3D Printed Novelty Desk Storage

Challenge: To design a complicated Y4 3D Print that was going to push the design skills of a student.  To start the process we used the 3D generated material from AI sources ChatGPT.   This prompt was targeted at the level of students based on the New Zealand Curriculum and specifically the design and creation part.

Background:  This activity came as a bridge activity that was assigned to the class but the ideas and the creation would depend on their creativity.   The students were given the prompt from Chat GPT pushed out via Seesaw as a file and then needed to respond with a design.   The class was spoken to about making sure that the design was of an innovative and creative standard - that it was not something that could be simply completed in a short space of time but would need to have elements to it such as personalisation and a degree of design that would elevate the project.

In this instance the student identified the personalisation storage creation that was suggested.   The student is a relatively new student to the classroom, they have been in the class a short space of time and as a result their design expectation for this task was different from a student who had been in the classroom since last year and a regular user of Tinkercad.

Resources used to complete this project: Tinkercad, Tinkercad App, Bambu H2D Printer, Bambu Silver PLA.

Level of Difficulty: Low/Medium all of the elements here the student was able to complete independently and they did so with a few sessions experience with Tinkercad.

Size: The print measures 130mm across and is 90mm long.   The print has a width of 15mm around the edges and is 15mm high.  The festive tree in the corner is 40mm high.

Cost:  To complete the project the printer used 70g of regular PLA.   With the computation by Bambu Studio Printing Software we would expect the print to have a price point to produce of $1.10c.

Timeframe: To complete the print on regular settings (such as the infill being 15%) the printer was running for three hours to complete.   There was essentially no rafting or waste PLA as part of the design (as it was the tree in the corner was produced as it can be seen in the photograph and nothing was removed).

What we would do differently/Next Steps for the students: The personalisation that is the name in the corner was a positive start however the student could have benefitted from further details to go with this - the space for the storage is something that would limit would could be contained in it.   The sides are quite plain and could have potentially had another frame or some kind of design applied to it.

Moving on from here we would like the student to consider how they could develop the ideas and design.

Using ChatGPT to Create Learning Resources

 

We're trying to consider ways in which we can inspire our students and thinking about how we might resource build to help with some of our design idea and thinking.

The recent fidget spinner can be seen (or the initial idea for it can be, to be more accurate) in the bottom row of ideas on the right hand side.   We used this sheet as a prompt for ideas for our students - although in hindsight it was not not perhaps as challenging as it should have been.  We have year four students (eight and nine year olds) who have been regularly printing and 3D designing for two school years in New Zealand.

We used a paid chatGPT account to create this resource which we then made available to our students via a work portal.    

3D Printed Fidget Spinner - Next Steps

 

Yesterday we detailed our progression relating to the production or modification of a 'fidget spinner' type toy as one of our students had expressed an interest in producing a customised version of these.

Yesterday we looking at developing ideas and finding a prototype.   We left off yesterday when we were at the point of finding the Bambu Studio Lab version, which had a 3D Printed ball bearing and not a physical metal version.

This print provided the mechanism for our students to investigate and see the relationship between the various parts of the design.

As explained yesterday the component parts are the four pictured pieces - the mechanism for the movement can be seen at the bottom of the picture.   We are looking at ways that we can personalise the finished design with the insertion of the prints to complete the design.

We have started the process of identifying potential ways to put a name or further details on the design sot that the fidget spins but it does not detract from its current rotational ability.

We started this process by printing a basic cotton candy set of inserts.   This was completed on the Bambu P1S.    The print took 22 minutes - which included a six minute warm up and machine preparation.   

The print used 4.56g of regular PLA to complete the print - this gave the inserts a price point of $0.07c to complete.

When the design inserts were completed they were pushed into place - when the students attempted this and found that they could not be forced the teacher made an attempt to complete this process and was able to introduce one.

The others proved somewhat resistant to being inserted so a tool was used to apply pressure, which in this case was a standard hammer.   This forced the inserts into the space and locked them in securely.

The students have now begun the process of testing the spinning before we start to look at ways in which it can be personalised by the students or they are able to develop or unpack the design that they have access to which details the engineering.

Currently the only drawback from this new version would be the weight which would be described as being slightly lighter than a traditional fidget spinner which is another aspect of the creation and the design that we are having our student investigate.   The entire cost of the print including the inserts is currently coming in at under $0.40c.

3D Printed Fidget Spinner Progressions

 

Challenge: For a nine year old student to be able to produce their own unique or personalised version of a fidget spinner.

Background: This is a recent task that has undergone a number of changes and development with one of our students who is nine years old, they have been using Tinkercad for two years and have shown a degree of thinking and creativity with their designs.

In this instance we had a recent challenge around producing a gift for another person but ensure that it was original and also was personalised.   The student knew that 3D Printed Fidget Spinners had been produced and wanted to start the process themselves.   Their first version was completed in Tinkercad - it also used a template located in Tinkercad which they adapted.   The print measured 70mm wide, was 70mm high and had a thickness of 10m.   This had a thirty minute print time.

In this instance the print didn't allow the fidget to easily operate as it required a blade to remove the rafting around the base of the design.    We spoke to the student and brainstormed various ideas - and they came up with the idea of using ChatpGPT to create the .stl file for the project.

This produced the file shown left - obviously in this example the shape was there and the student was able to 'spin' the spinner by placing it on their finger but the design was lacking the depth and the detail that the student wanted to have.   They were able to take this design and look at functionality of it.

This example was 60mm across in diameter.   It had a width of 5mm and took just under thirty minutes to complete the print.  We discussed with the student using another more detailed AI prompt to produce a better finish however the student also thought at this point that they might like to develop the design further using the base as the starting point.

The next version was located by accessing the online portal that is available with Bambu Studio Labs.

We have detailed our schools 3D Printing journey starting with the various machines and combinations over time which has currently been focussed on our use of Bambu 3D Printers.

In this example shown left is labelled online as the 'Original Fidget Spinner'.   It comes in two pages of design the first is the shown in the photograph on the left, assembled.    It comes as a base plate two hinges and an insert that clicks into place.   When this is assembled it provides a robust spinner that has exceptional function.

This spinner measures 70mm across.   It is currently incomplete the base shown here has a forty seven minute print time and uses 10g of regular PLA this has a price point for the print of $0.21c.

While this provides the student to the solution of the engineering problem there is still the scope to measure, design and test the inserts that can go into the design.   One of the aspects that has been identified is the potential to use filament such as the glow-in-the dark filament.   As the fidget has three different portions for insert we want to allow the students to consider what they might design for this space - do they opt for the letters for instance of a students name or the initials or other sequence or group of letters.   

The relative small cost and print time for this design means that it would be easily to produce.  Also of note this would appear to have potential as a Market Day Item of the future as it would allow a small price point have a particular interest to students (with the movement) and the student could contribute to the design with the disc to be inserted.

Finally the fact that the print can also be produced in four seperate component pieces allows the design to be taken apart and the engineering aspect of the design looked at and further discussed.

3D Printed Christmas Tree Angel - Progression

 

Challenge: To produce an original, unique Christmas ornament that is suitable to hang from a festive tree.

Background: This came out of the range of designs that have been produced by students in the classroom.  In this case we wanted to guide a student into further innovations by providing them with feedback with the process.   For this example the student used the 'waving' figure from the Tinkercad template and combined it with the wings from the same design space (these are the wings that have featured in some of our students butterfly designs from the insect series.

The student who completed this designs and revision is a nine year old student who has been working on their CAD designs as part of classroom program this year.   We gave them verbal feedback about the design and they undertook some revisions.

It was obvious from version one that the decoration needed to hang from the tree so the student was able to make this adjustment easily by creating the loop shown left.   The student was also tasked with providing some personalisation with the design.  They choose to introduce the phrase "Merry Christmas" to the design.   As the size of the print (see below) did not allow space for the detail to be fully realised this part of the design did not print - it was also suggested to the student that they could provide additional features to the design.

They opted to rephrase the writing shortening the phrase from 'Merry Christmas' to 'Merry Xmas'.   They also opted to introduce the 'snowflake design' that is also part of the Tinkercad design library as this had been produced to excellent use on another classroom student project.  You can see the results of this third stage of design in the third photo on this page.

Resources used to complete this project: iPad, Tinkercad App,  Tinkercad Online Resource Library, Bambu H2D Printer, Bambu Bronze PLA (regular)

Size: The print despite undergoing a series of revisions has essentially maintained the same dimensions.  The print measures 60mm from wing to wing.   The print measures 60mm high including the addition of the loop to hang the print from the tree easily.   The figure has a width of 20mm is 40mm high and 20mm deep.   

Cost/Price:  One of the main reasons that we were able to reprint this project several times was that the price point was $0.18c this was based on the entire project using 9g of PLA to be completed.  There was minimal rafting on the print.

Timeframe: As with the cost and use of PLA the printing was relatively straightforward to produce one of units took half an hour and that included only twenty four minutes of printing time as the remainder was taken up in the printing warming up.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students:   The student added in the 'snowflake' detail onto the wings and while it is visible they were a little disappointed with the outcome, although they have considered shifting this.    The student could look at different filament - with glow-in-the-dark being the most obvious one, as it would allow the print to glow continually during the night as it would 'charged' by light during the day.

Senior Student: Laser Cut Project

 

At Auroa Primary School we have Year Seven and Eight students.   We have a skills development program which is an optional time for our students to work on a project and develop their design skills.

In this instance the student opted to create and design an earring stand, which was personalised with a number of additional details and then put together on display by the student.

The student used a combination of Sketch Up and our Aeon Laser Cutter to design and create the project.   It was printed using MDF.   The jewellery that is on display was a mixture of purchases from the student and original creations which were contributed to the project.

We have previously posted on this blog about earrings that have been created by students using Tinkercad and 3D printing a number of times, including a student who made an entire project for our Market Day from 2023 when they were Y4.    We also have had a seperate student create an entire project and small mini business based around the use of the laser cutter in 2024.

This was acknowledge at our school assembly and put on display at our office for the community to view.

You can click on this sub-page here to see examples of how our (mainly senior) students are using the school Laser Cutter on a range of projects.

We have a dedicated summary presentation/slide for earrings and earrings related projects - including a beginners guide to (teachers) 3D Printing 101.  You can read this by clicking on the link here,

Finally as always you can use the search box here on this blog to look back over the previous years posts.  As we have been publishing ideas and examples of students work since 2014 you can see that we have particular themes and summaries that are published and you can use the keyword 'earring' for your search.

Roland Versa Sign Maker: Leavers Hoodies

 

The 'sticker machine' that we are lucky enough to have at Auroa Primary School.  This versatile machine which is the Roland Versa Sign Maker is responsible for a range of designs and creations at our school.

In the example shown left is for our Y8 students who are leaving our wonderful school as Y8 students and heading to High Schools (in different locations in Taranaki).    

One of the things that we want to be able to do is to give the students something that is unique to our school - in this instance it is the emblem/mascot for our school Piri the Pukekohe.    There is also an element of ChatGPT for the design as the school values and AKO circle has been created virtually.   From here we will be using the school hot press machine to attach the design to the clothing item.

This allows us to produce something ourselves for our students and involve them in the process.