The children were back to school this week. In preparation (and with hope of increasing the chance that they will return home with their own belongings) THREEDY 3D Printed these personalised name tag labels.
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When metagrobologist David Singmaster gave his talk on Impossible Grilles at MathsJam 2015, it inspired Simon to print some of these “impossible objects” using the THREEDY 3D Printer he happened to have to hand. 
Whilst travelling around medieval cities, particularly during Italian holidays, David observed the heavy grills over windows of buildings. Many years ago, he noticed that the bars at the centre formed a pattern which seemed to be impossible to assemble. This “impossible” grill pattern is also depicted in M.C. Escher’s Belvedere print.
David later saw that this central area could be assembled by a simultaneous converging process but the pattern continues and this made his idea fail. David showed his idea to James Dalgety, who proceeded to make an example from heavy wire; David then saw how to assemble the whole pattern easily.
The grill rods are printed individually, then slotted together – simple as that!
A belated thank you to David Singmaster for his inspiring talk.
Simon and his family enjoyed their summer holiday walking the West Highland Way – yes, all 96 miles of it. 
Greetings to the physicists from University of Munster, with whom we shared these Ambiguous Cylinders. The ambiguous cylinders were printed on a THREEDY 3D Printer, with kind permission from Kokichi Sugihara. This illusion was designed by Kokichi Sugihara and won second prize in the Best Illusion of the Year Contest 2016. More info (and other fantastic illusions) can be found on his website.
Our R&D Department have recently been working on a few upgrades to the THREEDY 3D Printer.
We now have new rubber (& THREEDY branded) heatbeds. 
Final testing is underway and they are working well. Quicker to heat up and better consistent heating. Give us a call if you want to know more about the technical details!
Tired of not knowing where we had left our SD cards, Richard has designed this handy THREEDY SD Card holder. If you would like to print your own, please ask us to send you the FREE stl file. 
Our Cardiff branch are currently working on software updates…watch this space!
If you are lucky enough to have received some of our Tetrahedral Shapes and are looking to check your answers to the questions, you have come to the right place! Need more copies of the handout? Download a pdf here: Tetrahedral Geometry
ANSWERS
What is the volume of the tetrahedron?
The whole cube with the corners on the 1,1,1 and -1,-1,-1 co-ordinates has a volume of 8 (2 x 2 x 2). The volume of the tetrahedron is 1/3 of this, ie 8/3
What is the volume of the triakis tetrahedron?
16/3 (this is exactly twice the volume of the tetrahedron)
How many cuts do you need to cut a rectangular block of cheese into three equal amounts using
a) a straight knife? 4
b) a cheese wire? 2
We hope you enjoyed the puzzles. If you would like any further explanation of the answers, please comment below.
The shapes were all printed by a THREEDY 3D Printer. If you would like to know more about THREEDY 3D printers, please browse our website. The printers are great for schools and colleges and we would be happy to visit you to demonstrate our printers, or deliver our 3D Printing workshop tailored to your students.
Please contact us to book a visit, or if you’d like any more information.
We had a great couple of days at the STEM Fair at Imperial War Museum, Duxford with STEM Team East.
We met some brilliant and enthusiastic students at our THREEDY 3D Printing Workshop. As well as printing their own personalised key tags, the students had chance to attempt to solve some of Simon’s puzzles. They thought about what projects they could do using 3D printers.
More than 1000 pupils attended this STEM enrichment event over two days. Young Investigators Day (Years 3 to 8) and Secondary Day (Years 7 to 13).
Our THREEDY 3D Printing workshop was one of 58 different workshops available to the students and proved to be popular (to quote one girl “this was the best workshop we had seen”).
We are always keen to work with schools and to help encourage a new generation of 1st Class engineers. If you’d like to know more about what you could do with a THREEDY 3D Printer in your school, or to arrange a demonstration, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Here’s a link to the press release by STEM Team East, providing more details of the event
PuzzleShed’s resident cat ready for work on this Friday morning.
Prepare children for the impact of the digital revolution (the “fourth industrial revolution”)
In The Digital Revolution, published by the Edge Foundation (9th May 2016) Lord Kenneth Baker, former education secretary and Chair of the Edge Foundation, calls for radical action to prepare children for the the impact of the next industrial revolution.
The full report is available for download here
This report on the Impact of the Fourth Industrial Revolution on employment and education, was prompted by the Bank of England’s prediction that up to 15 million jobs are at risk of automation across the UK economy.
Lord Baker says ‘The economy is changing at an unprecedented pace. Every day, jobs are being lost in professions we used to regard as careers for life. Artificial intelligence, robots, 3D printing and driverless vehicles will impact on sectors as varied as the legal profession, transport and construction.’
From the report:
Future applications are limited only by our imagination, which makes it essential for children to learn to use 3D design and technology from primary level onwards.
The nature of making and doing must, of course, keep pace with the technological revolution: every primary school should have 3D printers, and computer science should be as common in schools as modern foreign languages because programming skills will be vital for many people in the future.
Lord Baker has set out an eight-point education plan which responds to the digital revolution, which includes providing 3D printers and design software for all primary schools.
We are a British company supporting schools. We want 1st class engineers in this country and will help you to make your students fine engineers. We will be happy to talk to you about how THREEDY 3D printers are being used in schools & colleges and answer any questions you may have about 3D printing and how it could benefit your students.
Please contact us to arrange a demonstration.
Simon took several THREEDY 3D Printers to demonstrate at the 23rd National Model Engineering & Modelling Exhibition at Doncaster Racecourse last weekend.
It was great to see so many old customers and new faces.
There were some fantastic exhibits and marvellous engineering.
Our THREEDY 3D Printers were busy printing these component
s using Bronzefill Filament.
Also displayed at the show, on the Gauge 1 Yorkshire Group portable track, were these fantastic models (Water Tower & Loco Shed) printed by Alan Bullock on his THREEDY 3D Printer. I am sure you will agree, the detail is fantastic!
Loco Shed: Close up detail
Simon did manage to get away from his 3D printers for long enough to have some fun on a William Foster & Co steam engine!
THREEDY 3D Printers will once again be running a 3D Printing Workshop at the Duxford STEM Fair (14-15 June 2016). Students will get hands-on experience using THREEDY 3D Printers, and have the opportunity to customise their own prints.
Disclaimer: The Concorde in the background was not printed by THREEDY (although students will have the opportunity to print their own aeroplanes)STEM Fair Duxford is an enrichment day of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. Our 3D Printing Workshop will be one of over 30 different workshops.
Can’t make it? We would love to visit your school to demonstrate THREEDY 3D Printers. Please contact us to arrange a visit.
