Printer Set Up: First Changes Since 2025

 

We've been detailing how we have our hardware set up for our 3D Printing at our school - and it also formed part of our '3D Printing Lore' series of posts where we were looking at a single printer for the entire school, for the calendar year, our H2D Bambu.

That has changed recently at Auroa Primary School.

We have started the process of upgrading our secondary printers, still using the large Bambu H2D for the larger projects but we have have added to our printing resources two secondary printers a Bambu P1P and a Bambu P1S.   We have started the process of replacing the Snapmaker machines that we have on site and will soon be producing prints on Bambu.

The thinking behind this is based around the reliability of the machines and what meets our needs as a school.  We want to be able to produce material (prints) as seamlessly as possible and while we have been pleased in the past with our group of four to five machines of Ultimakers (and then the various upgrades and reconditioning that we completed to various 'plus' models) of Snapmakers and now Bambu,

We switched because we want to minimise the time spent on engineering the machines, which is essentially been unblocking them when a print has failed due to some technical issue.   

The amount of 'rafting' has also decreased significantly overtime if you consider ten years ago some of the prints that were being produced were encased in support plastic to ensure it was stable.   Recently the newer print process has significantly reduced this although we also do need to note we have been stockpiling all of our PLA and intend to recycle it using Kiwifil,  a New Zealand company we discovered earlier in the year.

The photographs with this print also show another aspect to the printers - the connectivity between them.  In this instance with the P1S the yellow casing that you can see visible is the 'Mario Themed' casing which is available by the Bambu Labs online portal.  

We have used the resource to produce material like the 'waste shoots' for the printers which can then be clipped onto the machines.

These are not items or resources that we are needing to create ourselves but freely available files and resources that come in with the online portal supporting the machines.

Moving forward we will be identifying with future prints which of our machines that we will be using to produce them, noting the difference in time being the most obvious point of difference.

3D Printed SVG Dinosaur

 

Challenge: Use an SVG file from a free site to create a file and modify it for a different purpose.

Background: We have detailed this process through this blog over a number of posts - which you can see by clicking on the link here.  It is also the same process where we developed SVG stencils such as this bus.

In this example here this process was completed using a dinosaur SVG which was then converted by introducing a name onto the figure and introducing a significant hole into the figure - this then converts the purpose of the figure to a key/badge.

Resources Used: SVG File (free download), iPad, Tinkercad App (free), Bambu PS1, Regular PLA (Bambu brand PLA)

Level of Difficulty: Low.  This was completed independently by an eight year old student who is working for the first year with Tinkercad in the class, started using the program in February.

Size: The print measures 200mm across is 100mm high for the main body and 130mm high at the top of the neck, head.   The print had a width of 10mm thick meaning it is extremely robust and unlikely to be broken or damaged.

Cost/Price: The print used 37g of regular PLA to produce.  This gave it a price point of $0.93c.   Given the dimensions, the intention and the decision to make sure it was durable this was about correct.

Timeframe: To complete the print on the Bambu P1S Printer (this is a new smaller machine and the first print that we have completed this year on the machine.  We will be producing a seperate print detailing this set up and describing how the machines differ from the H2D.  This print took fifty four minutes.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students:   Nil this was completed as intended.  There was no 'rafting' waste plastic as a result of the print (although we are now recycling everything anyway).  

3D Printed SVG Stencil

 

Challenge: To use an SVG file to produce an effective and working stencil.

Background: We detailed the creation of this process earlier when we explained how the students rather than creating an original file from scratch (which can at times be time consuming and also frustrating to get the details extremely accurate.   

One of the options to reduce either the timeframe or the process is to use freely available SVG files as we have detailed, including this previous example of a school bus.   This instance saw the student taking a seperate 'profile' image and use that image to create a series of visual images.

This process involved taking the image using the Tinkercad App and then projecting it to an outside location.   When this had been completed the student used their iPad to take a screenshot of the image and record it.

They then took the image that they had created and used the Pic Collage app to apply a filter to the picture.

The final stage of the process was then take the original design and 3D Print it.

Resources Used: Tinkercad App, iPad, Pic Collage App, 3D Printer and 3D Printer PLA.

Level of Difficulty: Low - the process most challenging part for the student was to select an SVG file that would be suitable for a 3D Print.   Some of the files suggested made great AR/VR images but were then discounted as 3D prints due to their design or shape.

Size: The physical 3D Print measures 160mm across and was 70mm high.  The print was 1mm thick.

Cost/Price: As it was a stencil the print used only 8g of filament to complete the process and this had a corresponding price point of $0.20.

Timeframe: This project took twenty minutes in total to complete - five minutes to warm up the printer and fifteen minutes to complete the actual print.

What we would do differently/Next Steps for the students: The space between the smaller windows at the back of the bus is quite small so while it should work as a stencil if it was spray painted actually colouring it in would be a challenge.  The student who completed this project is an eight year old student who is working as part of the cohort one this year - ie they have had one and half terms of 3D Printing experience.

Combining 3D Printing and Tinkercad with ChatGPT

 

The image shown left was created by using ChatGPT to create an image with a series of prompts based around the Tinkercad creation of a piece of work.

The purpose of doing this was initially to help the students with a series of writing prompts, however the piece itself contained a number of errors that were spotted by the students.

If you look at the placement of the hole inside the keyring you can see that it changes places from the middle of the design to the top left hand corner by the end.

It also added several steps that our students didn't need to complete the process.   The time for the creation of the poster took under two minutes.

AR/VR Design Creating 'Lego/Not-Lego' Part Two

This is the second part of our 'Lego-Not Lego' challenge involving our 'bargain' purchase of a set of supermarket bricks.

The first challenge of the set involved creating the 'lego' not lego figure that was then projected into the scene - and around our school.

The follow up challenge was to place a static object into the scene so it looked liked it belonged.   This was a similar activity to our '#tinkercadhunt'.    An early version of this showed this student creating this table and placing it in the scene.

This example in this series shows a range of photos that have followed a similar process.   The design that has been added to the scene is the same one that featured in this post of the blog, in the third photo in that series that featured a frying pan.

This image projected onto the kitchen bench in the top photo.  Wanting to develop the photograph further the student took the photographic image created with AR/VR and then applied a #PicCollage filter.   This then modified the image creating texture on the finish and adding waves and the ocean into the background.

The same image was then put through an additional filter, as shown left.   This image created a second image which differed from the first in terms of the background and the definition of the image.

The entire process took less then twenty minutes to complete from the applying AR/VR design to the background to then road testing a range of images that were suitable for the filter process.  It was not perfect as several filters were applied that replaced a significant portion of the image (thus rendering the new image as unusable).

There is a range of images associated with this task - this is a small sample of the total amount of images from the (class) project.  We will be putting the remainder of the image on Facebook on the this sites companion page.

3D Printed SVG Example

Challenge: To use an SVG file to create a 3D Print that has a purpose.

Background: As noted a previous challenge given to students we were looking at ways in which we could create a SVG and then convert this into a 3D Print.  We were also looking at having a purpose for a print - by either selecting an SVG file that didn't need adjusting or to resize, adjust or the print.

In the instance of the example shown left the student viewed a number of designs and selected this 'school bus' from the list.   The design had clear holes built into the design and this was potentially be used to 'loop' or hook into the design creating the potential for a keyring or similar type purpose.

Resources Used: iPad, Tinkercad App, regular PLA, Bambu H2D, SVG File (from FreeSVG Files)

Level of Difficulty: Low.  In this instance the file didn't need any adjustments and when it was located and was inserted into Tinkercad, met the size requirements and was a simple matter to import the design.

Size: The print measures 120mm across, was 130mm high and was 10mm deep giving it strength.

Cost/Price: Using the Bambu Lab Studio software associated with the problem once the .stl needed slicing we can determine that the print used 27g of filament and this had a price point of $0.67.

Timeframe: To complete this print the duration of time involved was forty seven minutes.

What we would do differently/Next step for the students: This design could have potentially had additions made to it prior to being printed.   We could have sprayed it afterwards or looked at different colour combinations.

As a basic task that was completed easily to demonstrate a point this task was ideal.

3D Printed: Non 3D Printed Updated Slideshow 2026

 

This slideshow is our 'Non-3D Printing 3D Printing ideas'.  It is a range of activities for students to complete with iPad that involve 3D Design and creativity that do not result necessarily in a 3D Print as the end product.

This slideshow was originally published last year and now has been updated to include examples from 2026.