Education vs Business

From: michael rees (zedand00@sound.net)
Date: Thu Mar 12 1998 - 07:41:04 EET


Education can never compete with the private sector even if there
weren't significant restrictions in place. I have sought (hoping to get
a good price) work done by educational consortiums. Typically it will
take a week or two to just get a quote. Educational institutions can
take the rapid out of rp. And their prices aren't very good either.

Add to this that the "work" force is unreliable and that they have all
kinds of other goals in their mission statement and I'm not sure what
you're worried about. Just try to reach a professor or head of the
technology lab by phone directly.

Do you complain when hiring the students who come from these facilities?

As to Education without rp facilities: I encourage you to get creative.
I've got three students right now who have built solid models, sliced
them up and transfered those slices to foam. They've assembled the foam
and are about to pour small scale sculptures from them (say fitting a
build envelope of about 2'x3'x3'). One of those projects is compelling.
Its a sort of Sci Fi spider. It looks great in Alumnium with the
styrofoam texture on the surface. I have another student, who has a
tremendous amount of patience, who has printed the sections on card
stock, a little thicker than paper and has made lovely little geometric
models. I have a couple more students who have used the sections to
assemble them in topo like models -one for a clock and another for a
fabulous light fixture. In the light fixture, broken segments of glass
were sectioned according to what was designed in CAD.

I have lectured the students extensively about what is available in
CAD/CAM processes so that when they do get the chance to work with rp,
they'll be ready. At the same time, the cost of 3D printing from Z corp
is very competitive. Smaller objects say under2"x2"x4" can be done for a
pittance. I tell the students to save their cigarette and beer money for
rp models!

There are so many ways to benefit from all of this. Lets not forget
creativity in the problem solving department.

best,

-- 
michael rees SCULPTOR 		http://www.sound.net/~zedand00/
1212 w 8th St. Bldg B #2, 	816 753 3020 voice    zedand00@sound.net
KC, Mo 64101			816 753 1542 fax

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