Zach Sousa just finished designing a low cost 3D printer called “Edge 3D”. And he’s 13 years old…

The printer will be sold as a kit or preassembled and Zach hopes it will be available for sale this summer for roughly $250 (so look out for it on crowdfunding sites).

To keep his creative juices and mechanical hands working, he likes to make projects for instructables.com. His latest “instructable” was instructions on how to make your own 3D printer for under $250 (you can view that here).

Victoria Makerspace (located at the Vancouver Island Technology Park), is a second home to Zach. He started frequenting the space when his family moved to Victoria in spring 2013. Since then, he’s learned about soldering electronics, micro controllers, 3D printing, laser cutting and biotech. And most recently, he teaches the Arduino class at makerspace! This class is aimed at makers with little to no experience with the Arduino. Makerspace-owned Arduino kits are available for use during the class.

“Everyone is helpful [at Victoria Makerspace] and share the interest of making things,” commented Zach. “You can share tools and ideas there, and everyone has a good sense of humour!”

When Zach isn’t teaching, he’s attending Royal Oak Middle School. ” My favourite subject is tech ed.” commented Zach. “I really like hands on learning instead of the traditional type of learning which in my opinion, is outdated.”

As for what Zach would like to be when he grows up?

“I would like to own my own 3D printer company (Edge 3D Printers) and make low cost, high quality 3D printers.”

Ya, just your run-of-the-mill goal for a kid… 😉

Zach knows what he wants and is making it all happen, which is why he’s our Tectorian of the Week!