By Monty Siekerman
Rhett Grant, Ada Public Library director, demonstrated what a 3D printer can do and explained how it works during two sessions held at the library last week.

He plans another meeting at 6 p.m. on Monday for those interested.

Here, Connie Fleming president of the library board, and Angela Carman and daughter Isabelle watch the machine make a ghost out of plastic.

The equipment is on loan from NORWELD, a consortium of libraries, and will travel from library to library for demonstrations. The 3D printer takes a coil of plastic and forms whatever the computer software tells it to.

The small, white frog, pictured on the machine, takes about an hour to form, so it's a long process. 3D printers are used in manufacturing.

For example, the research department of an auto manufacturer may devise a part for a car on the computer. There may be several versions possible. The 3D printer can actually make the part in plastic and the part can be studied to see which version is best.