Numbers Update: Long Term Displays/Assembly Areas

Several years ago, in 2018 to be exact we decided to create a series of prints that would allow us to  clearly make the assembly area for emergencies for our school wide drills.  We have detailed this previously on this blog, including detailing the process by which it was developed, including updates three years after its initial creation.

As of August 2024 the original prints are more or less in place.   We have had to replace a number of these, however it has not been as a result of the prints deteriorating from the weather conditions, the prints have spent six years mounted on a fence, in full weather conditions - the sole change that has been made is for the prints to resprayed as they have lost colour over the years.

Today we had to reprint another number, in this case the number two as shown, as it had received a direct hit from a soccer ball kicked at it by a junior student.   The print was shattered as a result of this, however two of the students in the classroom were able to create the replacement piece in under three minutes.

The print took four hours to print on standard settings.   The print measured 120mm across was 140mm high and was 20mm thick.  This is slightly oversized however this will be outside and intended as an assembly point for the classroom.

This has been the single longest standing print in use, that has been consistently outdoors during all of the seasons and constantly exposed to the elements.   At the current date (six years almost to the day) there is no evidence of any damage to the print from high winds, rain etc.   It is regular PLA that was printed on a standard printer (at the time an Ultimaker 2).