On April 15th, the first edition of the “Use and Management of 3D Printers” workshop was held for students specializing in Technical Drawing and Electronics, as well as teachers from the Andrés Bello López Industrial High School of Quilpué. The workshop was led by Rodrigo Lanas, laboratory coordinator at AC3E, where they reviewed technical aspects of the equipment and resolved their main doubts, in order to take it to the school and start using it in their workshop.

For Rodrigo Lanas, this type of meeting is very beneficial “since nowadays, 3D design and manufacturing tools are increasingly common and accepted in their use, whether to represent an idea or to have a final product.” He added that it is an excellent tool to “do a task or create an improvement for their house, their room, or simply to print something they found beautiful. By the time they are adults, 3D printing could easily be more impressive than it is now, and they would already have an advantage to be able to take advantage of it.”

For his part, Cristian Zepeda, a technical drawing teacher, commented that the students were very enthusiastic about the workshop. “We were very satisfied; the students thought the workshop was very good. And especially, they were very excited to be able to use the 3D printer when they get to school.”

Opening the laboratories to society, and especially to students, allows them to broaden not only their knowledge but also their expectations, by discovering new spaces where they could participate from various disciplines, as is the case with AC3E.

“It is very good for the students’ preparation for the professional work and research world. I find that the connection we can have with institutions like AC3E allows the students to broaden their worldview, and that seems very important to me,” the teacher concluded.