The Emperor’s Forge has now opened the Emperor’s Forge Shoppe. They sell unique handcrafted items to DHS staff that are decorative and creative. It is run by science teachers Adam Guidi and Nick Fernandez, but students are involved in every step of making, assembling, and selling these items.
“Right now the process is the students are asked to go out and figure out what things would sell, and we have different websites that we go on to and we find these 3D models,” said Mr. Guidi.
What items do they sell?
In the Emperor’s Forge Shoppe, they create and sell a wide range of unique crafts, from small pumpkins with a light inside (for Halloween) to door stoppers with a teacher’s name and classroom number printed on them. They also plan on making items that fit each season.
“We are currently in the fall season, so we’re doing stuff for Thanksgiving, Halloween time,” Mr. Guidi stated, “but we will also soon be rolling out other holiday items for Christmas and maybe something for New Year’s.”
Mr. Guidi adds that along with making crafts for the teachers, the students can bring their own ideas into reality. “These are mostly student-driven ideas. A lot of this stuff that the students are choosing is things like Clash Royale-type stuff. There was some labubu’s that we printed out and just asking their family members, asking their friends what things that they would like to have created.”
How exactly are these crafts made?
The Forge obtained a Bambu Labs X1 Carbon 3D printer two years ago for use in the after-school VEX robotics program. Additionally, they also received a FlashForge Adventurer 5M last year through a grant-funded research project at AIMS.
Mr. Guidi explained how the process works: “Think of a 3D printer as a robot-controlled hot glue gun that draws shapes one thin line at a time. Plastic filament sits on a spool and is pulled into an extruder (print head), then into the heated nozzle — much like loading glue into a hot glue gun, where it melts and flows. Motors move the nozzle along the X, Y, and Z axes so it ‘draws” precise lines. Those lines land on a heated build plate or print bed that acts like a warm work surface, helping the first layer stick. Fans blow cool air over each of the following layers as they’re laid down, allowing them to firm up before the next layer is added.”
Who can join the club?
The Emperor’s Forge is open to any student who is interested. They would like to encourage more students to join.
“We would like to see more students who are interested in 3D design and 3D models. Students that are interested in doing things like painting, assembling, and sales,” Mr. Guidi said.
Some of the student members of the club, Andrew and Lewis expressed why they joined the club. “Probably the creativity,” said Andrew. “I joined it for really just selling stuff, cause I just wanna sell stuff to more people and to get to know more people,” said Lewis.
