I found a few different websites this weekend that talk about the phenomenon of ceramic printing- using a 3D printer to extrude clay and make art pieces that would be impossible to make on a traditional pottery wheel because of their angles and texture. The printer extrudes layers of clay in some cases so thin that the result resembles the consistency and look of hand thrown work. This process certainly introduces some exciting possibilities for the future of ceramics (although I don't think I would prefer such pieces over those made by hand...)

For my first 3D printing assignment ("print something!"), I decided to print parts for a hydroponics system designed by an organization called 3Dponics. Hydroponics is a form of gardening that grows plants by providing them nutrients through water rather than soil. Gravel is typically used in the containers to give the plant's roots structure. Hydroponics systems expand the possibilities of growing food in urban environments and growing lots of food in a little bit of space. Disney Epcot has a great example of a very elaborate hydroponics garden (photo below). If you'd like to try this project yourself or find out more, the instructions can be found at https://www.3dponics.com/instructions/.

Disney Epcot Hydroponics Garden

I printed five drip nozzles, which screw onto two liter bottles and drip water at a steady rate for optimum health of the plants. I also printed the conduit piece, which goes into the reservoir and connects the tubing to the aquarium pump to keep the system running smoothly. Finally, I attempted to print a silencer that goes at the top of the system on the end of the tubing to make it quieter. Check out the diagram from 3Dponics below to get a clearer idea of what parts I am talking about.

3D Printed Drip Nozzles

Silencer- Hollow on the inside

3Dponics Schematics

 Since the plans were already designed and available for free as an STL file, I simply loaded them into the software in the 7hills makerspace, arranged them how I wanted and pressed print. One challenge I had was cleaning off the additional plastic support that the printer built up to make sure that they wouldn't collapse during the making. Particularly with the conduit and the silencer, the extra plastic was very difficult to clean out in the hollow space (and I'm still not sure I got it all!). I did not expect to need to spend so much time cleaning off the extra plastic after printing. Also, one of my nozzles was warped a bit during printing, but I think that it will still work fine.

Warped Drip Nozzle

I have not set the whole system up yet, but I hope to in the next couple weeks and will update this post to show pictures of the whole system running once I do!

http://www.csail.mit.edu/csailspotlights/feature2

Check out the link above to read more about how researchers at MIT are using robots for farming. 

(Also seen on Makezine.com at http://makezine.com/2009/03/20/robotic-gardeners-at-mit/)