Hi all, first of all i need to thank the @directors and members who helped to accommodate the 60ish 11year old school children who visited the space a couple weeks back! Thanks also to @platinumnqueen22 for getting the place tidy before the first visit! The children where not only in the MakerSpace to see the glorious place we all enjoy but also to build a project.
As the host of the sessions i tried to find something they could easily work on and assemble that exhibited different processes in the space and settled upon the Open Press Project.
For those who don’t know it, the Open Press Project is a mini mostly 3D printed Press for small scale relief and intaglio printing.
More info on the project can be found here: https://openpressproject.com/
A guide to making the press is available in Make magazine here: 3D Printed Etching Press - Make:
As the children passed from the woodshop to metal area to laser and then 3D printing stations, they got to drill some holes in the wooden base, collect metal hardware for the press, engrave the wooden base and then collect the 3d printing parts required. In total we built 18 mini printing presses that the school will now use to educate these children and further classes on printing techniques.
A couple of the members in the space enjoyed seeing the project and chose to then create their own presses which is very inspiring.
Feedback from the school and parents has been very positive and hopefully we have inspired some young makers to explore making things in the future!
If anyone is inspired to build a press themselves or get involved in a print exchange, get in touch with me if you need any help. I will post some images of our completed and assembled presses soon.