Learning 3-D printing is fun, but it can be difficult, said Kristzen Tracey, 16.
"One small mistake can ruin the whole project," he said Wednesday, as he carefully traced the shape of Pennsylvania into a keychain design he was creating on a laptop.
But the end result is the best part.
"You see, oh, wow, I made that," said Kristzen, who will be a junior at New Hope Aademy Charter School next year. "That's pretty awesome."
Kristzen and other New Hope Academy Charter School students have been learning about 3-D printing through a partnership with 3Delivered, a business in York College's J.D. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship. Some members of the charter school's tech club -- dubbed Batteries Not Included -- made their second trip to the business on Wednesday.
There, they were guided through the process of designing a keychain in a computer program. While they waited for a 3-D printer to form their keychains in plastic, they learned more about the different types of printing and examined sample items.
Marcus Richardson, the assistant IT director at New Hope, said the summer visits are an extension of the after-school tech club, which has done everything from introductory computer programming to building Linux systems.
The program with 3Delivered, part of a larger effort to partner with local businesses, is aimed at getting kids interested in engineering. And 3-D printing is on the verge of "blowing up" around the world, he said.
"They've been really receptive to it," he said.
Serena Ramos, 15, said she was interested in 3-D printing because it didn't seem like something a lot of people get into.
"It's unique to me," she said.
