A budding young engineer from Ripon has had an article published in a leading model engineering magazine.
14-year-old Tom Dale so impressed the editor of Model Engineers' Workshop when he got chatting at a model engineering convention that he was asked to write an article about his perspective on the innovation and potential of 3D printing.
He's currently a pupil at Ripon Grammar School.
Tom said:
“It’s a powerful and accessible tool for someone like me, providing a platform to learn, experiment and create.”
He first got interested in 3D printing when he was ten years old and got his first 3D printer as a Christmas present when he was 13.
The first models Tom printed included octopi with articulated legs, flexible sharks and dinosaurs, which he sold to friends to make some pocket money to buy new filaments.
He soon progressed to more sophisticated printers, saving up money earned from working on the family farm to pay towards his hobby and developing the valuable skills he hopes he can use in his future career.
Some of his larger prints include a Red Hood comic book character mask, larger articulated dinosaurs and more engineering-focused prints, like a Stirling engine.
The aspiring race engineer, who was first inspired by a love of cars and machines and watching things online about 3D printing, describes it as a way to bring his ideas to life.
He said:
“The idea of quickly bringing ideas from a computer screen to reality is really exciting, I can actually hold and test them. It’s also a way to help me understand design, materials and manufacturing processes.
“The Stirling heat engine is my favourite print to date as it runs off the air temperature differential, as a closed cycle regenerative hot air engine.”
The keen rugby player is now hoping to upgrade his printers to learn new and more complex skills, with an immediate ambition to create a working model traction engine that’s mainly 3D printed.
He added:
“This will be a real test of skill, patience and intricacy.
“I would like to expand and create parts to solve specific problems like creating an electrical housing for a lathe. If needed, I could build or design my own unique tools for a task.
“Long-term, I’m intrigued by the hi-tech side of 3D printing, for example biometric printing for medicinal purposes or creating customised prosthetics – far-fetched goals for now but which show the potential.
“For now, I’m just extremely excited to keep experimenting and learning and keep pushing the boundaries of what I can create to see where 3D printing takes me.”
In addition to playing rugby for school and Ripon Rugby Club, Tom is also a member of Young Farmers’ Club and York Model Engineering Society.
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