VIrtual Pinball Tutorial 2026

 

We're very excited with the 2026 Auroa School Virtual Pinball Competition coming up later this term! You can view a summary of our amazing previous competition here.  We will providing further details shortly.

3D Printing with Recycled PLA - Riverstone

 

This is a recently completed print using more of the recycled PLA.  This print has been completed using the 'Riverstone PLA' which is a mix of recycled PLA and New Zealand wool.  When combined it gives the print a unique texture.

The print is 70mm high, 40mm across at the base and 40mm deep.   The print design was located by using the software with Bambu Studio Labs.   It is a freely available file that is not behind a paywall.

On Tuesday the teacher who runs this blog will be taking part in the South Island Apple Bus Tour in Christchurch and will in Christchurch, New Zealand for a day (Tuesday).   

The idea being that we would like to spread some innovation and creativity during the trip - hence the use of the some small scale example prints that we are going to show and make available to others.    The PLA for these prints has been supplied by a New Zealand company called Kiwifil.  They are recycling PLA from old prints and 'rafting' and minimising the 3D Printing waste produced.   

Combing Laser Cutter and 3D Printing: DPE Highlights

 

We have posted previously about our senior students during our DPE program.    Our DPE program is our Year Seven and Year Eight program involving a range of programmes one of which is laser cutting.

One of the core tasks in the program is the creation of a 'Monster Box'.   This box is created by having it cut into sections, which when assembled and glue show the design left.   This is produced in MDF.   Once it has been completed students have experimented with a range of decorations.   In the past some of these have been spray painted but we have also had students use a basic stain to produce a wood finish.

The finish with the basic wood stain is shown left.   However the next stage is for the students to consider the designing of an insert to go into the box to allow it to be separated into compartments and then have this 3D Printed combining the two technology machines together.

The design of the Monster Box is something straight forward (and there are a multitude of variations available online along a similar design).   The inserts into the box was able to be produced by using the students design skills and create an insert which in turn divided the box into different sections.   

Boxes have been popular items for the students to produce overtime - so amazing examples using just the 3D Printers include this amazing example from 2017 an exemplar that still looks incredible today.   

The printing of the entire box isn't something that is realistic for every student to complete.  In the past we used 3D Printers to complete the speakers as part of our DPE program - but this was back in 2015 with the first classroom projects that we were printing with our seniors students.

Since then our use of technology has increased drastically as the machines that we have used for 3D Printing has improved.   We initially had Ultimaker Machines, followed by various updates and add ons before shifting to Snapmaker machines, until last year when we made the switch to Bambu.   In the case of projects in the last near year or so we can show quite clearly that the printing times have at least halved, the waste PLA is considerably reduced and the detail that the machines themselves are able to produce is continuing to show significant improvement.

If you wish to have further details about our school DPE program you can find them on our school website or email us and we can put you in contact with the teacher in charge directly.

Adding Extensions to an existing project

 

This phone stand has been featured in a number of posts on this blog.  It is an original design from a student from cohort one from this years classroom (that is a student designing for the first time).

The print originally featured here before being reworked following testing to include a range of additional features and transform it into a customised Mothers Day Gift.   The next step was for the student to design a colour scheme and have the unit spray painted.   Which you can see here.    When feedback was given to the student it then underwent a further revision.  The student created a charging insert port into the middle and base of the design (as shown in the photo) based on the type of phone and where the charging was.

The student had also experimented with having a stencil applied and that spray painted onto her design.

The student was then able to carry out specific testing with the unit and then use it in conjunction with the phone before they made a final design decision.  In this case the student realised that while the charger would fit through the hole the stand itself could not sit flush on a surface as the charger cord needed to be able to be underneath.   The student considered solutions to this including a complete redesign (and print) however they decided to introduce four legs to the design which provided a colour contrast to the deign and crucially introduced the height that they needed for the print to work successfully.   

The applying of stencils to 3D Printed designs has been an entirely new avenue for the students to explore, and recently it has been deemed success. In this instance the photograph above the application of the stencil was not successful and so the student also wanted to resolve that.

Their solution for this was to create a small plate to show the year date and for this to be applied (glued) down to cover the part of the stand where the stencil previously was (as shown left).

The insert plate to cover the stencil used 2 grams of PLA and had a price point of $0.05.  This part of the print took 11 minutes to complete.   The legs to raise the print to a higher point used 25 grams of regular PLA and this had a price point of $0.64.   This took one hour and nine minutes to complete.

We have put a post about this print on our Facebook site which includes additional photographs of the project.  You can click on the link to the project here.

Spray Painting on 3D Prints: Aerosol Cans

 

We are ofter looking at ways in which we can decorate or add to our 3D Prints.   This is a brief example where we have had the students select a stencil and use it in combination with a white PLA 3D Print (which was themed for Mothers Day 2026).

The stencil was applied with a yellow base coat and then the dolphin stencil was applied over the top.  This left a design with a double layer of decoration.

The PLA when spray paint applies bonds with the aerosol paint and when it dries it is extremely durable and lasting.

On the same print the student also had this affect repeated this time in reverse with the purple as the backing colour and the yellow for the bird stencil that was then overlayed over the top.

This is not something that the students of our classroom are able to do due to their age.   It is something that we very much want an adult or responsible others to complete.

AR/VR Projecting onto 'not Lego"

 

We've previously blogged about the set of lego 'not lego' bricks that were a promotion at a local supermarket that we were able to purchase for $1.00

In the example shown left you can see the basic set up which is a kitchen, inside of a building.  As an introductory task for our students we wanted to use the Tinkercad App, the students and their iPad to create an object that could be placed somewhere into this scene.    We allocated a single afternoon block of time for this task, approximately forty minutes.

The theme of the build is to create 'Lego' ish figures - as we have noted this is not an official Lego set.   Tinkercad works well in this regard as it is able to produce 'block' figures easily as can be seen in the photograph shown left.   The image has been manipulated in the senses that the figure in red is not there, it is an AR/VR creation important and 'projected' into place by the student.   The student concerned is an eight year old student from the second cohort of students in class.   He was able to produce this design independently without any teacher input.

We also encouraged students to produce an item of furniture or an object and include this with the physical design crated by the bricks being assembled.

This is a second example with a more comical looking figure that the student has added a generic guitar.   In the second example here the figure is oversized relative to the rest of the furniture in the picture and the other objects.

The student has also some additional features that could be potentially added - of note for instance the hands at the end of the arms are missing at present and the facial features of the figure could benefit from having some additional details.   All of the design features are created from the main Tinkercad interface. 

3D Printed Photo frame - Mothers Day 2026

 

Challenge: For student to create something unique and personalised to celebrate Mothers Day, 2026.

Background: With this event occurring in New Zealand this coming weekend a number of students submitted ideas and creations for this project.  We went through them and assessed each on their merits against the criteria - creativity, uniqueness and personalisation and printed a number of them.   As we are working with a particular timeframe we also needed to be realistic about the size of the print.   While we now are aware that we can recycle the waste support PLA (as we are currently gathering supplies to work with Kiwifil we are also mindful of the cost of producing a larger print.  These tend to be one off prints or very selective in terms of the number that we produce.   We are running every print this year off essentially one machine as we've detailed so that is somewhat of challenge at time when the machine gets busy.

Resources Used: Tinkercad App, iPad, Bambu H2D Printer and regular PLA Filament.

Level of Difficulty: Medium/Advanced - there is quite a bit going on with this print in terms of design, size and how it is ultimately intended to be used.  The idea is to use the frame in conjunction with a small scale canvas print, potentially printed on the Roland Versa Sign Maker.   

Size: This is a substantial print measuring 200mm across, it has a depth of 50mm and is 150mm high.  The letter at the front is 20mm high and a total of 140mm across and is between 15mm and 20mm high at the bottom and extends for 140mm across the base of the print.   The insert for the photo a gap 150mm long and 10mm wide which is just behind the lettering at the top.  This would allow a solid object to be inserted in this location.

Cost/Price: As this is a Bambu H2D Print using the online software with the printing process we can determine that the print uses 238g of filament and this has a price point to produce the print of %5.94. 

Timeframe: The print took nine hours and twenty one minutes to complete on standard settings.  

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students:   The students are wanting to put either a regular photograph into the frame backed with some kind of insert or use the Roland Sign Maker to make something that would potentially be 3D Printed (such as the canvas prints we have completed with the machine previously.