3D Printing Flying Challenge

 

Challenge: To use Tinkercad to create something that flies.   

Equipment Used: iPad, Tinkercad App, Bambu H2D, Bambu PLA (orange)

Background: At the end of last term (its the last day of the term one break in New Zealand, our students are going to be back this coming Monday in regular class) we set the students a challenge.   Initially we were looking at ways to create movement using 3D Printing.   The intention was to look at some basic movement and using either the 'motion' feature of the Tinkercad simulation including the potential for some basic wheel movement.    One of the students in the classroom, who is eight years old, wanted to make something that instead of rolling could be flicked.

The rational was that they could easily produce a disc and that this could be measured for distance based on the design.  After discussions with the teacher the student was able to produce a prototype (this is in the region of five minutes after the discussion).

While there are some elements that are reminiscent from the classroom project earlier this term that was a donut the student felt that it would be worth experimenting.    Now that the print has been completing from a teacher perspective thoughts have shifted to how can the students use this? What data might they be able to create? How might this data be displayed? If similar ideas are developed - what ways can another design be created to compare? (such as something with designs on both top and bottom of the design?

The next step will be putting this design in the hands of the students to ensure that they can develop their ideas, bounce ideas off each other and create some prototypes for comparison to think about whats next.  The focus will be on the data collection, how to measure it and what conclusions that the students can make from experimenting and working with the print.

Level of Difficulty: Low - this design was created in a short space of time by a student who is confident in their CAD design.  The shapes and the additions are all from the basic interface.

Size: The print measures 150mm diameter across.   The sides of the design are 40mm across and the design is 10mm wide overall,  The spheres that are across the top of the design extend upwards from the design up to 10mm.    

Cost/Price: The print in its current form uses 56g of filament to complete this print and that has a price point of $1.38 for the print.  As the intention is to complete several prints and then compare the size we would expect this to be adjusted accordingly.

Timeframe: Using the Bambu H2D on regular settings this print took four hours and twelve minutes to complete.

What we would do differently/Next Steps for the students: The data that comes out of testing this 3D Printed object is going to be important not only in terms of how it is collected but also how it is displayed.  There is a huge scope for this and also to consider how then this might be applied to Mathematics lessons and thinking about scale, flight and how an object might travel (including for instance altering the infill of the print rather than using simply the standard).  We also have some traditional frisbee for the students to compare this design to.