Using 3D printing technology to improve the quality of teaching engineering drawing course

Abstract

Although 3D printing is only two decades old, dramatic improvements have occurred in the production cycle. At the present time many big industrial centers, such as the automotive industry, medical equipment industry, military industries, as well as many others use this technology. This group of technologies is called rapid prototyping. Conventionally, model building with traditional methods such as the milling and turning process is very time-consuming, difficult, and expensive. With the help of this new technology a model can be directly made and laminated from a 3D model that has been developed by CAD software. Another important application of this technology is its use in educational and research areas. Engineering students are facing more and more with problems such as 3D spatial visualization. Therefore, the researcher built 3D physical models with the help of a 3D printer and gave them to students to use in class. According to surveys and tests taken on a number of male students enrolled in engineering drawing, it was found that most had a positive attitude towards the use of physical three-dimensional models and test results show improvement in the quality of the educational process.

Keywords

• rapid prototyping 3d printers cad software engineering drawing course 3d ability of visualization