3D Print School - #Tinkercadhunt 2026 Starting Edition

 

We've been posting online for a while now, if you've been following this blog for a while you will be aware that we now had our most prolific posting year ever as we are posting everyday for a calendar year - but we also starting posting on a semi-regular basis with our first printing from 2014 appearing here the following year.

Overtime we've shifted away a little bit from how this site was first envisaged as we now feature a range of material produced on our laser cutter, our sticker machine or virtual pinball or our amazing DDR Step Master machine.

What it has also allowed us to do is revisit some of the activities that have proven popular or successful with students in the past.   Last year we created a range of prints that we titled 'Tinkercadhunt' when we used the Tinkercad App, 

This year our Pet and Calf Day is taking place in the first week of next term, we are about to break for a two week holiday and when we return in the first week we will be holding that special event.

For the different art tasks one of which is the diorama.  In these instances the backgrounds can be used for Tinkercad Projection.   If you look closely at the photographs that are shown with this post you should be able to recognise one of the original insects that our students have been working on.

In these first steps the nine year old student who has been working on this task has had a pre-arranged figure and had to work it into a range of backgrounds without the benefits of being able to colour match or adapt design to camouflage it amongst a colour matched background.

Typically when projecting onto a surface with AR/VR tends not to work too well when height is involved.   In this instance left the insect can clearly be seen in a position that defies gravity but again this is the student experimenting with a range of backgrounds at short notice and matching the background to the object (which is in this case a AR/VR student generated insect ant.

There will be significant amounts of media related to this project and an updated slideshow to follow.

All these examples were completed independently by a nine year old student within a ten minute timeframe visiting the classroom where the dioramas were on display.

3D Printed Stick Insect: Development

 

Challenge: To use students 3D Design CAD skills to develop a 3D Printed insect suitable for display with Pet Day Art for our school.

Background: This print has been described over the last few days in terms of process and goals - this is an example of a student adjusting their print to be successful.   The two versions of the print are shown next to each other, before and after.   The dimensions of the head, thorax and abdomen are nearly identical - being 60mm long and having a diameter of 20mm.   The difference between the two however can be clearly seen in the legs.   In the original (in light blue) the student wanted to show the typical stick insect size legs and therefore had them somewhat correct although the diameter of them was only 2mm.   

The Bambu H2D and Bambu P1P are excellent machines (although we don't typically use a fine nozzle as we are looking at more printing in volume) however as you can see from the legs shown left the actual printing was too much for the machines as the prints did not survive the removal of the rafting.

The solution which came from the nine year old student when he saw the resulting print was to look at making larger more arched legs, that had a thicker diameter, which while increasing it only to 3mm significantly made a difference with the production of the piece.    As can be shown from the redesigned figure shown in the left photograph in dark blue the issues with the original print have now been resolved and are completed.

Resources used to complete this project: iPad, Tinkercad App, Bambu P1P, Bambu branded blue PLA.

Level of Difficulty: Medium, while its a pretty straight forward design the student has been working on it for some time and has revised it several times to get the balance right between having the recognition factor, being able to represent the insect and have some additional features.

Size: The revised print measures 60mm from head to the end of the abdomen.   It has a body with a diameter of 5mm.   It currently stands 20mm high.    These dimensions are so that it can be placed in conjunction with the students tin-can art display for pet day and not overwhelm it.

Cost/Price: To produce this print the printer used 6g of PLA to complete.  This gave it a price point of $013c to print making it an extremely inexpensive print.

Timeframe: The print took twenty nine minutes to complete which included a six minute warm up time for the printer.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students:  There is still potential for additional features that could be added or extra design details that could be added (for instance the face of the stick insect is still a little cartoon like).    The feet also while now reinforced could have some more detail particularly at their base.

3D Printed Display Butterfly

 

Challenge: For students to produce a unique and original design of an insect to work in conjunction with an art display (for our calf day).

Background: As per the description that was posted about this yesterday and detailed our students creations focussing on the idea of an insect.

One of the key design features that are available via Tinkercad is the wings.   This pair of wings is accessible from the main menu.  For most students including out eight and nine year olds it is a very easy move from this design to start adding details and features that further develop the features.  We also have a somewhat limited timeframe with this activity.  We were looking for students to complete the activity in the region of thirty minutes to make designs such as this one available for the first printing run to allow us to have a series of printed examples to show the class.   We also wanted to ensure that the students had an opportunity to use Tinkercads AR/VR function.

When printed as shown left some of the details from the design were able to more distinct.  The six different spikes that were included for texture at the base of the wings was able to survive the printing process.    

Resources used to complete this print: Chat GPT sheet, Tinkercad App, Bambu PLA (blue), Bambu H2D Printer

Level of Difficulty: Medium - by using the wings as the basis for the design the students were able to complete it quickly, there is more details and additions to be added the intention was to produce a physical print that could be reflected on in a physical sense.

Size:  The print is 90mm across from tip to tip of the wings and 100mm tall in length.   The width of the wings is 5mm and the thorax and the abdomen are slightly thicker although smaller.  The print was completed with rafting with was located underneath the wings which created the 'bow' or bend in them which is visible.

Cost/Price: To complete this print the printer used 20g of PLA.   This has a price point of $0.40c.

Timeframe:  To complete this print the printer was operating on the standard default settings and was operating for one hour and forty minutes.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students:  When discussing butterflies one of the key features that we have talked about with students is the symmetry.  In this example here while the student has attempted to introduce some to this design it is not symmetrical and for it to be correct it needs some slight adjustments.   The colour that has been used here is a base colour, spray painting and decoration is a strong idea, using potentially glitter and also spray paints and other tools to enhance its presentation.

The six threads/spikes at the put of the wings are in position and remaining in place however they are very fragile and must have minimal handling for them to remain.   Also the students need to consider how to display this piece with a static tin car - such as a stick or prop and how this might look and how it could successfully be supported.

3D Printed Insect: Pet Day 2026

Challenge: For a junior school students to create a unique and original 3D CAD model of an insect, suitable for an art display.

Background:   We are a school of 170 students in rural South Taranaki, New Zealand,.  One of the biggest events that we have each year at our school is our Pet Day.   On these days the students are able to bring calves and lambs for show and we also have additional sections including 'Most Loved Pet'.   As well as all of these events, detailed in Mr Bloor's amazing school videos we also have our art displays in each of the classrooms.  It was these displays that we've also used in the past for 'Tinkercad Hunt', which you can view by clicking on the link here.

Each of students has a range of art based activities to complete - one of the junior ones is to turn a tin can into a creation.   To complement this the students have to create an original insect to be part of this display.   The students were using Tinkercad and the Tinkercad app to complete this process.  This is a classroom challenge our students making these designs are eight and nine years old.  

For our English writing this term we have been focussed on information report writing and one of the categories that we investigated and the students wrote about was insects, where they spent time researching the characteristics and features of an insect.   We used 'chat GPT' as a resource generated which created the sheet top left, cross referencing Tinkercad and creation, this generated a checklist and ideas to support students.

We also used as a reference point some images of insects that had been 3D generated and created from a range of sources - we looked at examples online, what was available as a Tinkercad research and examples that have previously featured on this blog.

The students were encouraged to use the Tinkercad main interface and the shapes that were available form there.

One highlighted is the example of the ant shown left.  The student was able to create this in a single session by working and manipulating basic shapes.   We had spoken to the students about the criteria that we wanted to see on the designs from the antenna to the thorax, head and abdomen - and this was check listed via the chatGPT resource.

When the design was completed we also tasked the students with AR/VR of their design into an outside location and an inside classroom location in the school.   We have detailed this in the past and explained how with our classroom of twenty five students this allows all students the opportunity to publish something, without having to wait for a potential delay while the prints might be accessed.

The image shown left is the AR/VR via the Tinkercad App of the ant super sized and placed on the school playground to provide it with a scale.

Once this had been completed and the students had been given the opportunity to review their print and design, check against the checklist and receive some peer feedback we then moved to the process of starting to print a selection of the designs.

Resources used to complete this print: Tinkercad App, iPad, Bambu H2D, Blue Bambu PLA

Level of Difficulty: Medium.   This task challenged the students, this examples is one of the earliest stand out ones to come from a class of twenty five students and was used as a way to encourage others to think about the design.   Further details of course could and will be added but it was also important to have a student complete the process to use as a talking point for others.

Size: The print as it stands measures 70mm in length, is 30mm wide and currently stands 60mm high being 50mm in length from the foot to the shoulder.

Cost/Price:  The print as it stands uses 16g of PLA to complete the print - this has a price point of $0.40c.

Timeframe: To complete this print the printer was operating for one hour and six minutes, which included a six minute machine warm up time.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students: The leg at the front left, facing the ant, did not survive the removal of the rafting, it needs to be repositioned.   The ant itself could benefit form more details on the face.   The ant could of course be spray painted to represent a particular colour or kind of ant and then a paint pen or similar item could be used to create additional detail.

Bambu Studios: NRL Coater Set

 

We've been continuing to look for examples that we would use, examples that generate attention and examples that we can illustrate to our students designs and creations.

While in the past as we've previously detailed we have used sites such as Thingiverse for public domain designs our recent switching to Bambu Printers has led us to look at the creativity and projects available on the Bambu Labs website.   This is one such example that was located from here.   

It represents the NRL Warriors logo and were able to look at printing a range of these off.    As we have a Bambu H2D one of the options that we are lucky enough to have with the machines is the colour matching for the different filament - so in this example we went with a glow in the dark for the logo and the badge and a purple for the background.

This photograph, left shows the design when it is charged and illuminating in a darkened room.

This design has a diameter of 100mm.   It has a print time of two hours and forty six minutes however this was to complete four on the print bed - the take for each of the individual prints is forty five minutes per print.   The print has a width 4mm.

The price point of the print is $0.58c for each individual coaster.   By having four of coasters placed on plate at one time producing a significant number of the coasters is possible.   The other issue is the back of the coaster or the inclusion of a laser cut to complement it.   In the example shown top left the coaster has been placed onto an MDF laser cut that is slightly larger than the coaster itself.    This has not been stained or treated and was produced on the school laser cutter. 

Project Revisited: Non 3D Printing Tinkercad related projects

 

Recently we've been publishing a series of revisions from project work from the past that has proven to be popular or has involved work over stages and time.

This is because we've had two significant events in the past two weeks, the NZAIMS Games in Tauranga and an additional week of being unavailable.

Next week, which is the last week of school for Term Three, 2026 we will be back in the classroom working on ongoing projects.   

The final showcase that we wanted to highlight was our Non-3D Printing, 3D Printing slideshow.   The idea is that we apply the same context, the same design ideas but the end result would not necessarily result in a physical 3D Print to go with the work.

Primarily we are using Tinkercad and its apps' AR/VR function for this purpose.   In each case we have a highlighted link to another post about the project with further details and information.    In nearly every case these are activities that have been carried out with the classroom here in Auroa, New Zealand.  Thank you for your visit.

Project Revisited: Christmas 3D Printed Slideshow Ideas

 

We have a single term remaining in New Zealand after next week, that is we're about to finish term three shortly.   Next term we have our school production and there's going to be a range of material and projects completed for the end of the year.

As we're currently taking a regular project printing break, and normal service resumes next week, we've been looking back at some of our most popular projects that have been featured on this blog.

Its quite seasonal but next term we'll be completing a range of festive activities as this site has been running now for over ten years we've got a range of activities that have been produced, developed and created by our students.   

This slideshow was updated at the end of last year and featured a range of activities which then double back to various posts on this blog.   We will be updating this again in 2026 however the aim is to have our students create a range of festive themed personalised decorations.

If you have any questions about any of this work you are more than welcome to drop us a line and we're happy to help with guidance.  Merry Christmas everyone.

If you would like a Powerpoint version of this slideshow and a downloadable file you can access this by visiting our 'Facebook Page' which is the companion site to this blog.