Fathers Day 3D Printing: Steps 101

 

Challenge: To produce a 3D Print that celebrates a particular event (or day).

Background: This Sunday in New Zealand is the Fathers Day celebration.  We wanted to target this as a potential project for 3D Printing.  We had a specific timeframe in mind, a goal and wanted to include levels of challenges for the students involved.  As noted previously we used previous creations and designs on this blog as a starting point and physical examples from our example box (where we have prints over the last few years in a number of boxes as discussion points, as examples and ways that we can encourage the students to design and create).

The other considerations with the classroom at present - we have now 24 students in the classroom (we are as many of you will know a regular mainstream classroom although we are very fortunate to be an Apple Distinguished School with 1:1 iPads for every student from Y1-Y8.

We also have had a number of students recently join our classroom, which has been wonderful, these students have not had experience with Tinkercad before, or using the technology that our students have, so for some of them, as we would do with many curriculum activities we want to be able to scaffold more for them or provide opportunities for them to be successful at a different level as in the case of nearly all of them they are taking their very first CAD design steps.

Finally the decision to complete the prints for the class has also shaped the designs - we can comfortably run two printers at one time, and both machines (our H2D and P1P Bambu) are reliable to produce prints that would meet the purpose.

Resources Used to Complete this Print: iPad, Tinkercad App, Bambu P1P, Blue Bambu PLA.

Level of Difficulty: Low - this would be considered a basic introductory task completed independently with a student on the first attempt.   Typically when introducing test to a design the only checks required are below to ensure the font is not going through the back or at the top to ensure that the font is touching the base plate.

Size: The print measures 110mm across the base and is 70mm high.   The print base is 5mm and the lettering is an additional 5mm (for a total including font of 10mm).

Cost/Price: The print uses 25g of PLA to complete this has a price point of $0.44c.  There was no support rafting with this design.  Had it been any smaller the lettering would have been very jammed up so the dimensions and hence the amount of PLA was about correct for this project.

Timeframe: To complete this print printer was operating for 45 minutes from start to finish.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students: The students now was a basic 101 task completed can move onto more challenging and difficult tasks.

3D Printed Coaster - Fathers Day 2026

 

This blog has been running for a number of years, as such while it probably could do with a system refit (ie a move to another support or hosting site and do away with blogger) but as a positive in this regard there are now projects, examples and work from the students dating back to 2015 - thats eleven years ago.

So when we might be look at a format or design idea that we've had students work on before we have the potential to talk with the students and go - have a look at this, how can we make this, how was this designed etc.    

This year we've decided to look at making something for students as a gift for a specific event in this Fathers Day in New Zealand (which is the first Sunday in September).   We decided that it would be realistic to produce something for the classroom if we had two printers available (Bambu H2D and Bambu P1P) running and students had a size limit on their print.   We wanted to ensure that everyone would be able to complete the print, including some of the new students that have joined our classroom recently, having not used Tinkercad before.   However we also wanted to make sure that we challenge students who might be able to complete more advanced projects.

We printed a template design (left) with two hearts on it.   We demonstrated to the students that the design essentially consisted of two interlinked circles, the outer layer and the inner layer with different layers.

It took forty minutes to print, was a basic design and allowed students to think about the base.  We were also able to push this template design out to students (via airdrop) for those who really struggled to start to put the design together.   Once this was completed obviously the next task was the personalisation for students - to consider a short message that could be sunk into the design, or extended out from the base of the design.

Then there was the issue of the extension task to complete this we turned to chatgpt.   The prompt that we used to complete the poster shown below was simply to make suggestions about the potential creation of a themed 3D Print using Tinkercad.   The design task was completed in under three minutes.

As with any questions when we've been using a resource such as this with our students it was - how easy could these suggestions be completed, and could we have already completed some of the examples.

You can see the suggestion for some of keyring or badge - designs and prints that we can comprehensively say the students have completed.

Phone stands are something that we've completed in the past.  This was one of our student businesses from our 2025 School Market Day.

It was more of a discussion point for our students rather than a solid starting point, and we didn't necessarily want an option search for ideas.

We also wanted to ensure that it would be realistic to complete the printing of twenty five designs within a two day period of time.

We will be posting material related to this project next week - we will be away from school for the week as we are managing a team of students at the 2026 NZAIMS Games sports tournament with our small rural school.   

Revising a Maze and Engineering Solutions

 

Sometimes despite our best efforts we end up printing designs that have apparently passed the 'design' test when there is a miscommunication or something slips through the net.

This maze shown left is one example of this 'fail' that we have been able to use as a teaching basic.   We thought that it was valuable to illustrate that sometimes things don't work out well.

The first teaching point is the start, to the left of the entrance.   The students have the letter coming out from the walls, instead of sinking it into the walls, which has meant it is considerably less robust lettering, which with a high use item tends to fall off over time, particularly with a font that sticks out as much as can be shown.    Secondly there is an error in the walls immediately to the right of this.   there is a division between the walls and there is a 5mm section of the wall seperate.

When the print is viewed from above another engineering issue was discovered by the students, which was very apparent with some basic testing.    The walls have a varying space between them which significantly limits the ability for a ball to roll in certain directions.    This means that while there looks to be several different routes to the exit on the far side it is in reality quite limited and accessing the 'hole' obstacle is challenging to say the least.    

There is an area of the maze that is top left that has a 'dead' area where the student cannot access the space.

The student who created this now has a physical copy of their design to compare it to their digital version and can clearly see the areas that need addressing to complete the maze as a workable print.

The final current issue of the print is the base of the entire structure.   This is 1mm thick, which is extremely floppy and applying pressure to this base by bending it would potentially break it.   The student has considered this since the print and had the great idea to use MDF off cuts from the school laser cutter as a base by applying a glue to the base of the maze.

All of these revisions have been discussed with the nine year old student who is confident and able to address them independently of the teacher in the classroom.    We also discussed being able to test these different dimensions in a practical way prior to anymore potential printing.

3D Printed Harold the Giraffe

 

Challenge: To create a unique, authentic model of a giraffe.

Background: The students have had a recent visit from the Life Education Trust who visit many schools across New Zealand during the school year.  The mascot for this is Harold the Giraffe.   After a recent visit to Auroa Primary School one of our students decided to use this as the opportunity to create an original.   Getting the dimensions right was always going to be a significant challenge, the students made the decision to look at examples that they might be able to copy off and collected information and details from online sources, including visuals.   

The students for design purposes for this task used Tinkercad.   This is the tool that the students of Auroa Primary School (Room Seven) and others use in conjunction with their iPads.  The students used the main building blocks from the design to shape the torso and legs, before starting to manipulate the design using more subtle and smaller features (the ears were a good example of this process).

The students were able to colour match their design as shown in the original screenshot (although as a single colour print this would need to be addressed) and either coloured or an attempt made to use a multi coloured print run by using the Bambu H2D.

The patches themselves at present need addressing - as they don't wrap around the design, instead sticking out, and there is ample parts of the print.

Resources used to complete this print: iPad, Tinkercad, Bambu H2D, Lime Green Bambu PLA.

Level of Difficulty: Medium/High: This challenge has a number of layers to it and creating the dimensions the scale, the details is a challenge.   This student has been consistently one of the students this year who has shown creativity and a unique perspective with their designs.   The student is extremely self motivated and is able to drive themselves to continue to improve and develop their designs.   They have already indicated that they are going to revise this design extensively to get it better.

Size: The print is currently 50mm across and is 110mm high.   The body of the animal is 50mm by 30mm by 30mm.   The legs are 30mm high.

Cost/Price: To complete this print the printer used 26g of PLA this has a price point of $0.54 for the print.

Timeframe: The print took one hour and fifty minutes to complete this print, on standard settings (a default infill of twenty per cent).

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students: The design needs to be revised - the patches need to blend into the body (as they currently stick outwards).   The feet of the design and the base of the feet could be developed further.   While the student has created a form of expression with the facial details there are further adjustments that need to be made, to the shape and detailing in the face.

We are also pointing the students to the Flexi Giraffe that was a design from 2022 featured on this blog.   There was also a 2023 business for our school Market Day that featured giraffes you can click on the link to that post here.

The student who is responsible for this post is nine years old.

Completed Project: Ooshie Stand

 

Those of you who are regular visitors to this blog while have been following the progress of the five tier 'Ooshie Stand'.   This has been sourced from Thingiverse.   To hold the entire run of the designs each level consists of eight holding spots - five levels allowed the entire run of forty designs to be displayed.

The decision has been made to spray paint the entire design in a single colour (which is purple as shown left).   The design was completed as noted in stages and each section was able to be screwed into the section above it.

This allowed the design to be put together successfully for a price point of under $10.00.   It also has the bonus of allowing the forty different characters to be transported without them falling off the design as each is held in place by an individual peg.

This is another example of using a pre-made design or feature and creating a interest and design for discussion and sharing with adults and also students.

Versa Studio Sign Maker - T-Shirts

 

We've posted many times about our senior students and their DPE (Design Production Engineering) program).   A recent group of students have completed their rotations and amongst this group of students we have a group completing their digital media projects with our amazing Digital Teacher, Mr Bloor.

These students have been working with our Versa Roland Sign Maker to complete their own T-Shirts.   Once the designs have been completed (an example shown left0 the sign maker then produces the image that is pressed onto the t-shirt.

It allows the students to be creative making something that can be highly personalised combining images and photographs of the students into a collage, scene or theme.

The other work that students are completing is the transfer mug.   While we have produced the entire sticker/illustration in the past and then applied it to the mug with our hot press.  However we have made a pivot change with this that we have ordered the stickers from a third party which allowed us to to combine multi colours and also create a sticker that is more robust than we are able to produce with our current technology.

There are a number of examples of this work on our blog - you can use the search bar, top right, to look for our senior technology projects.    We typically tag our Year Seven and Year Eight projects with the 'DPE' tag-line. 

If you have any questions regarding our senior technology program you are more than welcome to contact us and we can put you directly in contact with the teachers responsible for this part of our curriculum program.

Paw Patrol - Not Really

 

We are looking for different ways to challenge our students with design ideas and creations.    One of the ways that we've done so is to take existing examples that are available online and look if we can develop our students skills and design techniques using tools such as Tinkercad.

An example of this process is to use the pre-made material from a popular children's show - Paw Patrol.  There are numerous examples that are online.  We've used a variety of sites for these kinds of files, in this case we're using Thingiverse.

We've found a large number of files and creations that follow this theme.   We selected several of them including badges and cookie cutters.   This has been quite a standard design for our students over the years.   You can use the search bar to locate them.  These prints had a variety of times to complete however they generally were in the forty minute range for prints and cost around the $1.00.  The cookie cutter below used 16g of PLA to complete the print.

Once these had been completed we then attempted to reverse the process - we started with the print (in this case the cookie cutter) and then attempted to create a design that is based on one of the characters, as shown above.

This student then used the 'scribble' icon/tool to create their own version of the design and coloured it.   Again the print times and the relevant PLA use and cost/price was under one dollar to produce the final print.

The student is going to refine this design to reflect more of the characteristics of the character and allow some feedback from the students.   They are going to look at the design, how it looks and work on improving the viability and the recognition of the design.