3D Printed Sellotape Dispenser: Large

 

Challenge: For a student to design a creation that was able to house or store a roll of sellotape so that it could be used as a customised sellotape dispenser.

Background: This challenge was set for students and they were given a list of success criteria to complete the task based around design, functionality and viability of the print - as a number of the students designs were exceedingly large and considering had to be given to consider if printing these in large volumes.   The classroom and the teacher were essentially looking for one model to have in use in the classroom that could be adjusted and personalised.

The design process came with the students examining an existing dispenser (which was from the school office) and then thinking about what they might be able to do in response to that.

There were a couple of key points that the students needed to consider, firstly the blade to cut the sellotape was either going to be inserted into a bracket or an attempt was made to create this in a 3D Print.   The detail that the printers provided meant that it was able to produce a pseudo blade to complete this task.   The other obvious consideration was the design and the storage for the sellotape.   Ideally it needed to be able to easily house a range of tapes (of different sizes) and lock them in place so that they could have the tape dispensed.

This design was completed independently by a eight year old student as a fundamental basis for the design they used a pencil design from the main Tinkercad design page.   This made a huge difference to the time that was needed to complete the task.  This changed something that would have take several hours into something that was able to be completed in a short span of time, in an afternoon session of half an hour.

This meant that the students could concentrate their designs on the spatial elements and considering what would work.   The biggest issue to address was to make a viable holder in the middle of the design to allow it to hold the sellotape in place.

Resources used to complete this print: iPad, Tinkercad App/Interface (for the pencil file), Bambu H2D Printer, regular Silver Bambu PLA.

Level of Difficulty: Medium - if the student had designed the entire project from scratch this would have been extremely challenging however as they used a pre-made design for the basis of the print this made it able to be completed much more quickly.

Size: 90mm wide at the front.  230mm in length.   70mm high.   This is a significant amount of printing for this project - as it means to be a one off.

Cost/Price: Given the dimensions we were aware this would be significant.     The print used 250g of regular PLA to complete the print.  This had a price point of $6.30.

Timeframe: This print took six and a half hours to complete.   This was completed on standard settings with regulation infill.   The base potentially could have had more of an infill to add weight to the base so it did not shift when the holder was used.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students: The design needs some refinement related to the point where the tape is dispensed from and there could potentially a way to engineer this.

Junior Stationary Cat: Version 2.0

 

Challenge: To produce a unique stationery holder.  Student needs to be creative and not use a third party design or shape.  This task was created by an eight year old student.

Background: As noted yesterday - this was an 'open' challenge with the criteria that the design had to be functional, original and realistic to print.

There were some similarities with some of the geometric shapes chosen by this student to represent some of the cat features.

Resources used to complete this print: iPad, Tinkercad App, Bambu H2D (silver) Bambu P1S (orange), Silver and Orange Bambu PLA (regular brand).

Level of Difficulty: Medium - there are quite a few elements that are working in conjunction with each other with this print.  There is potentially also further development that would be possible from this design (see below).

Size: The print measures 60mm across at the front of the print, has a length of 80mm and a height of 20mm.  The width of the sides was between 20mm and 10mm.

Cost/Price: The unit used 33g of PLA to complete.  Based on the regular price of the PLA the print had a price point of $0.82.

Timeframe:  The print took fifty six minutes to complete using the P1S Bambu printer the H2D Bambu printer completed the print in fifty one minutes.   Both machines had a six minute warm up time.

What we would do differently/next steps for the students: The print could have some further refinement on the sides of the design as there shapes such as the hearts (shown left) .   The face of the design (shown in the first photograph) clearly shows that there is potential further development of the features that the students could work on.  Similarly the feet of the cat are currently blocks and they could have further details.

Comparing the Bambu H2D to the Bambu P1S

Please note: This is a site which is intended to encourage the use of tech by (primarily) teachers and also students.  It is a not a site to generate revenue or endorse any products (believe us we've been asked, and its always a polite no thank you...)

We've blogged this year about the use of the Bambu H2D which we were able to have purchased as our school thanks to a generous grant from a local organisation.   It was our intention to try and go an entire calendar year with a single printer as the source of every print this year (and also as a side note if you haven't realised its our intention to post an example of our students work or a project every calendar day.   Unfortunately due to repairs the H2D hasn't been the sole machine we've used - we've also opted for the use of the Bambu P1S.   We've been publishing work using 3D Printers for a while - over ten years and used a variety of machines.

In this example shown left both machines had the same print running at the same time.   The H2D is essentially an extremely large machine that costs six times the price of the P1S.    The machines have a difference in print time - which is only five minutes.   Otherwise the finish between the two machines is otherwise identical in all other aspects.

Both machines work off the same (Bambu) PLA but also allow the use of Kiwifil (recycled from New Zealand) and eSum.

Junior Stationary Holder: Cat

 

Challenge: To produce a unique stationary holder.  Student needed to create their own features and not use a third party design or media.

Background:   The challenge to the students was to use their design skills for something unique to be able to create a character that could also have a purpose, which in this case was the storage of items.

The student opted for the cat version of this as they reasoned that they would be able to create features of the animal that would give it a high recognition factor.   The design was a little reminiscent of a design from last year that featured a similar theme.  That post which is detailed here involved students who were five years old (at the time) creating their first 3D Printed designs with assistance from the students of our classroom.   The student who designed this was eight years old.   

Resources used to complete this print: iPad, Tinkercad, Bambu H2D, Silver regular Bambu PLA.

Level of Difficulty: Medium.  The design is relatively basic however there are several elements with the design which need to work in conjunction with the other parts to ensure it looked balanced and 'right'.   The subtle details were added to the print but potentially there could have been additional ones as well.

Size: As its stands presently the print is 50mm wide, is 80mm long and 50mm wide at the back.  The sides have a width of 10mm.

Cost/Price: The print uses 41g of PLA to complete the print.  There was no support rafting required with this print it was able to print it as a single piece with no waste or additional support required.  Based around this use of PLA the print had a price point of $1.01.

Timeframe: The print was completed by the Bambu H2D Printer and took one hour and twenty one minutes to complete the print.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students:    The student who designed this experimented with two different kinds of lettering on the base of the design.  The first shown above had the lettering extending out from the outside of the print.

The second on the reverse side had the letting sunk into the design itself so the two sides had a contrast.  The student wanted to consider which was more effective and what worked better.   When you see the two photographs next to each other the contrast is quite significant.

From here the student is intending to review the design and consider again the facial features of the design and the different aspects of it.

Using Tinkercad as an AR/VR Tool with Filters

 

Yesterday we posted about using Tinkercad as a tool to create an image, not a 3D Print, that was then projected using the AR/VR tool onto a background.

The next (and final) step in the process is to take the image from the previous activity and then apply a filter to it.   In this case we are using the Pic Collage Filters from the App that are available with a standard app purchase (ie without the extensions).

In each instance the students have taken their creation of the original scene, with their detail added and then put it into a filter.   This filter varies slightly in creation time but it tends to be under thirty seconds and applies a filter to the scene which the students are able to then to review and decide upon.

The two examples here shown feature the 'Christmas' themed filter.   In the first example the crane can be seen although a number of the objects have been extensively redesigned.

In the second image the Tinkercad addition is the box in the immediate bottom right of the image.

This process featured in one of our 'year in review' posts from last year which focussed on a round up of highlights.  You can click on the link to this post here.

In addition as always if you use the 'search' bar/icon from the top right hand corner you can use the search words 'pic collage' to find a wealth of additional posts and material.

Not every filter was able to create an effective combination with the students design.   This process allowed an entire classroom of students to complete the process in the duration of an afternoon block of time (just under one hour).   It allowed the students design time, reflection time, sharing time (with the class) followed by our posting time (to Seesaw).

This is the same image as previously shown and it is with the 'water colour' filter.  Again it highlights the students design and places it within the design as an accurate and authentic piece which was not possible when it remained in Pic Collage.

The students who completed this process were the wonderful group of seven and eight year olds whose work is featured on this blog.

Using Tinkercad as an AR/VR Design Tool

 

At the start of this year we published a post on this blog about the purchase of a pair of end of line backdrops that were brought from a major chain and marked as line discontinued.   They featured a 'tropical island/volcano backdrop and a second design as shown left.

The cost for these items was NZD $2.00.    The measure 2.5m by 1.8m.

The first instance led itself to animals and some of the pre-made Tinkercad designs.  In this instance we wanted to push the design skills of the students but the intention was not for a 3D Printed model it the end, the intention was for Tinkercad to be used to design the figure and for it to be projected into place as part of the design but not to be physically printed.

We have previously published entire slideshows along this theme, accessed by clicking here.

Students needed to consider their ability to design something that would potentially seem authentic within the scene.

We tasked students with not trying to 'hide' something but think about scale and think about setting.

Once this had been designed in Tinkercad students then used the Tinkercad App and its AR/VR button to project their original image onto the scene.   There were a number of aspects to this design the students had to consider.

An example is shown left where the student has created a cloud that is designed to fit into the scene.  The brightness of the cloud makes it stand out relative to the other objects in the background.

The student wanted to then edit the photo to change the brightness of photo and in particular find a way of reducing the brightness of the cloud.

In the second example shown left the student wanted to introduce something that was implied to be there by the shape of the scene.   They created a cable and a hook by using the basic Tinkercad shapes and had it 

Again there is a subtle difference between the colour of the yellow from the cable connector to the hook to the other yellow present in the scene which the student was going to undertake to alter.

Scale was an important consideration for this task as well as the colour and shade of the additions created by the students.   In the further example shown left the student added a figure who is sitting on the crane which needed to be manipulated by the student so that it appeared to be the correct size - when you compare this image to the photo above you can clearly see the figure that has been added.

We completed this task in an afternoon session with a whole class of students who were working individually (as we are luckily a 1:1 iPad School) however it could also be completed as a group activity.   As it was completed without the need for any physical object that came as a result the results could be completed and it was instantly available, instead of having to wait for a 3D Printing process to be completed.   Completed independently by eight year old students.

3D Printed Basic Trophy

 

Challenge: To utilise Tinkercad to create something that would have a purpose moving forward.

Background: This project was 'green lighted' by the teacher because there is the clear potential for this to lead to other prints, designs and creations in the future.   This was located online and had a small amount of student input - but the potential is there for considerably more.

Resources to complete this print: iPad, Tinkercad App, Bambu P1S, Orange PLA.

Level of Difficulty: Low - the design was sourced by the student with minimum adaption although there was a clear path to modify this moving forward.

Size: The print measures 125mm across and was 95mm long.   The handles and some of the design aspects of the print varied however the base was 20mm thick and the handles were 10mm wide.   This was based around the design being 140mm high.

Cost/Price: The unit used 146g of PLA to complete the print.  This had a price point of $3.62.  The print produced 47g of PLA to complete the print and support the print.

Timeframe: The print took three hours and fifty one minutes to complete on the regular default settings.  As per usual this included six minutes of warm up time for the printer.

What we would do differently/next steps for the students: This trophy was not personalised to a high degree (such as last years example which was original which you can view by clicking on the link here) however there is clear potential from this design to do exactly that - by having the name plate at the front changed for that of a person or an organisation or even a team.   The colour could of course be altered as could the dimensions of the print - at the moment its used for holding a set of keys however there would be multiple purposes for it depending on the way that you wanted to approach the object (for instance a smaller size would lead to a easier print run and even going the other way a larger trophy would have more importance).