3D Printing at Central Library - Dream It, Design It, Print It!

Central Library is hosting a 3D printing workshop for adults on Monday, October 26, from 6 PM to 8 PM. It's called Dream It, Design It, Print It!, and it's held in the library's Makerspace, which is the hub for the city's library system. The session is aimed at adults 18 and up, so it's a good one to bring a friend along for if you've both been curious about how this stuff actually works.

The class walks you through the basics of 3D printing from concept to creation. You'll start with Tinkercad, the free web-based design tool that's pretty intuitive even if you've never touched CAD software before. From there, you'll see how a digital design becomes a physical object using the S5 Ultimaker and other 3D printers in the space. The whole point is to demystify the process—you'll see the workflow from the first sketch on a screen to the finished print coming off the machine.

It's worth taking a second to appreciate where this is happening. The Central Library is at 40 East Saint Clair Street, and the original 1917 building is a bit of a local landmark—designed by Paul Cret and built of Indiana limestone in the Greek Doric style, it's considered one of the most outstanding secular buildings in the U.S. The Makerspace is part of the newer side of things, a six-story glass and steel-framed addition by Evans Woollen that opened in 2007. So you've got the old limestone on one end and the high-tech gear on the other, all under one roof.

If you've ever wanted to move past just watching videos of 3D printing and actually try it yourself, this is a solid place to start. It runs from 6 PM to 8 PM on Monday, October 26, at the Central Library's Makerspace, 40 East Saint Clair Street, Indianapolis, IN 46204.