educational video materials. A real application of digital technologies as well as creative use of these technologies developing new ideas, thus making new experiences, more often than not fall short. The article describes how the Hochschule München University of Applied Sciences integrates 3D printing through reasonable printers into lectures, therefore, facilitating these critical skills and competencies.

Gunther, Joachim; Brehm, Lars; Günzel, Holger; Humpe, Andreas (2020) „Teaching 3D Printing Technology Hands-on“, in: 2020 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON). Presented at the 2020 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON), IEEE, Porto, Portugal, pp. 953–957. https://doi.org/10.1109/EDUCON45650.2020.9125302

The second article covers the domain ‘teaching new technologies via problem-based learning‘. The article describes a didactical concept to familiarize students with new digital technologies such as 3D printing, robotics and virtual reality. The concept is based on a problem-orientated and constructivistic learning environment. In order to evaluate the influence of different construcitivistic dimensions on learning success, a structural equation model was estimated. The outcome makes clear that social and emotional dimensions have the highest impact closely followed by self determination. The constructive dimension shows a positive, though not significant releation with learning success. At the bottom of the line, the results support the application of a problem-based didactical concept for teaching new technologies.

Humpe, Andreas; Brehm, Lars (2020) „Problem-based learning for teaching new technologies“, in: 2020 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON). Presented at the 2020 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON), IEEE, Porto, Portugal, pp. 493–496. https://doi.org/10.1109/EDUCON45650.2020.9125376