Helping Others with 3D Printing Projects

 

We've been continuing to use Tinkercad as a tool to mentor other students, in this case our Y4 class has been working with students who are Y2/3 and designing with them, explaining how something can work and then looking at completing the other class rooms very first 3D Prints.

As we've posted many times before prints like the one shown left can be achieved quickly and involve a quick design process which can be quickly switched to a 3D Design virtually (via design tools like the Tinkercad Apps AR/VR feature) and into a physical 3D Print.   In this case the name badge is a thirty minute print that measurses 110mm long is 70mm high and 5mm wide.   To enhance the design - 

The circle and one of the stars have been removed completely and the name and the second star have been changed from a outward facing design into a hole which is then introduced into the base.  Obviously two have partially gone through while two have gone through fully allowing the tag to be attached to a bag or other object.

This design was created by a seven year old with a nine year old providing assistance - there was no teacher input into the process, just at the end where the teacher completed the print.

As a run we tend to shy away from completing pre-made designs as the emphasis is on our reworking and developing original student prints.   There are exceptions however such as when a new student wants to have something completed or we have a problem solving situation.

In the past for instance we have offered up examples of our printing to local businesses and produced a range of items for their use.    

In this instance one of the students in class wanted to produce a satellite receiver for a Star Link system.   We were able to locate a full complete set o of components from a free online site (Thingiverse) and have undertaken to print the four pieces that form the basis of the aerial mount.  Each component part has been designed already we are simply printing out the output and the parents we assume will put together.  This in turn should lead to a range of ideas for prints and designs.

If you 'search this blog' using the box in the top right hand corner then you can use the search word 'Thingiverse' to discover projects that go back using this site back the past several years.   The same can also be said if you use the search word 'badge' or keyring as it is one of the fundamental tasks that our students begin design with.