CENTENNIAL —John Hopper uses the three-dimensional printer at the Smoky Hill Library in Centennial to make spare parts for the ukuleles he makes out of cigar boxes.
“It’s very convenient, and sometimes when I make errors we can make new parts to accommodate the errors I make,” said Hopper, who lives in Centennial.
That was not a kind of use Oli Sanidas, the director of digital and library material services for the Arapahoe Library District, thought the district would get out of the 3D printers it’s had for about a year and a half. Sanidas was expecting the machine that can make three-dimensional objects out of plastic would mostly be a showcase for people to see how this piece of technology — too pricey for most consumers at $2,500 a piece — works. But he said that creative use makes sense to him now.
“A lot of people get to be creative at school — some lucky ones get to be creative at work — but a lot of your life-long learners who are out of school, they might still want to be able to learn, grow and create something new. The library is a logical facility for that,” Sanidas said.
Sanidas said the district has these machines in every library except the Eloise May Library, which is getting one soon. Traditionally, the printers have been owned and used by or schools.
Sanidas said offering the 3D printers for people is part of a larger technology initiative of offering technology that’s rare or still in beta testing, like , to the average person.
“We have no agenda of sales, and I think that’s a real differentiator is as a library we can provide you information without an agenda,” Sanidas said. “That’s what we’ve always been about.”
Carrie Jost, one of several technology specialists in the Arapahoe Library District, said the 3D printers can print small items like Hopper’s tuning pegs in 25 to 30 minutes. But for something larger or more complex, like an elephant figurine, for example, it can take up to 13 hours or more.
The printing products are designed from scratch on a computer program or through pre-made designs from a website like . Jost said some people have even scanned themselves using Xbox Kinect and then printed smaller replicas of themselves or their children.
“To me, a library is about connecting people with information, and we are just kind of the conduits to accessing that information,” Jost said. “We do have the tools to help people access the information and help them print pieces, custom name tags, stamps — it’s just part of a larger goal of spreading knowledge and having a more educated group of people.”
Nick Taylor, supervisor of tech experience for the library district, said currently the wait to use a machine is six to eight weeks. If the wait list gets too long, the district might purchase more machines.
Sanidas said for now use of the 3D printer is free, but the district might charge if it ever became too expensive to run them. One kilometer spool of plastic “ink” runs about $30.
For Hopper, the machines are a time and money saver to get the parts he needs.
“I would spend a lot more time just whittling them and cutting them out” if I didn’t have access to a 3D printer, Hopper said. “It’s fast, it’s fun and I like the whole creative process.”
Clayton Woullard: 303-954-2953 or cwoullard@denverpost.com
