3D Printed Christmas Calendar: Junior

 

Challenge: For seven and eight year olds to use their design skills to challenge themselves with a multi featured print involving a number of aspects.

Background: After one or two years of using Tinkercad to create a print that had a number of aspects to it, as a 'days to Christmas clock'.   The print needed to have a way to change the day on a regular basis.

Students were able to use pre-generated figures to complete the design but they had to ensure that they had worked these into a new design and been responsible for editing or changing the design.   In the example shown left the student did so with the trees that they wanted to put on the top of the design.   The other aspects of the design were either created for this design or created previously by the student and then adapted to the design.

While there was not any time devoted to the creation of the design in terms of guiding the student a basic example was shown and the issue of the date changing was discussed - as the students assumptions were that they could use a regular die to represent the count down, when naturally once they got to a date regarding the number seven this would prove problematic.

The design came in a series of stages - it naturally started with the base and then the student hollowed out the space for the date blocks.   Once this had been completed the student used the snowman and a tree and duplicated both multiple times to complete the design.

The student responsible for the design is seven years old and other than the general instructions and the prompt at the start of the lesson they were able to produce the print independently.   They used their iPad and the Tinkercad app to complete the process.  Printing was completed via the Bambulab studio software and the Bambu H2D printer.

Normally we would expect students to complete a detailed AR/VR exploration of their creation but we were under a specific time pressure (ie the end of the school year) and the student conducted some but not as we would usually expect, which at times can be an entire session in itself.

Level of Difficulty: High - this was intended to be a challenging print from conception to execution.  There are elements of the print that need to be refined and this was given as an optional challenge.  Our of a class of twenty five students this was one of the better attempts at completing the project, but some students worked on the die and left the base alone.   If we have insisted that the entire print was original then the students would have needed to use unique Christmas Trees and this wouldn't have been out of question as a number had already design them for our recent virtual Christmas Challenge.

Size: The cubes that display the date or the countdown days to Christmas (the student wasn't sure what was best) are cubes measuring 25mm across.   The base for the main unit is 80mm across, 50mm deep and 50mm high at the back.  The base is 10mm deep at the insert and 15mm high in total.   The snowman are particularly small being 20mm high.  The trees are only slightly smaller being a total of 25mm high from the trunk to the star.  This meant that the entire print while being quite small was functional, with hindsight the size could have been bigger but actually this worked in a perfectly fine manner for what was intended (see below).   This also was potentially a task when more versions of this would be created.

Cost: The main unit base cost $1.57 to produce as determined by the Bambu Labs automatic software.   The print used 57g of filament to produce.   There was some 'rafting' waste PLA to hold aspects of the print in place however it was minimal.   The dice were relatively inexpensive as they cost $0.44 for the pair and  used 18g of PLA to complete.  There was no filament that was required to support them, nor was any tools required to remove filament from the die once the printing had been completed.   The main base required tools to remove the PLA particularly the support that was between the trees although given the dimensions of them (being 25mm high and just over 2mm wide at the widest pint it was minimal.

Timeframe: The base unit took two hours and seven minutes to print.  The pair of die took thirty seven minutes to complete.These were both completed on the Bambu H2D.  Given the specific details that were required of this print (particularly the trees) this was not a print that we would attempt on one of the Snapmaker printers as we would doubt the level of detail would be able to be produced.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students: The trees that topped off the design proved to be challenging for the teacher to remove the PLA.  They had to use specific tools to do so, which the students are not able to use due to the edges.  Despite care taken with this one of the trees as shown left came off the base in this process.   It could be re-glued however the trunk of the tree is particularly thin and if this print was dropped there could potentially be more  issues.  The solution of this would be to engineer additional support at the base of the tree by including box presents or something else that would allow support but not detract from the image.   The student also needs to address the snowman.  If you look at the first picture the boxes for the date are not sitting square on the base of the print.  This is because the two centre snowman extend into the main area where the die needs to be placed and their carrot nose extends into the area where the block sits.  It does not prevent the block from being placed there but it means it needs to be wedged in under the nose.  This is potentially a design weakness and would need adjusting.

Finally the die themselves require careful engineering to ensure that they meet purpose the student was still in two minds about whether the calendar is a 'Days in December' or 'Days until Christmas' a decision needs to be made about that and then engineer the die to meet the numbers required by this.  With hindsight this would have made a great STEM/Mathematics algebra equation challenge. 

3D Printing Junior Challenge: Introducing Scribble

This is the third in the series of recent 'Cookie Cutter' class project work.   School in New Zealand has now broken for the school holidays, we will be back in person in February, in the meantime we will be revisiting all of our 2025 project work and we have a range of prints and projects from the year which we we will be posting.   As always if you want to get in contact with the teacher who runs this blog you can do so by emailing him at myles.webb@gmail.com.

Challenge: For students to create an original, unique and working cookie cutter suitable for use.

Background: We have detailed this process over the past two days, detailing how the original inception and idea featured a tree shape.  

As the students started developing ideas a clear next step was going to be using the 'scribble' tool present in Tinkercad.   When selected with the students iPads it allows students to be able to freely draw on a seperate design page then bring this straight into Tinkercad.   This allows the students the ability to create a range of shapes and designs and the students have proven increasing adept at developing their skills to use this to produce different ideas.   In the case of this challenge the students started looking at traditional ideas and shapes associated with Christmas and then experimenting with them.  

Having already identified that early prints lacked a handle and tended to be too thin this student wanted to make sure that this print addressed both these potential issues.

Level of Difficulty: Low - this is a straightforward design that took the students a few minutes to independently produce as a eight year old.

Size: The print is 90mm wide 70mm high and has sides that are 10mm thick and 10mm high.

Cost: The print has a PLA use of 13g and an associated cost according to Bambulab of $0.31.

Timeframe: The print using the Bambu H2D took 38 minute to complete.   This makes this project an excellent challenge based around the concept of printing a class set or a large group of prints as the timeframe makes it somewhat realistic (with our classroom we are attempting to complete the entire run using a single printer over the course of a week at school)

What we would do differently/next steps for the students: The run of prints in this sequence were based around tree designs, this version was the first 'scribble' tool designed version and it was printed as it was intended to share with the students a different approach.   The handle while it is functional needs some more refinement.   The student also has created 'sections' for the hat that are quite distinct.  In testing when the students use the cutter to cut through the play-doh if the students cut right through it does not leave a single piece, but it leaves the design in two distinct sections - so the students need to engineer a solution to be able to  press it trough some of the way, but not completely through so the shape remains intact.    

This will be updated with further versions of this print later.   You can also see the 2025 Christmas themed slideshow featuring ten years of different Christmas Designs and Challenges for students by clicking on the link here.

3D Printing Junior Challenge: Cookie Cutters Revised

 

Yesterday we wrote about how we had attempted to develop the students skills by developing the challenge of creating a suitable 'cookie cutter' task.   The first example came out, being the print shown left.   We were then able to give the students the opportunity to test the print by applying it to Play-doh to check the imprint.

The initial print quickly proved to be lacking in details and was somewhat difficult to push into the play-doh.   The student responsible for this design then spent time looking at what they needed to do to improve the design and make it effective.  There second version of the print is shown left next to the original.

As we described yesterday the original was 50mm across 90mm high and 3mm wide.   The revised version was 110mm high 60mm across and 10mm thick.   The original took fifteen minutes to complete the revised version was forty five minutes on the Bambu H2D.

We also detailed a significant development with the design shown left that was a virtual design from the previous post.   This example was also printed on the Bambu H2D and took seventy five minutes.   This version (which features a significant handle 160mm high, 60mm wide and 20mm thick.

Observing the play-doh (left) while the shape of the tree can be seen from the imprint of the cutter the student has indicated that they potentially would like to develop the dimensions further.   Technically the star that sits on the top of the tree is too big for the design.

This project has been worked on by seven and eight year old students working with their iPads, using the Tinkercad app and printed on the Bambu H2D. 

3D Printing Junior Challenge: Cookie Cutters 2025

 

Challenge: For students to create an original, unique and working cookie cutter suitable for use.

Background: Its the final week of school in New Zealand prior to our summer break.  During this time we are trying to complete our end of year projects across the curriculum and we are also producing a range of designs that we are potentially publishing, printing and creating during the holidays.   One of the things that we have done is revisit some of the other successful projects that have featured on this blog and used the blog itself as a resource.

We were producing versions of these back as student projects as early as 2016 which you can see via this link.  We have also revised designs like this again in this post in 2019 and in 2022 we summarised our Christmas themed cookie cutters in the shape of Santa's sleigh with this post.

We also have gravitated towards projects that are realistic for the students to complete in a short space of time.  At present time with the main printers with the school is at a premium.   There are a number of classrooms using the machines and they are available and their use is encouraged for everyone.

We have a number of complicated projects due for the Bambu H2D while we can complete a project like this using the older Snapmaker machines.

One of the issues for the students to overcome is that they have already started designing these cutters but having only one edge to them and not thinking about the entire design.

We are going to allow the students to access some Playdoh with the intention of allowing the first designs to be physically printed.  This should allow the students the ability to look at the designs that they have made and consider what they might be like when applied in a cookie situation.   Some of the designs at present have a range of shapes that are separated by a solid line, which will in some cases not leave a shape but instead a series of seperate objects.

Level of Difficulty: Low-Medium.   We have used this as a basic level entry task in the past, while we are finishing off this year we would like the students to design and create using their iPads something that they could use and could be practical for the end of the year.  There are a variety of designs but the brief has been deliberately left open to the students interpretation.

Size: In the physical print shown top left the student has designed the cutter to be too small.  It is 50mm across and 60mm high in total, including the star.  Some of the subsequent designs are clearly bigger - however the student response to this was quite clever as this design fit the criteria for our recent Christmas Cracker Challenge - so it was transferred to this!

Cost: The sample is costing $0.20.   This is low for a general print however this is one of the benefits of this project.  Students need to also consider when using the cutter how much force can be used.

Timeframe: The example shown at the top of this post took fifteen minutes to complete on the Snapmaker, had the Bambu H2D been used then this would have been expected to be half of the time.

What we would do differently/next steps for the students: This print has a long way to produce a finished product.   The testing phase of the prototypes which the students are now moving onto as usual will be crucial to the students overall success with the project.   The designs should also move on from the basic tree design that is currently being focussed on.

3D Printed High School Science Projects

 

This project was completed by one of our teachers and was for order for a significant local science project.   It really pushed the limits, size and depth of the Bambu H2D and we've tagged it as 'High School' to reflect that it is of a complex level of design and creation and not something we would be challenging our students to complete.

The project is related to measuring local water flow - in this instance a 3D Printer and ones with advanced capabilities has huge potential.

The yellow portion of the print is the entry point.  It took the Bambu H2D twenty hours on a single print that had no rafting or excess PLA.   It was designed in Sketch Up.   The dimensions of the print are quite significant - it measures 125mm high, it has a 10mm width as shown is 300mm across.

With regards to the turbine shown here on the left (in grey) the width is 160mm across and 100mm high.  There is an additional attachment at the base of the turbine.   This took fifteen hours to print and again is a major piece of technology.

We know from experience that the printing of the PLA can last long term having had a number of prints that are still in use ten years after they have been first printed - as featured on this blog (numbers - see it here at its inception in 2018) or seven years after their creation this keyring still in daily use

This print will be slightly different in that it will be working to measure the flow of water in a river, however we are confident that the elements of the print will work as intended.

Virtual Christmas Designs: Into Cards

 

The design shown left is a Christmas card created by a student in Y4 (eight years old).  We have been detailing this process recently where the focus has been on to complete a virtual creation - in this case using Tinkercad and crossing it with Pic Collage.

We detailed this process with the creation of our virtual Christmas trees and also previously using the designs to show a song.   In this instance the next step is to reapply the design process and the students using their iPad to create a material art project.

The snowman inside the globe has been created using Tinkercad with the student creating it as part of a Christmas Challenge.  They have then AR/VR the design into the classroom setting to remove the background and used the PicCollage app to take a virtual image.   The virtual image uses the shapes in the background to create a raft of festive themed images.

The students have then taken this image and reintroduced it to Pic Collage - here they have then added the Merry Christmas heading which you can see in the picture.  We actually used a range of designs from other locations (a extended font search) and looked at printing out these fonts and adding the lettering onto the original picture the students opted to include it with the original.

The next stage was to look at the cover - the students as they were using the iPads to screenshot an image had a couple of watermarks to discuss, and look at options to potentially cover them.

Finally the message that was placed inside the card was a seperate writing lesson, the details were fairly standard but a combination of the card shape, the original design an image on the front and then the students message on the inside of the card proved to be effective.

This extended the lesson out further and included a written element which took it from a standard Tinkercad design into something with a range of layers to it.     We also looked at the composition of the card and whether the original design suited a portrait or landscape design and what else could be created.

This also sent the students back into their Tinkercad accounts- looking for previous designs that they might be able to apply a filter to.   An example is the Santa figure shown in the image left - this was a previous design created and turned into a 3D Print that featured earlier on this blog.  The student felt the image would benefit from being put through a filter so they added additional features to the design (the body) which they felt the filter would then pick up and add details to (which it did).

The last potential stage would how else could we use art techniques with the card? We considered the applying of dye to form a border around the image on the cover - and how the rest of the inside of the card might be decorated, as well as the overall size.

By utilizing Tinkercad in this way the students were able to take an original image, apply the filter and rework and represent it into something completely different, unique and using their iPads and two apps to do so.   They worked independently as seven and eight year olds to complete the task without any teacher input.   They also used 3D modelling to make something that did not require 3D Printing or another technology to be applied to it.

Virtual Designs: Christmas Theme - Part Two

 

We've started moving towards the end of the school year in New Zealand as we have a school year that runs from February to December - at Auroa Primary School our students have a week remaining.

There's a range of projects that we are trying to complete before the year comes to a close.   Some have a festive theme.   We have used our iPads, the Tinkercad App to create designs, but for the purpose of publishing we have looked to combine a range of 3D Printing with some virtual printing.  In this example shown left the 'bauble theme' from Pic Collage has been crossed with a Tinkercad design that was modified by the student.   It was exported from Tinkercad via the AR/VR feature and then imported into Pic Collage where the AR/VR filters that are currently available were applied

We are then taking the image and going to then publish it as the front page of a Christmas Card, with the student using other apps to produce the lettering and the message to go inside the card.    The design was modified by an eight year old and worked on independently so the teacher didn't have any input into the process.  There are other examples located here or as always you can use the search bar top right to search this entire blog.

A montage of student photos from our recent Virtual Christmas Tree challenge.   Again as detailed previously we used Tinkercad to create from scratch a virtual Christmas tree complete with decorations.  Students then used the Tinkercad App to project the tree around our school grounds in a variety of locations and sizes.  The students had to rotate the tree in each shot to show a different view of it and include in the decorations some unusual shapes or objects as 'easter eggs'.   The process took a block (an hour of teaching) from start to finish - the student was an eight year old who design the tree independently and then went around the school themselves to complete the VR/AR imaging.  This is not intended to be a fully print using the printers.