3D Printed iPhone Stand: Imperfection Project

 

Challenge: To produce a unique iPhone stand.   As this was part of the 2025 School Market Day the focus for our students in this case was on innovation, creation and personalisation.

This task was created by a eight year old student using their iPad and the Tinkercad App.  The student also used the Tinkercad App to AR/VR their design.

Background: This print is going to be used as a teaching point this year - due to its imperfections and details there are a number of points of interest.

Lego Lettering cluster (viewed from the front of the design).   This was designed to be built around a lego brick as the centrepiece.  The clustering of the 'Lego' lettering looks untidy and is overlapping in places.  This needs to be reimagined and discussed with the students about how the lego brick could feature more details and address the spacing.

The lego layering on the top of the iPad.   The spacing between the studs is not consistent, some of them are also not in a line.  By discussing with the students we would like them to think about how they could replicate the stud so that it was even and spaced correctly.

The back of the iPad stand has a lego face figure.  While the figure is distinctive it could have some further adjustment (the eyes are slightly out of balance) the general dimension of the figure itself.

The overall dimensions of the print need to also be looked at and potentially addressed.   This print was obviously printed in glow-in-the-dark filament as a further discussion point for the students.

Level of Difficulty: Medium this task was completed independently and needs revision, so would something that would need a longer timeframe than an a basic task.

Size: The print base at the front measures 120mm across at the front and is 90mm long.  The thickness of the base is 5mm.   The panel at the back is also 120mm across however it is 10mm thick and 120mm high.

Cost: The iPad used 60g of filament to complete the print.   This was identified as costing $2.10 of PLA according to the Bambu studios costing software.   There would be a slight increase due to the nature of the PLA.   

Timeframe: The print took two and half hours to complete on the Bambu H2D.   Given the details of the print this is not something that we will intend to complete using the Snapmaker.

What we would do differently/Next Steps for the students: 

This project is intended as a project where we can discuss what needs to be addressed and what could be reworked.  It is printed as such and intended there is considerable level of revision for this print.

We anticipate that we will be updating this print later in the school year.   Our students are currently on their end of year holidays in New Zealand and will be returning shortly to school - we will back from our break next week with the students and should be posting shortly after that.

3D Printing Overview: Site Posters

 

These posters are summary posters of this site, highlighting some of the more significant projects and posts from the last twelve months.   Each QR code from the poster is linked to one of the summary posts on this site.   This is also going to be available as a file via Facebook and other formats.

3D Printed Money Box - 2025 Edition

 

Challenge: For student to produce an original money box using Tinkercad to complete the process.  Student was an eight year old designing independently.

Background: This was the last week of school where the students had time to explore the possibility of what they might be able to create.   We had the students construct, build and develop a range of prints and during the end of year break (which is occurring now) we selected a number of prints that have value moving forward.  In this instance while the design is simple and straightforward we believe that it will encourage other students to develop their creation skills - and for students who will require more of a challenge there is the issue of the student designing a way to lock the box and have a underside base panel for access for what is put into the box.

As can be viewed by the photographs showing this design the print was completed using glow-in-the-dark filament this was done just to give the project a novelty factor, it was not required for the print in general.

Level of Difficulty - Low at present, but the potential is clearly there for an upgrade based around how this print might be refined and reworked.  The student in this case was an eight year old who had been using Tinkercad for the year so was confident to work independently to complete the visible access of the task.  The face design is relatively basic and the details could have been developed further.  The hat has featured a number of times in various prints this year and is available as an item search on Tinkercad.

Size: The print measures 100mm wide, was 75mm deep and 60mm high.   The hat extended a further 40mm from the corner of the box upwards.

Cost: Using the software that is present with Bambu studio the print is determined to use 130g of PLA to complete the project and the cost of these PLA was identified as being $3.27.   Of note as this was completed with the Bambu H2D and there was a minimal amount of waste PLA with the print.

Timeframe: From the dimension of the print and the details of the print it was a significant print - it took four hours and forty five minutes to complete, which makes it using the Bambu H2D one of the larger prints that we completed during the school year.

What we would do differently/next steps for the student: As can clearly be shown left the student has yet to complete the underside base panel to secure items to go into the money box.   This is not as simple as it seems as the student needs to develop a locking mechanism to work within the dimensions that have already been printed.   This would be a task that a number of students could complete.    As noted previously the details on the top of the box, such as a the face could have further additions made to it.   The balance between adding details and not overpowering the print is also an issue that would need to worked out.

This was a 2025 design that was a reworked 2024 money box - view it by clicking on the link here.

3D Printed Cookie Cutter V3.0

 

Challenge: For students to create a original, unique cookie cutter with a 'festive' theme.

Background: This challenge was undertaken by the students prior to the end of the 2025 School year here in New Zealand.  The challenge was using the idea for the students to design a cookie cutter that could be used to create the festive themed design shown left.

The student used the basic geometric shapes to create the image of the tree and used the scribble tool to design the base of the tree.   The handle to press the shape was created using two layers of geometric shapes, cylinders and rectangles before the final layer in place consisted of another cylinder and finally a ball at the top.  

Although this sounds somewhat complicated the student was an eight year old student who was able to work independently to complete the task.  

Level of Difficulty: Medium - this task was able to be completed but the elements needed to work in conjunction with each other.   The other issue is the size, although this would appear quite large (see below) the students would be better suited for a larger item than a smaller one.

Size: The print measures 190mm high and was 140mm wide.   The print was 10mm thick/wide for the sides.   The handle extended 100mm from the base of the design.

Cost: According to the Bambu inbuilt software 54g of filament was used to create this print and and the cost of the print was $1.35.   

Timeframe: This print was completed in ninety minutes using the Bambu H2D on the standard default settings.

What we would do differently/next steps for the students: Although it isn't obvious there is a design aspect of this print that needs to be addressed.

As shown clearly left there should be on the underside of the print a 'blade' or 'cutting edge' that was created by having an additional ledge added to it (as it stands at the moment it cuts by squashing.   The other issue was the detail of the design that went with the shape.  The theme was festive and the student made a wise choice choosing such a simple image - however it was clear that they could have used more detailed layering to show the levels of the tree and the base in particular looked quite basic.

There is also the potential for the idea to work in other formats in particular with a stamp or something similar.   This design was a previously visited print and idea.

You can click on this link here to find out additional information about this print challenge for the junior students. To view additional projects related to this topic you can use the search bar top right and use 'cookie' as the keyword or you can click on this link to see further examples from 2025.

3D Printed Cup Coaster - with 'scribble'

 

Challenge: To produce an original item for consideration for market day 2025.

Background: This was one of the ideas that students had at the time when we were planning ideas and designs for our school market day in 2025.   This was an original prototype that the students created that subsequently didn't advance past the planning stage, however once the year was completed we started looking at projects that were otherwise not developed due to time constraints such as printer machine availability.

This design was recently identified as having potential and will be something that we will look at developing with the class of students who will be starting in February of 2026.  In this example the students utilised the design template (something that you could easily push out to the entire class via their Tinkercad accounts) and then added the design that is shown in the middle of the coaster.

The middle design was created by a eight year old student using the 'scribble' tool which allows the free creation of a particular shape and then applies it into a design.   In this case the student has opted very sensibly to sink the design into the base of the coaster (as of course having done so it doesn't affect the balance of the cup).

In this example the lip of the holder extends 7mm however this could easily be increased which would increase the stability.   Personalisation of this design is also a very obvious next step for the student.

Level of Difficulty: This is low as the base of the design was located by the student, downloaded and then added to.   Creating the layering required to make a coaster is a very simple two step process, as is the decoration in the base.   The eight year old was able to complete this independently without any teacher input.

Size: The print measured 110mm across was 10mm thick.  These dimensions worked perfectly for a regular cup however the obvious potential would be to customise this design in either direction (including super sized) depending on the requirements.

Cost: Using the Bambu Studio auto costing information the print uses 34g of filament.   The cost to produce a print with this filament is 85c.   For a standard roll of filament that would be 1kg costing $30.00 we would be able to produce 29 of these prints - which given the potential cost (and print time) would mean it would be a potential market day future item.

Timeframe: The print took under one hour to print (55 minutes).   Obviously any adaption of the size of this print would cause an adjustment to the time.   This was also completed with the Bambu H2D using a standard printer (such as the Snapmaker) would mean that we would expect the print to take twice as long (and there also likely to be less definition with the shaping).

What we would do Differently/Next steps for the students: This is potentially an excellent introductory task one that realistically a class could complete  as the print time is not impossible to imagine that it could not be completed during the course of a week.    

3D Printing History: Revisiting Previous Past Projects

 

We have mentioned that the quality and details that are produced by the 3D Printers that we use at school has increased significantly over the course of time.   Even in the short space of the last few years the quality, speed and detailing that is possible has increased significantly.

By using Tinkercad as a design tool for the students and in particular the classroom option the students accounts are still managed by the school - which means the designs previously created by the students are still accessible.

In particular there are designs and creations that previously were created that we are now in the process of revisiting.  An example that we are currently looking at is this design shown left.  Originally it was designed by a student in May 2024.   In both cases the print was completed with glow-in-the-dark filament - however when the two prints are compared to each other there is a clear difference from the quality of the finish.

The original finish is shown left.   The new version was completed by the Bambu H2D while the original (left) was the Snapmaker machine.   We have indicated that in 2026 we intend to be using the Snapmaker occasionally and the vast majority of the prints will be completed on the Bambu H2D.

The difference is particularly clear around the lettering on the print - which is much more detailed and sharp using the Bambu H2D.   The other significant factor is the time concerned.   With the Bamhu H2D the print time is fifty minutes - significantly under the original time.

The process is now to review the last three years of classroom designs (2023-2025) and identify projects or prints that were not attempted previously or where attempted but the details proved to be too challenging for the technology at the time.   We also have limited prints that date back much further than this, with the original .stl files to a number of projects and as a point of interest we will be selecting some of these to run them again using the newer printers.

It is still just under two weeks until our 2026 School year starts with our new classroom, we will be returning to our regular schedule of posting from then, thank you for your visit in the meantime.

2026 Ideas Box

Each year we look to start by having the students experience some 3D Prints that have already been made - if you are a regular follower of this site you will recognise some of the hundred or so projects that make up this box.

They are a mixture of prints in different media using both the Snapmaker machines and Bambu H2D which have been designed or located by our students.

The students are able to play with the designs look for ideas and generally use it as a resource box.   We have of course further information and details about all of the projects because nearly all of them have featured on this blog in one form or another.