3D Printed Giant Cyclops Design

 

Challenge: For an eight year old student to create a unique 3D Printed design using Tinkercad that includes plastic eyes as part of the design.

Equipment Used: iPad, Tinkercad App, Orange PLA (regular) Bambu H2D.

Background: This design came out first in a challenge set to our students from September 2025 to include a novelty eye as part of a Tinkercad design.  We revised this again in April of this year having students include the physical (eye) as part of a design.

This design came out of this print.  It needs to be stated at this point that this is an extremely large oversized design and it was always intended as a single print.   The design was completed by an eight year old student who is showing flair and creativity with his work both last year and this year in the classroom - he created this design and did so without any input from the teacher.

Level of Difficulty: High/Hard - this design was developed over several attempts by the students and they revised the design several times to ensure that it was balanced and robust and worked.

Size: The print is significant for a single run print.   It measures 150mm across the main body has the tentacles that extend 120mm from the top of the print and has legs that are 70mm high.   From the base of the print to the top is 240mm.

Cost/Price: Using the inbuilt software for Bambu Studio Labs the the print used 364g of filament (including rafting under the design) and had a price point on current dimensions of $9.10.

Timeframe: The intention was always to push the limits of the printer with this design and the print took fourteen hours to complete.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students: Due to the scale of the design and the length of time it took to complete it is not viable as such to complete it again and is more of a one off.  The student put too large and deep holes in the base of the design and this is an excellent storage for whiteboard markers (as shown in the photographs).    The eyes that can be seen at the front of the design could have benefitted from being placed more to the front of the design as they are somewhat sunken into place by the design.

Laser Cut - Presentation Box for Student Exemplars

 

This creation has come from one of our amazing teachers here at school which came out of an idea about ways to display exemplars of students work.  We have looked online at various items for displaying of figures with a combination of LED strip lighting and MDF or wood veneer.

The idea is to have a semi permanent display with some exemplars physically present to show as a example of our students creativity and innovation.

In the example display box shown left the laser cutter has been used to create both the top and bottom for the box which has then been stained to alter the colour.

The walls of the box have been created by using the laser cutter to cut perspex which has then been anchored into position by the slots created by the box.

The design at present measures 200mm by 220mm and has a height of 260mm.   The wooden lid is designed to lock the Perspex into place and is 220mm by 220mm and is 5mm high. 

Although there is no LED strip lighting directly linked to the display box it would be potentially possible via the lid and a battery operate light (inexpensive fairy lights might also work in the same manner).

This would potentially allow the school to easily create a bank of exemplars that could either be stacked on top of each other or combined with another furniture item.

This photograph left shows the storage box placed in a cube shaped storage item - although if it was to be permanently mounted into something such as this we would potentially look at the dimensions to increase the size relative to where it is placed.

There are a significant number of sites online which contains laser cut files for the purpose.

We also have created a bank of examples of laser cut projects which are located via the tab on the main page of this blog.

Step Master Machine - 2026 Updates

 

Regular visitors to this site will be aware that one of the amazing pieces of technology that are available to our students is the incredible Step Master Machine!

Mr Bloor has spent time during the holidays rebuilding, repairing and reconstructing the dance pads that are an important part of the machine - you can see the brand now steps pads here.

The original machine was built using the laser cutter here at school, the 3D Printers, the amazing sticker machine for the decals and an incredible amount of hard work.

This is a full sized machine based on the 1990s Arcade Machine 'Dance Dance Revoultion.   Mr Bloor our amazing digital technician built this machine with a group of our students (you can view the amazing story of its construction here).

Since the machine was built students have been updating the media each year with students creating their own media and music videos that work on the machine you can see examples of this here.

Each year we have a competition for our students based on the machine.   We have been live streaming the event via Youtube for the community for the past few years - examples of which you can see including last years finals by clicking on the links here.   

Last year we also held a very special themed event based on the K-Pop Demon Hunters with the Auroa School K-Pop Demon Hunters Challenge - you can view the footage of this mega event by clicking on this link here.

We have not made an official announcement about the potential 2026 competition for our students but keep your eyes peeled as an announcement about a competition for 2026 might be coming very shortly for our students! 

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.

3D Printing - Projects that need revision

 

Challenge: To revise a print to ensure that it is successful.

Background: We've mentioned a number of times that this years students are two groups those who have experienced using their iPads and Tinkercad in the past year and a second group of students who are working for Tinkercad for the first time.

In this instance this design and print came from a student that 'slipped through the net' that is that it was printed on the assumption that it had been checked, that it looks at first glance to be a successful print however it is going to be used as a teaching point as it needs some adjustment.

The print shown here has some raised areas that are designed to be broken away - their is rafting that is located in two parts of this design.   The name 'Hazel' is raised 2-3mm from the base of the design and is not attached to the base of the design.   What this means, and can be seen from the following photo is that the letter will detach as it is not permanently attached.

The second area needing adjustment is the base of the design, as the heart that is on the top side of the print is not flat underneath the design.   Both these locations of the print contain rafting - which is designed to be broken away.

In essence the student needs to refine the design by firstly ensure that the name part of the badge is directly attached to the base of the design and not 'floating'.   Secondly the underside of the design needs to be flattened to ensure it is printed as a single piece.

In this example we removed the rafting under the lettering by taking each of the letters off and then using superglue (the teacher completed this, not the students) to reattach them to the print.   The bottom of the print is more problematic as removal of the rafting still means that both the heart and the oval are on the underside - and therefore it is not balanced.

Level of Difficulty: Low - we have talked and provided many examples of this kind of design in the past on how it is an introductory task for students to complete independently as a way to print a design to share that is practical and will have an obvious purpose.  There are many examples on this blog which you can search for by using the 'Search this blog' icon from the top right hand corner.

Size: The print as it stands is 135mm by 135mm and has a width of 5mm.   This makes the design quite large and would be typical of something such as a large keyring rather than a smaller badge.  One of the revisions of this design is potentially the size as it stands it could be described as 'over-sized' at present.   

Cost/Price: Using the software associated with Bambu Labs studio the print uses at present 88g of PLA for the print and this had a price point of $2.20.

Timeframe: The print as it stands including the rafting that is not required is six and a half hours.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students:   The print shown left and indeed the entire process and purpose of this print will be to hand it to the student show them how it needs to be refined and adjustments made.   The version shown left can be seen to include residue from the superglue from the re-gluing of the letters and also the oval that is above the name could be changed to include an alternative shape of an image.  

3D Printing with WoolyFil PLA V2

We've been experimenting with a range of PLA over the year but have previously posted about our excitement in discovering the range of WoolyFil filament and in particular the ability to essentially be able to recycle nearly all of 3D Printed material via a New Zealand company KiwiFil.

We have always been extremely careful not to endorse of promote anything to do with this site as we are simply trying to highlight what works for our students and staff however the values of being sustainable and also producing unique and interesting prints to capture the imagination of the students is something that we are very much always looking to achieve.

In the example shown above we have conducted another test print using WoolyFil Filament.   The print has been completed using this and the Bambu H2D.   The machine needed to have the PLA set to 'generic' rather than the automatic selected Bambu PLA that we are predominantly using.

We decided to produce this figure as the eyes were the only part of the print not completed using the combination of recycled PLA and wool blend was the eyes.

The contrast with the Suffolk sheep shown left was that this used a fair degree of regular PLA to complete for the feet and the face (although this was also recycled PLA).

This is a design that was sourced from the Bambu Lab Online portal by using the search phrase 'wool animal' to narrow down the elements.   While there were a very large range of potential designs the Elephant was selected as the print was nearly entirely completed using the WoolyFil Filament.

The print measures 60mm across is 50mm deep and 70mm high.   The print took three hours and thirty minutes to complete using the Bambu H2D.   The print used 24g of filament to complete this had a price point of $0.60.

As we have mentioned in the past while the students aren't designing the print the idea is to get the students familiar with the material, the concepts and the idea of using different PLA to encourage them to think laterally about the designs that they could use.

Tinkercad V Minecraft 2026 Project Summary

As we complete the project for 2026 we have recorded a short video showing the physical prints created by our students using their iPads and the Tinkercad App.

This has been added as the final slide at present to our 2026 Slideshow - you can click on the link here to view that original post or view the video directly below.   

A reminder that the students in New Zealand are on the second week of the school holidays and we will be returning to the classroom next Monday.