Tuesday, September 25, 2018

3D Printed iPad Stands - Back to basics

Above: Both designs shown from above with lettering.
Challenge: For students who are new to 3D Printing to start with something effective, simple but creating a useful tool that would be able to be used in the classroom in a positive way.
Background: Two students working on dual projects for the same purpose, with the ideas bouncing off each other.  Neither student had worked on this project before, although there were other examples in the classroom that they were able to see as a practical example and be influenced by.   We made the decision early on to work in small steps for both these students, taking the time to produce a base for the design and then attempting to add details in a different PLA as the print was nearing completion.  We felt this would give the students the opportunity to see the design and develop their spatial ideas accordingly.   One of the students was new to the classroom and this was his first individual design of
Green design in use.
note, the second student was a student who required and worked with learning support.   In both cases the students were able to use Tinkercad to manipulate the basic design and add their own names to the lettering.  The back of the green design originally contained or had a truck design on it, as printing progressed it was obvious that there would be problems with its rafting removal, as this would most likely cause the design to lose features, which it did.  The purple design had an apple on the back, again this design was not attached to the back of the iPad stand, however we made the decision to continue with the print as we were going to attach it after the fact with superglue. 
Level of Difficulty: Low - this is a basic design from the main Tinkercad Interface.   The shape manipulation is minimal, just needed to be in relation to holding an iPad Mini.    There is considerable scope for the design to have variation.   Neither dimensions (see below) were consistent, but the basic design principals remained.
Above: Purple design shown close up.
Time frame: The green print was sixteen hours and the purple print was twelve.  This excludes the additional features of the print which are being selected to be added to the rear of the design.  Given the dimensions both could have been similar size and the 'green' one reduced, as they were serving the same purpose.  The standard 20% infill and 8mm nozzle settings as is the case for nearly every print on this site was applied.
Size: There are two distinct prints for this project.  The dimensions of the Green Print and the dimensions of the Purple Print.  The green print which is clearly the larger of the two had a front of 100mm.  It was 100mm long and 150mm high.  The block at the front was 10mm by 10mm by 10mm.    The block at the back that formed the basis for the name was 20mm across.   The lettering that formed the basis of the name was raised 5mm.   The purple 'Kade' print was 90mm across, was 70mm deep with a block of 10mm by 5mm.   The block at the back for the lettering was 120mm high.   The lettering was 7mm high.
What we would do differently/next steps for students: As a basic design these prints worked well and were a good introduction, particularly for the mainstream student.  We could look to included storage at the base of the design as we have profiled in other prints that are on this site.   Keeping the names simple and having them facing upwards, as shown was key in the success of the print.

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