The potential of 3D printing is immense as an educational tool. This is reason behind many schools stepping forward and wholeheartedly adapting to this new technology. As the technology is advancing 3DP is finding a suitable place at homes as well as kitchens!
The company that has understood this best is MakerBot and has contributed to several initiatives that had the potential to amalgamate 3D printing technology and the educational industry. The reason behind this could be the farsightedness of the company and the ability of the company to anticipate the potential revenue that could be generated by the acceptance of the MakerBot replicators by the various schools all over the country.
On 30th September the company introduced a new educational series in their Digital store. This series focuses on the five historical ships of all times. Just to encourage more people to come forward and accept this series wholeheartedly the company has kept one of the ships free for download. The free ship is ‘The Drakkar Ship’ while the rest of the ships can be downloaded for $9.99 each and if all five are to be downloaded then the price is set at $24.99.
Here is a description of the five ships that are there in the series.
The Sao Cristovao
This ship was the first ship to sail around the great continent of Africa in the year 1488. The printout of the entire ship can be taken in just nine hours. There are seven individual pieces which when assembled, the ship measures 51mm X 163mm X 186mm.
The Bao Chuan
This is principally a treasure ship which was used to explore the Western Pacific and the Indian Ocean in the 15th century. The printing time is nine hours and consists of twelve pieces. When assembled the ship measures 51mm X 179mm X 172mm.
The Trinidad
The boat was used in the 15th century to explore the entire world. Unlike the other two ships this ship is a much elaborate model and requires a printing time of twelve hours and has thirteen different pieces. The ship when assembled measures 95mm X 204mm X 193mm.
The Drakkar
This ship was used in the early 1000s and with this ship Captain Leif Erikson discovred North America. While this one is free for download, the ship has twelve pieces and it needs a printing time of nine hours. When assembled the ship measures 102mm X 189mm X 154mm.
The Endeavor
This ship was used to explore places like Antartica, New Zealand, Australia and Tahiti. The captain of the ship was Captain James Cook. The ship would take around eighteen hours to print and measures 72mm X 202mm X 213mm.
This collection of the five ships is the greatest collection in the educational series that has been launched by MakerBot in their digital store.
Source: http://3dprint.com/17441/makerbot-3d-printed-ships/