Inspiration and Why pt 1

A quick note about the inspiration behind this project: About a year or so ago, my all time favourite science teacher passed away suddenly. She had been my teacher for a good portion of elementary school and she always made a point of making class fun. This was the teacher that got me into science and truly was one of the best teachers I've ever had. This project was, in part, inspired by her classes and getting back to the incredible amount of fun my classmates and I had in her classes. I was also inspired by the efforts of STEM Education Coalition and their support of science and math teachers and the severe budget cuts these subjects are facing.
How many schools (elementary through high school, not college, though I'm sure this applies to many colleges as well) have it in their budget to bring in a 3D printer that costs tens of thousands of dollars just so a teacher (or student) could print out a model of something? Sure, he or she could just go to the store or go online and buy something similar that might fit their needs or have a model made at a facility that does rapid prototyping, but wouldn't it be easier to just do it in the classroom for a couple of bucks? Here, I'm mostly thinking of science fairs and class projects where you might want to show how an amoeba functions or visualizing air patterns. Sure you can go with clay models and a lot of models are available on teacher supply websites (or Amazon)but wouldn't it be more fun, and customizeable, to just spit out a plastic model yourself?
In keeping with this train of thought, what would be a better way to teach students about machines and their construction than by actually building something of use and learning how each part contributes to the overall functioning of a machine? Initially, this was my main goal, to provide a fairly low cost DIY printer kit and some worksheets so that older elementary school and young middle school students could learn the basics of engineering. However, this then blossomed into a project with numerous applications and various goals depending on donation amounts.