Moraine Park Mechanical Design Technology Instructor, Kim Olson, has been involved in several international presentations for Formlabs, a 3D printing manufacturer.
Earlier this spring, Olson presented for Formlabs about Injection Mold Design. There were 1100 registrants and over 360 live attendants from all around the world.
In June, he gave his second presentation titled Considerations for Injection Molding with 3D Printed Molds vs. Metal Molds. There were over 300 attendees.
In both of these presentations, there were 90-minute Q&A portions where attendees could ask Olson direct questions about his work and 3D printed molds.
His most recent presentation was last week, Oct. 26-27, for the Formlabs Global User Summit. He was one of 40 presenters from countries all around the world.
“There is additive manufacturing and there is subtractive manufacturing,” Olson said. “Think of subtractive manufacturing as carving away at clay. You keep taking clay away until you’ve created something. Additive manufacturing is creating something by building up from nothing. That’s where Formlabs and 3D printing comes in.”
Olson has been teaching at Moraine Park’s West Bend campus for the past 25 years. Some of his classes include AutoCAD, SolidWorks, Jig and Fixture Design, Tool Design and Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerance.
Before bringing his expertise to Moraine Park, Olson designed zinc cast dies for an automotive lock manufacturer in Milwaukee for 15 years.
Over the last 3-4 years he’s gained a significant amount of experience using Formlabs with Moraine Park students.
“We’re all passionate about what we do,” Olson said. “The satisfying part comes when we get the opportunity to share what we do with others.”
For more information on Moraine Park’s Mechanical Design Technology program, visit https://www.morainepark.edu/academics/programs/mechanical-design-technology/.