3D Printed Projects: Mothers Day 2026 Summary

 

We are approaching Mothers Day for 2026 in New Zealand and we have several students who have targeted projects based around this event.

The 'couch' which has been developed extensively and featured on this blog twice.  In its first form it was an idea for a project as a regular phone stand as detailed in this post about the print.

The print was further developed by the student from a generic project into one specifically focussed on a Mothers Day gift.   The print has evolved again as it has been now spray painted and has now a charging point included into the base of the design where the phone will be based.    This is now completed and ready to be presented as a gift.   This was completed independently by a seven year old student designing for the first time this year (for three months) and used their iPad, the Tinkercad App and the Bambu H2D.

This print shown left was completed by a middle school student in 2017.   At the time that this print was designed and completed we were using Ultimaker 2 machines (which we then replaced with Snapmaker machines before moving last year to Bambu Machines).    Despite being a number of years ago it was also designed using Tinkercad and iPad.

This was a significant print however in the years since it was completed the technology has moved on significantly and we would imagine the printing time and other aspects of the design would be improved.

You can also view this personalised Key Holder themed for Mothers Day from 2019.   In 2020 We created gift key rings/utility rings.  You can view all of these potential projects by clicking on the link and we would also suggest as a point of ideas you could view the Market Day 2025 ideas from our students as a number of those projects could easily be converted.

We've had a number of projects for personalised creations at the moment that offer a perfect example of something that could be created for Mothers Day.

In some of the examples the students have put the initials of the person that they were designed for.   In the instance shown left the prints used 32g of PLA to complete the print.     This has a price point of $0.33 for the pair.   The prints took thirty three minutes to complete.

There are a large number of examples on this blog from this activity which you can locate by using the search bar in the top right hand corner and the search bar phrase 'earrings'.

This would be an ideal project with a minimum printing time that would allow a class of students to complete the task in a relative short order.   We have also produced a slideshow dealing with this specific lesson, designed for a teacher taking their first steps in 3D Printing you can locate this by clicking on the link here.

Finally we have offered students the opportunity to create an original design which we are intending to print prior to Mothers Day.

An early design has come from this seven year old in the classroom who wanted to create an original and unique trophy that they could award to their 'number one Mum'.   With this design the student has used a combination of the main Tinkercad interface shapes and used 'scribble' to rate the handles and design the top of the trophy.   We printed this as an example to show the class and the student is intending to refine it.

The design at present is 70mm high, 60mm wide at the base.   It used 51g of PLA filament to complete with a price point of $1.27.    The print took two hours and twenty two minutes to complete using the Bambu H2D.

Senior Tech - Roland Versa Sign Maker

 

This is an update from a post that we made on Wednesday, detailing the use of the sticker machine, the Roland Versa Sign maker.    In this example from our Y7/8 students during technology (our DPE program) the students have used Gimp to create virtual images  which are then printed and applied onto the base of the machine which have been printed using the Bambu H2D.

The students were responsible for the design, creation and information displayed on the labels which were then applied as mini-decals on the side of the machine.

The full range of photographs and images from the work can be seen via the companion Facebook page for this site.  You can click on the link to the Facebook page here.

Auroa School Virtual Pinball Tournament Announcement

 Later today we are making a huge announcement for our students - one of the biggest events of the year is coming as we are bringing back our virtual pinball competition.    With that in mind until the official announcement is made later today here's some of the highlights from our work over the past few years, starting with the very first Virtual Pinball Grand Final from seven years ago!

 

Credit for this amazing production needs to go to Mr Bloor our amazing AV Teacher. You can view his amazing channel here.

The following year we retuned with our first movie tie in - Mr Bloor created an entire movie, featuring our students and staff (and our school!) and we had a special showing of this big event.  

This is our Grand Final from the Second year of competition, commentary provided by Mr Bloor and Mr Webb.  

We then had our third competition held the year after - this was based around another school movie - The Fast and the Furious: Undercover Student!   This became our Drive in Move Night Movie - which was an amazing community event: as shown below.

This led directly to the movie, the drive in movie and then the Pinball Machine, game and competition shown below:

Check out this amazing Site!

 

We are always looking for creative ideas for our students and love when we find ways to share, connect and learn from others.

Recently our teacher connected with another educator, Todd Lavogue from Florida, USA.   He had amassed a huge range of STEM related activities with his students which are logged and detailed on his fantastic website - it is a wonderful combination of examples, ideas and inspiration for students and teacher.   You can access his fantastic site and see his wonderful work and some awesome student work by visiting this blog.

3D Printed Revision Updates

 

We published this initial print on April 16th and wanted to show an example of how a student can take an idea and rework and adapt something to ensure that it fits the brief better by reengineering.

This student is designing for the first year and has spent the past two months working on their Tinkercad skills.  The student has used their iPad the Tinkercad App and a 3D Printer to produce this digital object which has been produced as a physical object.

Once the student had examined the print, looked at it with the teacher and worked out a way to feature or address what had been made they were able to make a range of significant changes.

First and foremost as shown the size of the print was greatly reduced.   The initial print was imagined as a badge or label for a bag, but in its original form it was considered to be too large.

The original design was 135mm by 135mm as can be seen left the revised version was 85mm by 80mm.  The design remained with the same width.   While there was some additional design put onto the creation there was a significant reduction in the print time.    The print time for the original was three and a half hours.   With the reduced size the print time was one hour.   The price point for the original design was $2.30 and the revised version was $0.67.

Once these changes had been made we also printed out a second copy using the same orange that the original print was completed in.   It potentially could do with additional design reflection (as it is quite 'busy' when it is shown and developed) however the student concerned was extremely pleased with how it looks and how it has developed.

 

The next step for the student from here is of course to look for opportunities to create, design and make a range of different digital images and physical objects using the skills that they have developed and are developing.

There are a multitude of similar designs like this which you can access by using the search bar in the top right hand corner of this blog.

The student concerned with this project is seven years old and other than the verbal feedback on the first design worked independently to complete the design.

Roland Versa Sign Maker - Senior Tech

We have mentioned in several posts that the senior students at Auroa Primary School are very lucky to be able to take part in DPE which is our senior technology program.    This is sometimes called tech and our students have a range of programs and tasks they can complete from cooking, art, sewing to laser cutting and digital technology.

In digital technology the students have completed a project using the Roland Versa Sign Maker.   This has been referred to on this blog as our 'sticker machine' which has been used for a range of projects which you can view a small sample of by clicking on the link here.

Mr Bloor our amazing AV teacher who is responsible for so many great projects at our school has been working with a group of students on these 'scaled down' versions of arcade machines.   The decals for the machines have been created by our Y7/8 students and the machines themselves printed on the Bambu H2D.

There are a variety of machines shown here - including a minature version of our Step Master Machine and also various versions of some of our other arcade machines.

In the past we've held yearly competitions with these machines and broadcast them online.   You can click on this link here to see last years Dance Machine competition and last years special 'K Pop Demon Hunters Dance Machine Special'.

You can view the grand final of our very first Pinball competition here and our tie in movie Pinball Machine, where we based a machine on our drive in movie here.   Finally we have a big announcment to make - we are again, after a three year break hosting a virtual pinball tournament here at Auroa Primary School for our students! 

The details of this will be announced very shortly but they will be put online and shared here and we will be broadcasting the competiton later in the term!

Revising and reworking a Print

 

Challenge: To rework and redesign a previous creation to ensure that it develops its detail and successfully adapts to meet its brief.

Background: This the student reviewed the design (shown left in the photograph) and revised it.   The original post was featured on this blog here.  The student wanted to develop the item as phone holder.   The student had realised after testing that the phone needed a lip to be introduced into the design to ensure that a phone did not slip off the print.

The student also wanted to introduce several other features on the design.  They included in the revised version the large stars which were placed on both ends of the design.   As this print is now intended to be a gift for the upcoming Mothers Day.   The print now has 'Mum' on the front of the design and 'Happy Mothers Day' written on the back.

All of these adjustments were completed by student independently and have greatly increased the 

Level of Difficulty: Medium - the student was adjusting the design to meet the intended brief and purpose for the design.

Size: As per the original design 130mm by 70mm by 60mm.   Essentially the same as the original with dimensions not affected by the additional features.

Cost/Price: The original print used 87g of PLA filament to complete the revised version of the print used 113g which included additional lettering, the lip etc.   The cost for the original design was $1.75 the adjusted price for the revisions for this print the price has increased per unit to $2.83.   This has been calculated by Bambu Studio Labs inbuilt software.

Timeframe:  The original print took two hours and ten minutes to complete.  With the additional details added into the print this increased the duration of the print to four hours.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the student:

The revisions with the print have been very important to ensure that the purpose of the design has been met.  The addition of the 'Mothers Day' theme for the design has also given it a a specific purpose.   There are not more additions that will be required for this print.