After meeting with the Clubhouse team earlier this year, NICTA’s Karsten Schulz and John Westgarth donated a seriously cool piece of hardware.

Our new MakerBot Mini 3D printer allows our Clubhouse members to design and produce their very own 3D objects.

Not sure what 3D printing is all about? As the name suggests, 3D printing involves creating three dimensional solid objects from a digital file.

First, you make a virtual design of the object you want to print. The virtual design is made with a CAD (Computer Aided Design) file, using a 3D modelling program or a 3D scanner (to copy an existing object).

The CAD software then creates slices of the model into hundreds or thousands of horizontal layers. When the finished file is uploaded to the 3D printer, it then prints the object layer by layer.

With our MakerBot Mini, our members will be able to design and print anything from Lego pieces to household utensil, and wearable items such as bracelets, pendants and rings.

We look forward to sharing pics of our members’ fantastic 3D creations here with you soon!