Illinois Teacher Pits students Against Each Other With 3D Printed CO2 Car Races

[Brian_Krassenstein]

In yet another awesome applications of 3D printing in the classroom, an Illinois high school teacher by the name of Corben White has come up with an awesome idea to teach his students about drafting. He set up a contest in which students had to 3D print their own unique CO2 cars, and then pitted those cars against each other in a race. The students printed out bodies of different shapes, and even wheels for the cars. However the wheels could not be printed out in time, therefore they opted for wheels which were not 3d printed. Best of all everything was printed out from a Reprap printer which the students printed out as well. More details on this story here: http://3dprint.com/4230/3d-printed-co2-car-race/

Check out some of the cars. The red on was the winner of the race:

[Yancy]

Loving it! I would have guessed that the red/black car would have won the race just from that photo above. Love the fact that students get to have fun in school, and it isn't at the expense of educational integrity. This guy deserves teacher of the year

[eegrad2009]

Ha! What an awesome idea! Love it!!

[AbracadabraMan]

Great idea. Great use of 3D printing to get kids into the technology. Such a fun idea, and I hope we start seeing more teachers doing this soon!

[crowbar]

At first glance, it looked kind of dumb having kids print out toy cars. But further reading seen how the kids had to use design software to model and design the cars. Sounds like a good exercise.

[corben33]

Thanks! It was a lot of fun to do, and it something that I plan on doing again this year.

[galledw]

Corben,

Well done! I teach middle school science and have 3 3D printers. I would LOVE to get this started in my curriculum. I am writing a grant for the CO2 car materials. If you have any advice on what to buy and what to leave out, etc, I would be grateful. I assume I need a launch system, axles, wheels, and cartridges. We can design and print the bodies. Any advice? Thanks again!!

Ed

[corben33]

Ed,

That's very exciting that you are planning on putting this into your curriculum!

I use Midwest Technology Products to order all of my CO2 car accessories. Here is a link: http://www.midwesttechnology.com/cat...-%26-Supplies/

I recommend buying in bulk if you can. You should start will axles, wheels, screw eyes, washers, and CO2 cartridges.

As for the launcher, that is going to depend on your budget. This is the one I have: http://www.midwesttechnology.com/pro...0--731054.html

It is simple to assemble and easy to use. If you want to get a little fancy, I recommend PITSCO. Here is a link: http://www.pitsco.com/Technology/Dra...G3_Race_System


One final tip. If you order from Midwest Technology, always request a quote instead of going with their prices online. Their quotes are always 10%-15% cheaper. I always deal with Sarah Cruz. Here is here email: scruz@midwesttechnology.com

Hope this helps!

[galledw]

I will definitely investigate these sources. Thanks for your time and speedy reply!

[galledw]

Corben,

I am the middle school science teacher who recently asked you about where you got your resources for CO2 cars. I am really excited because I got a grant to pay for all of the materials for the project! My students will be designing the chassis like yours. One more question for you...part of our curriculum is aerodynamics, thrust, drag, etc. When you cut your students loose to create their designs for the chassis, did you direct them to any specific websites or resources in order to create the most aerodynamic chassis? I want my students to do some research into this and make it a quality project since it will be quite time consuming and "trial and error" won't really be possible because of time and money. Any suggestions or resources/websites? Thanks again for all of your help...I can't wait to get going!

Ed