3D Printed Novelty Stationary Holder

Challenge: To produce a unique item for stationary

Background: This design was completed independently by an eight year old student who is part of cohort one.   The student was able to work independently to complete the project and presented it to the teacher for printing.

The central figure of the design is the elephant.  This figure has appeared in posts on this blog before - notably in 2024.  It is available from the main Tinkercad interface search bar.  While this is an original design (in that the student didn't see the 2024 version) when the two are compared there are clear similarities between the print.

In this design the student worked with the elephant shape and then started to look for additional features that they could add.  They made the decision to modify the design in a number of ways.

Firstly they added the top hat to the head of the elephant (again this has been used before in various projects as the hat or top hat is easily located and work with a variety of prints0.   Secondly they wanted to modify the print by creating something additional with the feet.  In this instance they decided to add flippers from a wetsuit.

Finally at the back of the design the student opted to insert a hole, to shift the purpose of the design to storage.

Once this has been completed the student took their iPad accessed the Tinkercad App and then started the (simple) process of AR/VR the design in a number of locations around the school as shown in the photo.  This allowed the print to be checked for any obvious flaws prior to the printing process.

Resources to complete this project: Tinkercad, Tinkercad App, iPad, PLA, Bambu H2D,.

Level of Difficulty: Low/Medium.  The student didn't design this print they modified an existing print and added to it and put their own spin on it.  The print was still viable however the basis for the design came from the Tinkecad interface.

Size  The print as it stands measures 120mm across and is 80mm wide.  The print was 80mm high.  As it stands these dimensions work fine but additional storage requirements would need to an upscale in the model.

Cost/Price:   The print completed used 73g of PLA plastic to complete the print.  This has a price point of $1.72 using a regular PLA to complete the print.  

Timeframe: This print two hours and fifty minutes to complete on the regular default settings.  This print although larger in 2024 took twenty hours with dimensions of 150mm and 100mm which is a reflection of the improving of the printers in the meantime.   The 2024 version also had a considerable amount of rafting under the legs and body in particular.  In 2026 this was minimal as the printer didn't print any under the legs or the body of the elephant but instead printed from the base up.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students: The student has indicated that they want to look at the spray painting possibilities for the design.  Reshaping and remaking the design would lead to a revision in its dimensions.

Laser Cut Talent Quest Props: Bus

 

Recently Auroa Primary School held it school Talent Quest.   You can visit Mr Bloors Youtube page for the links and media from our school here.

We had a special event and part of it was presented to our local community Mr Bloor our amazing AV technician, creator and broadcaster and decided to use the same technology that we used to livestream our recent 2026 Virtual Pinball Competition.

Words cannot express how important to our school - if you haven't seen his amazing page you should and visit it or look at some of his creative highlights including the full movie productions that he has been involved in.

This bus shown here in profile and side view was created by one of our amazing teachers, Mr Spice.  This bus was used for one of our acts for the talent quest. 

It was created by using our large scale laser cutter.   The bus outline was cut from a silhouette that was found online.   It was then cut out from corrugated cardboard, the kind used for real estate signs.

You can view the video of the school talent quest live streaming below.  If you have any questions regarding any of Mr Bloor's amazing work ranging from his Pinball, his full scale movies his dance machine amazing spectacular events and the list goes on.

As we speak Mr Bloor is preparing for his next amazing school event - more details of which are to come at a later point, but it is a sequel to his amazing 'Fast and the Furious' movie.

3D Printed Minecraft Fox Storage

 

Challenge: To produce an original design that would have a purpose - in this case a Minecraft themed Fox that would be used for storage as shown in the photograph.

Background: We have shown over a considerable amount of time on this blog that the students using Tinkercad as a design tool.   You can see a summary of some of our projects here.  We also complied a slideshow of Minecraft and Tinkercad activities which you can view by clicking here.

This student who is responsible for this design while they are an eight year old student has consistently shown that the are aware of a range of concepts and ideas and they have a particular interest in Minecraft and Minecraft themed designs.  If you want to see further examples of their work you can click on the link on the top right hand corner of this blog.

The student designed this independently and presented it to the teacher in its completed form.  There was no additional reworking or direction required.

The student also ensured that it was going to be a viable print by using the AR/VR feature of Tinkercad on the iPad to project it into various locations around our school.  In this example shown left the student deliberately oversized it and projected it onto our school courts.  He was then able to rotate it around to inspect it from different angles.

Resources used to complete this project: Tinkercad, iPad, Tinkercad App, Bambu H2D, regular black PLA.  We switched back to using the Bambu H2D for this project after a number of projects using the Bambu P1S.

Level of Difficulty: Medium/High.  This print, its design and concept works extremely well however it is something of an art to have the recognition factor the purpose etc.   The student also used the colour coding adapting to change the colour of the fox to match with the colour of the original Minecraft.

Size: The prints dimensions at the moment are 130mm wide 90mm deep and 40mm high.  As the purpose of the print is stationary storage the student has considered that these will need to be increased to realistically hold more material such as pens and pencils.  However as it stands at presents each of the six holes is able to do this with stability.

Cost/Price: The unit as it stands at the moment.  The print currently uses 75g of PLA to complete.  There was minimal rafting with this project, only a small amount under of the face.  This had a price point of $1.75 to produce.

Timeframe: To complete using the Bambu H2D print the print took one hour and forty one minutes.  There was a six minute standard warm up time for the printer.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students: This project needs potentially to be resized otherwise the elements of it are completed.

3D Printed Hair Clip

 

Challenge: To unpack the principles of design behind a simple object (in this case a hair-clip).

Background: Students experimenting with practical task of finding something that they could modify, replicate and adapt.  The students found from  Thingiverse a hair clip that they felt would meet this criteria.

The print was completed in halves.  The students were able to print the piece as shown, without modification.   When the two of them were joined (as the print was completed twice) students realised that they were missing the spring.   This has led to a discussion from the students about the engineering principal of the spring - the crucial piece to join the two 3D Printed pieces together.  

While the instance of the print has yet to be modified by the students the obvious next step for this is to create a personalised element to the design.   Students adapting it to include their name for instance is a very simple step to take for the junior students.   Also given the dimensions and the print time it would be possible to print a large number of these clips (so potentially once the spring is located a business or a Market Day item - potentially with glow-in-the-dark filament.

Resources used to complete this project: Tinkercad App, 3D Printer, PLA, Thingiverse (file) (there are other examples available from this site such as the one shown left which has similar dimensions to this print.

Level of Difficulty: Low.  The student is using a pre-made and designed filed and modifying it.  The intention is to use the file with a small level of modification to lead onto different or more challenging projects.

Size: The print measured 100mm across and was 70mm high.  The back part of our clip is 30mm high.   These dimensions could of course be modified by changing the dimensions of the print via Tinkercad.

Cost/Price: The print used 7.5g of PLA and had 2g of PLA for support for this print.  This was to produce one half of the clip - the pair would obviously need to have two of these printed.   The price point to print a single half of the clip was $0.23c - a full clip would cost $0.46c.

Timeframe: To produce one clip using the P1S Bambu machine the complete print time was thirty six minutes which included the standard six minute warm up time for the machine.

What we would do differently/Next Steps for the students: As described the students need to personalise the design so that they could be seen to modifying it (as opposed to printing something generic which they have just found online) and explore the possibility that this might be a Market Day 2027 option.

Matariki and Puanga Art Activity

Recently our students have been completing an art activity based around the celebration of Matariki and Puanga in New Zealand.   We have recorded the process for this in the slideshow shown below.  At this point in time it is the holidays in New Zealand - we will be printing during this break and adding to this slideshow as a result.

This was created by our seven and eight year old students in New Zealand using Tinkercad and a selection of art materials.

Goodbye from 3D Print School

 

Term Two has now concluded and we are on a two week break.    Our students will be completing work and adding posts during this break time.

Some of our staff, from Auroa Primary School,  will be present in Australia for the Apple Education Summit.   If you are a visitor to this site and you will be attending this event please say hello if you meet them.

In the meantime as always thank you for your visit it is very much appreciated and we will see you all later for some additional work.  Exitus acta probat.

Puanga - 3D Printed Art/Mixed Media

 

We have now completed the final version of the Punga/Matariki themed art that our students have been working on as part of our artwork theme this term.

We have detailed this over a series of posts on this blog featuring the different aspects of this process.

It started with the use of Tinkercad to create the constellation, AR/VR and projecting it onto a range of backgrounds.

We have also discussed how we have then used Pic Collage filters to create art work that can stand alone or in this instance progress through to a 3D Printed mixed media version of the print featured below.

In the example left we have combined all of the elements of the artwork together with the 3D Printing.   The base is black paper combined with pastel work (for the 'Southern Lights') and white paint to represent the stars.   The 3D Printing in this example shown is the 'cotton candy' that has been featured in a number of prints on this blog.   

In the example shown left the lettering used 32g of filament which has a price point of $0.80c.   The print took one hour and eleven minutes to complete.   

The challenge moving forward is for the entire class to complete the 3D Printing - there is a balance required between printing something that can look effective on the artwork and not printing anything too small that does not print due to its size.