3D Printing: Extending the Coaster Design

 

Challenge: To produce a unique and personalised gift suitable for an event such as Fathers Day.

Background: This has been a theme that has been running through this blog for the last week or so.  'Coasters' was the theme for students to avoid a repetition based around badges (although we do acknowledge that they are very similar).   The PLA is well suited for use as a coaster (although it can slide so at times we have produce anti slip stickers underneath.    The process of using Tinkercad with the template allowed students to personalise it to a significant level.   

In this example the student concerned also went overboard with this and added int too much, which had the affect of effecting the quality of the print.   The student began with the supplied template from the second lesson, having been shown examples from the first. 

The student then went through the process of adding the additional features onto the coaster.  They added all the hearts around the rim, and the stars on the edges (each one was duplicated and then added or copied into place). 

They then added a name to the rim - on the front of the design, visible in the immediate foreground the students found a map of Australia and included this on the design to reflect heritage.

Finally the slogan on the coaster 'Coffee and Beer' gave it somewhat of a purpose (as you can see however the words 'Happy Fathers' Day' were missing from the print.

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

Level of Difficulty: Medium - this project could benefit from the 'less is more' design thought.   The template was of course supplied to the students and the students were responsible for adding all the details which is a simple way to produce design by cutting an pasting it into place.

Size: The coaster has the same dimensions of the original being 100mm across, the idea being that it is the correct size to have a regular cup placed on top of it.

Cost/Price: As with the original the dimensions are similar.   In that instance it was using 31g of Bambu regulation PLA to complete the print and this had a price point of $0.61c.   

Timeframe:   The goal was to produce an entire classroom project run of twenty five units using two machines during a three day timeframe of regular school.    This was achieved as the coasters themselves took one hour and fourteen minutes to complete - slightly longer than the average for most of them.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students:  The students were able to complete this task independently (cohort two, nine years old) using the tools at their disposal in one forty five minute session but as noted the biggest challenge would be ensuring that the students used a 'less is more' approach.   By adding so much detail into the design, so close together, as you can see from the design the finer detail is missing from a couple of locations on the print.

Auroa School Drive in Movie - 2020 Review

 Thank you for your visit - we are currently 'offsite' at the NZAIMS Sporting Tournament in Tauranga, New Zealand competing in the Girls Basketball Tournament - and now playing in the Top Eight Competition (which as we have two classes of Y7/8 students is some achievement).  You can view the Auroa School Website here.

We are a school that is lucky to have some amazing teachers and our students have fantastic access to technology! An example of how we combine the two is our famous Drive in Move Nights, where the community comes and sees Mr Bloor, our amazing technicians creative masterpieces.

As we speak Mr Bloor is working on a sequel with the students and staff to his epic movie - 'The Fast and the Furious - Undercover Student.  We can't reveal too much, except to say the hero/villain from the original has managed to escape from confinement and is seeking to right a wrong from the first movie! This musical is going to be an amazing event and is scheduled for a 2027 release! We can't wait to share updates and a sneak peak with you, in the meantime you can view the original masterpiece below:

Auroa Primary - Apple Distinguished School Renewal

 

The work of the students (and sometimes the staff) from our wonderful rural Primary School in Auroa, South Taranaki, New Zealand are very lucky to be a 1:1 iPad School (with Mac Books for the older students).   

We've also an Apple Distinguished School - and we were very excited to recently have our status renewed for another three years.    This is a huge deal for our school as it allows us to share our learning within that community and network with our schools.    You can see our application video below - thank you to Mr Bloor and Sonic Vision Studios again for this outstanding visionary work, it is as always so much appreciated.

A reminder that we are also running a Facebook Page - the purpose of this page is to post additional media related to this site that sometimes doesn't fit the format (it is mainly additional photographs) you can click on the link to this page (which is #NZ

3D Printing: Extending Fathers Day Design

 

Challenge: To produce a unique Fathers Day themed print including additional challenges.

Background: This was one of the first of the next level challenge of designs for Fathers Day.   You can click on the link here to view some of the students coasters initial ideas and the development of their prints that followed.

This student when presented with the option wanted to look for something different that he could adapt or manipulate.   This print represented something that he felt represented his father and also something he felt would be different from the standard coaster.   There are a number of pre-made designs that feature from the Tinkercad design page (accessible from the search option).   The student selected one of the diggers from this page.

The student concerned attempted to import this into Tinkercad (successfully) and then attempted to AR/VR the image. This proved not possible due to the detail.   Following an evaluation of the detail it was decided that the print, while it was detailed and creative would not be a workable 3D Print (as it had a collection of levers, wires and general detail that would require very accurate rafting removal and also would require minimal handling).

A second digger file was located and the student felt that this would be more workable and also could be modified easily to clearly meet the 'Fathers Day' brief.    The student then made the decision to personalise the design by adding the addition of the lettering/message around the edge of the body of the crane.

Resources Used to Complete this Print: iPad, Tinkercad, Bambu H2D, Bambu Filament.

Level of Difficulty: Low - this is not a students design they have taken the design from the main Tinkercad page and are merely adjusting it by adding the lettering.   An extreme challenge would have been to build something like this from scratch in an original sense which would have been possible using the basic shapes.

Size: The print has some interesting dimensions based on its size.  The tracks measured 80mm long and were 30mm high.   The base of the design was of similar length but had the addition of the cab which was 20mm by 40mm.  The arm of the digger was 30mm wide and consisted of three sections being 60mm long each.   Finally there was the scoop which was 30mm across and 40mm wide.

Cost/Price: The print used 75g of PLA to complete the print.   This gave the print a price point of $1.49c.

Timeframe:   The total print time for this design was three hours and fifty three minutes which included the regulation time to warm up.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students:   This design at the moment has the approval of the student however there is an issue with the arm of the crane and the join point for it.   There is significant small amount of 'rafting' that needs to be moved from around the print.   This needs to be removed by the teacher not the student as it is in places that would require a sharp object.   There is of course the opportunity to increase the level of personalisation and details - and again as touched upon there is the potential that we could have students create their own versions using the main interface.

Roland Versa Sign Maker - Labels for Basketball

 

Please note the postings for this site for the week are going to look slightly different for the next five days or so as we are in attendance at the NZAIMS Games in Tauranga, New Zealand. 

We will continue to be posting as we have a number of projects that are ongoing although we are not going to be starting anything new this week directly as we are working remotely.

This week with Basketball it has been pleasing to know that we can indirectly showcase our technology in a couple of ways.  We have already posted how we have created some school specific 'gifts' for the teams that we are playing against in the form of the super sized glow-in-the-dark key rings.    

On a practical level for the team we wanted to ensure that each student while they had a drink bottle obviously made sure that they had their own individualised bottle and so for this purpose we used the schools Roland Versa Sign Maker.   We used the students Mac Book and Gimp to create an image which we then converted to a png file.   Once it was in this form it was an easy transition to the school sticker machine and a set of team individualised stickers were made for each of the students drink bottles.   

This task was completed independently by a senior student who is a Y8 student at our school.

If you want to see examples of how we have used the sticker machine to produce signs for our rubbish bins to address our recycling you can click on the link here.  You can also read a previous post about this process for a more generic team sticker from 2024 by clicking on the link here.

If you want to see additional school related projects that demonstrate how we've used the Roland Versa Sign Maker (also known as our sticker machine) you can click on the link here.

Fathers Day 3D Printing Step 102

 

We located this print online - it was printed as its intention was to show that something could be deconstructed or created by the student using this as a template or an example.   In the example shown left the print used 35g of PLA to complete the print and had a price point of $0.68c.

The print measured 80mm wide and was 100mm high.  It had a width of 10mm thick.   As it was located online there was no student input into its creation, however it was a useful physical print to be able to show the students an example that they would be able to create themselves.  By breaking down the print the students were able to realised that they could use the 'scribble' tool to replicate the lettering - that this could also be used to create the hearts that were not uniform and that the other hearts could be created by using Tinkercad shape menu and also create the bubble and a range of other affects by using circles and other basic shapes.   This design was not spray painted it was printed using a multi-coloured PLA.

Following on from yesterdays basic coaster design students began the process of using the hole tool in Tinkercad to develop lettering that was sunk into the base of the design, instead of sticking out of the design and facing outwards.

In this instance the template was used, as you can see one one of the hearts visible at the top of the print and the other one was deleted.   This was completed independently by a nine year old student in the classroom part of the cohort one of students who is printing and designing for the first time using their iPad and Tinkercad.

This print used 31g of PLA to complete the print and it had a price point of $0.61c to complete the print.   Again there was some student input into this print but it was somewhat minimal as the student was working off the design that had been shared with them, their adaptation was to take the design and include the font and lettering with the design.   The lettering for the 'Happy Fathers Day' could have been made slightly deeper into the design so it might stand out more, as did the font for the year which can be clearly seen as being more defined.

In this example shown left was one of the first attempts by a student to take a design or an idea and develop it further.  Someone tongue in cheek this student wanted to create a toilet seat themed coaster as they felt that there father spent some time there.   The student wanted to take the basic coaster idea and expand on that further.

 

They used the coaster for the base and experimented with a very basic cistern in the background, which was essentially a rectangular prism.   The student then was intending to develop both this and the lid/coaster further by including additional details and physical features to extend this design further.

The PLA used to complete this print was 62g of PLA and this had a price point of $1.20 to complete the print.

Fathers Day 3D Printing: Steps 101

 

Challenge: To produce a 3D Print that celebrates a particular event (or day).

Background: This Sunday in New Zealand is the Fathers Day celebration.  We wanted to target this as a potential project for 3D Printing.  We had a specific timeframe in mind, a goal and wanted to include levels of challenges for the students involved.  As noted previously we used previous creations and designs on this blog as a starting point and physical examples from our example box (where we have prints over the last few years in a number of boxes as discussion points, as examples and ways that we can encourage the students to design and create).

The other considerations with the classroom at present - we have now 24 students in the classroom (we are as many of you will know a regular mainstream classroom although we are very fortunate to be an Apple Distinguished School with 1:1 iPads for every student from Y1-Y8.

We also have had a number of students recently join our classroom, which has been wonderful, these students have not had experience with Tinkercad before, or using the technology that our students have, so for some of them, as we would do with many curriculum activities we want to be able to scaffold more for them or provide opportunities for them to be successful at a different level as in the case of nearly all of them they are taking their very first CAD design steps.

Finally the decision to complete the prints for the class has also shaped the designs - we can comfortably run two printers at one time, and both machines (our H2D and P1P Bambu) are reliable to produce prints that would meet the purpose.

Resources Used to Complete this Print: iPad, Tinkercad App, Bambu P1P, Blue Bambu PLA.

Level of Difficulty: Low - this would be considered a basic introductory task completed independently with a student on the first attempt.   Typically when introducing test to a design the only checks required are below to ensure the font is not going through the back or at the top to ensure that the font is touching the base plate.

Size: The print measures 110mm across the base and is 70mm high.   The print base is 5mm and the lettering is an additional 5mm (for a total including font of 10mm).

Cost/Price: The print uses 25g of PLA to complete this has a price point of $0.44c.  There was no support rafting with this design.  Had it been any smaller the lettering would have been very jammed up so the dimensions and hence the amount of PLA was about correct for this project.

Timeframe: To complete this print printer was operating for 45 minutes from start to finish.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students: The students now was a basic 101 task completed can move onto more challenging and difficult tasks.