3D Print - Novelty Desk Organiser

Above: Design shown in profile.

Challenge: Student wanted to create a gift to give another person.   They wanted something themed that was related to a specific interest that the person receiving the gift.
Background: Student wanted to use a precreated design to print, using this as a gift for another family member.  The student concerned was a senior at our school.   This was her first time independently working on a 3D Project.   The student approached the teacher with the completed project and wanted to print it.   It was obviously sourced from a free design site (in this case Tinkercad) and the student simply wanted to create a print that would sit at a desk.   The head of 'Groot' from the 'Guardians of the Galaxy' movies/cartoons.  Under these circumstances the option is usually made not to proceed with this print, as the student had not personalised or adapted a print in a way to make it unique.  Consideration is also given for the encouragement of students to do this, we at times allow a print that is potentially going to get students creating and thinking critically about producing individual works.

View from above showing storage.

Level of Difficulty: Low - the student sole aspect of the print was to produce it at a size that made it suitable for her to forfill its purpose, to be placed on a desk to allow the hollow part of the head to be used to store stationary items.
Timeframe: Four hours.   The print had a minimal level of rafting, but as it was a commercial design there was not much leeway to reduce the time without having to resize the print. 
Size: Print had a length of 70mm a width of 60mm and a height of 80mm.    Given the purpose, the size of the print was about the right size.   With hindsight it could have potentially been significantly increased so it could have been a storage item for pens/pencils, as it was at its present size it was suitable for smaller items.
What we would do differently: The student was happy with the project.   She had a particular character from the series in mind and therefore her creation of this character would not be possible from scratch.   There was of course a potential for the student to personalise it more with the individuals name that it was gifted for, however that was not something that the student felt that she wanted to attempt.
Next steps for students: For the student to use the experience to start to create orginal designs.