Lore #7 - Engage with Your Printing with the Community

This is another in the series of 'challenges' or 'ideas to consider' related to 3D Printing.   They are just opinions and suggestions and would be quite happy to be proven wrong about some of them.  In the previous posts about this topic on this blog we have said:

#1 You don't have to have more than one printer at your school to successfully print

#2 You don't need to ultimately print all of your 3D Printing projects

#3 Printing using non-standard filaments, like glow-in-the-dark is simple

#4 Juniors can design, create and build prints just as well as seniors

#5 The teacher should probably be aware but doesn't need to be an expert

#6 You don't need every kind of PLA to use

We try and take every opportunity to engage with the community with the technology that we have at our school.

In the past we went and printed complementary key rings (oversized) for local businesses in the community) and gave them to local shops - and yes there are still in use years later! 

We are also from a strong rural community with significant farming and engineering works in the area.  We personally went to the local engineering workshop and dropped off a couple of samples of some of the work that was capable of producing using the 3D printer.  The intention in this case was to give the engineers something physical that they could examine but also hopefully plant a seed that in the future if they needed a specific part then they could look to the school to potentially produce it.

The post above shows something one of our amazing staff have been working on.  The example in black is a piece of equipment that connects to the tubing and is screwed into place.   The yellow PLA print is the copy of the original which is able to reproduce perfectly the size of the original and once the thread has been mastered the original will be replicated.   We will continue look for opportunities for our students to be involved in hands on problem solving approaches that they can use the technology to resolve.

3D Printed Bottle Lid and an Engineering Challenge

 

This is the companion print from the bottle exemplar that one of the students has been working on in their own time.   Having spent a crash course on design and Tinkercad in the past four weeks (in the afternoon)

Shaping of the matching lid to pair with the bottle was relatively easy, although the student got the size perfect by putting a hole into the top and then using Tinkercad to remove the hole, make it into a solid object and then use this as the basis for their design.

The challenge is coming the shape of the 'thread' that is on the inside of the bottle top and prominent on the top of the bottle.   Both of these elements need to work in conjunction with each other to allow the bottle to seal.  At present the lid sits on the top perfectly.

However the lid is sitting in place, rather than being screwed down.   The bottle itself is eye catching but the student need to identify a way to solve this engineering challenge.

The lid in its current form has a 40mm and 45mm version, and is currently using 11g of filament.   It is costing $0.28 to print and taking sixty seven minutes to complete the print.

The student responsible for this design is an eight year old working independently in their own time to complete the project.

AR/VR Onto a Pre-made Background

The backdrop featured left and detailed in a previous post as possible the best 'value' for money purchase for a classroom ever has been put to use via Tinkercad, the Tinkercad App and its ability to project images using the AR/VR button.
 

Tinkercad has a number of pre generated object available from the main interface, including several which the students identified as suitable for projection in the scene shown.

One of the challenges for the students was the fact that the project image tends to be quite bright and can stand out.   When the background is bright and has a strong image like it did last year when we had the Christmas Festive Background Challenge in this instance the students needed to consider what elements that they could use to change the setting.

The crocodile proved to be a popular choice - which in some cases was multiplied several times.

This allowed the students to experiment with the placing and composition.   This will be uploaded to Facebook and a number of examples will be shown.

3D Printed Bottle - Exemplar

 

Challenge: For a student to create a unique and individualised project.

Background: As detailed in a previous AR/VR and design task was the challenge for students to create something unique - this meets the criteria of printing an outstanding design and this student wanted to make a copy of a bottle.

He based his design on a bottle that is available as a design from the main Tinkercad interface.   He wanted to replicate the design using the different shapes and tools that are freely available and did so using his iPad and the Tinkercad App.

There was a considerable amount of design associated with the creation - and he wanted to ensure that it was a viable print, which was completed once he had shown that he had the dimensions mastered (using the 'measure' tool) and could justify how it might be used (which of course is helped by the fact that the PLA is waterproof and when printed as a solid shape is water tight.    The students next step is that he wants to develop his skills further and work on a lid, with thread that can be used to screw and tighten on to the bottle.

Level of Difficulty: High - while this is a eight year old he has spent considerable time applying his design skills to create this bottle and has done so from scratch constantly revising, working on and developing his project over several days (which he has done in his own time).   The 'unlocking' or successful completion of the lid will prove challenging but the student is determined to complete it.

Size: This is significant print with significant dimensions.   It currently measures 210mm high and is essentially 70mm wide.  It is narrower at the point of the lid where it is 30mm across.   

Cost/Price: Using the Bambu studios information relating to this print we can determine that to print this unit, including the 'rafting', the support PLA that it took 200g of filament.   This is a significant amount.   The cost associated with this print is $4.91.   This is considered something of a one one based on these dimensions.

Timeframe: The print took considerable time to complete being printed over five and a half hours.   It was completed on the Bambu H2D and we would not consider completing it on any of other machines due to the finish and detail required.

What we would do differently/next steps for the students: 

We followed through with the printing of this project based on the creation by the student and their input outside of the classroom process.   The print dimensions, cost price etc means that this is not feasible for a classroom project (although of course could potentially be in the right circumstances).   The opportunity to personalise the print was clearly there as was the potential to use it in conjunction with something like the Roland Versa Sign Maker machine.

The lid is potentially the most challenging part of the entire process, identifying and successfully executing this is very challenging but the student appears to be relishing the opportunity presented by the design challenge.

Summary of Half Way Point: Term One 2026

 

Students have completed the introductory task which was the creation of a name badge/plate.   This was detailed on the blog here.   This print them morphed into a series of prints based around the development of a generic stencil and then a stencil which was personalised for the students.   You can view all of these posts by clicking on the links above.

These posts were completed by seven and eight year students from our rural school in New Zealand using Tinkercad and their iPads.

We have had students refining their designs based around the repairing of a piece of play furniture, which in this case in a barn/farm set.

While it is not immediately obvious if you haven't seen a post before about this item the door shown left, in white has been created by a student and then using the Tinkercad App and the apps AR/VR feature the students have 'projected' the door into place to see how it visually looks - there is no 3D Printing of the part at this stage, the students are designing and crafting thier ideas and applying them in a virtual sense.   Eventually the doors will be printed and an attempt will be made to complete the play set by developing a solution to the roof which will need to be produced in several stages.  You can view examples of this work throughout this blog by using the search bar top right or clicking on examples here.

We have spent considerable time exploring the AR/VR design aspect of Tinkercad.   Students have made a range of creations and used the pre-made items and also used original designs such as the donut shown left which was then projected into a students lunchbox.    When this was completed we have taken the adapted image and combined it with another level of AR/VR by running it through one of a number of Pic Collage filters that are available via that App.

Our students do not have time to allocate to this other than our 'design' or 'investigate' time in the classroom which is usually in the afternoon.   

Fifteen 3D Printed Cows: Lore #6 You Don't Need Every PLA

This is a follow up from a previous print listed on this blog detailing the preparation for a community event associated with our school and the way that we are producing a point of interest.

It also ties in very well with another 'Lore' to think about when considering 3D Printing int the classroom or educational setting.  These are are all ideas and we don't expect you to agree with everything and this very. much applies to our own mindset - it is very much acknowledged that every school and environment is different.

To recap on what we've looked at previously:

#1 - You don't beed more than a single printer to print in a school environment.

#2 - You don't need to 3D Print all of your students 3D Printing projects.

#3 - 3D Printing using glow-in-the-dark filament is easy

#4 - Juniors can 3D Print just as well as seniors

#5 - The teacher needs to be aware (but not an expert). 

The point of this post is to show the group of five of the distinct cows that are going to act as the centre piece for each of the tables for the community dinner.   Rather than have 'regular' cows we decided to go for novelty cows that are designed to stand out because of their decoration.   Once we had decided to look at the base set of PLA available we talked to the students about other options.    One of the students knew that we had used spray paint in the past to change the colour of prints that had been made so we started the discussion about this.   The students started looking at options for how they might alter the colour when the prints were spray painted.   In the group that is shown above the cow that is located at the front right is a regular PLA print that has been sprayed florescent pink.   This has also led to discussions about using masking tape to create stripes etc.   which we still doing shortly and greatly expand the opportunity for the production of 'individual' cows and more 'unique' prints.

Junior Cohort Challenge - Bottle

 

We are encouraging students as much as possible to come up with original designs and creations, thinking about objects and shapes that students can create and detail using programs - in this case Tinkercad is our design tool.

Students are using Tinkercad with their iPad to create designs such as this.   This was created by a cohort two student, that is student who has used Tinkercad previously last year and this year we are looking at projects to extend their design skills.

While there is a range of objects that can be selected to design one of the best items for honing the design skills of the students (again as we have pointed out numerous times are seven and eight year olds).   

The concept of the design and the production process are some of the most important process.

The original Tinkecad main interface item is the bottle shown left of the pair, the original being shown above.   The main difference between the two designs at this early stage (as the student has had precisely one block of time in class being able to design this) is that the student has not hollowed out their design by using the 'hole' tool accessible from the main page.

This is something that the student will have the skill to complete independently and should be able to succeed with shortly.

The student also was able to look at using the final stage of the testing, which was to use the AR/VR function that is present in Tinkercad to project both of the bottles into different locations in the classroom.

In the example shown left the project virtually of the objects allows the students to compare how they look in a real settings, what they might need to do to adapt the design and how the could compare to each other.   The student also put a 'real' bottle into the mix as well but decided against the photograph as they had labels and stickers on them which meant it was very visual to see what was the 'real' bottle.

The students next step is to refine the design again so that both of the designs are closer to each other with their dimensions so the two are identical.