3D Printed Ice Block Mould

Challenge: For student to produce, create and 3D Print a working ice block mould, which would allow the students to manufacture their own ice-blocks and chocolate.

Above Prototype One 

Background: This is a work in progress that started with a design that we saw from a student in another classroom at our school.  This student had produced the original print that is shown here.  While the print may look satisfactory the dimension of the print, a width of 35mm and a height of 60mm, meant that the overall product was extremely small, further the height of the sides was only 5mm meaning that the pouring of any liquid into the mould would have resulted in the liquid overflowing the sides and exiting out the gap that was introduced into the print for the stick to be introduced.   The students in my class however thought the idea was worthwhile so they look at this design, and refined it considerably.   The next version that was produced as a result of a brainstorming session, the students

Above: Prototype Two

identified that they could produce an animal themed shape and for a theme.  This produced prototype number two.   While the size issue had been addressed as the dimensions of this print were considerably larger than the print shown above (60mm across with a height of 70mm.   This print had a height of the sides of 10mm.   However, which this may to have appeared to be successful there were two locations below the ears, before the arms of the bear that would have allowed any material to follow out of the mould, rendering it useless.  There will be an attempt to patch this up, for the purpose of testing as the dimensions are much better than the first attempt.   One thing the students have not considered was that while a space has been created to allow the ice block stick to be inserted this

also would allow the liquid material that would be introduced into the mould to flow out.      This led to the third design in this series.  This was based around the students measuring the correct size, which was 70mm across, and 120mm long.  Crucially compared to the other designs this had a height of 25mn which would allow some variation with the mould and the experimenting of producing ice blocks and chocolates. 
Level of Difficulty: High to get this completed successfully the students have already run through various designs and completed several prototype to complete the project.   The designs at present have just had the issue of an adjustment made to the location where the ice block stick is located to prevent material from leaving via this location.
Time frame- Twenty minutes for prototype one, two and a half hours for prototype two and three and a half hours for prototype three.   This series of print is very much a work in progress and it would be anticipated that considerable reworking of this print would be require for it to work in the most successful way possible.
Size: As detailed in the description of each of the prototype.
What we would do differently: This needs to be modified further to be successful.  At present the next step is to run further versions and testing to find a ideal size and address issues such as the location where the ice block stick.
Next Steps for Students: To refine and improve this design so it works successfully with minimum waste and produces a ice block.   The students will start running all three of the current prototype to compare their success or otherwise.

3D Printed iPad Stand and Draw

Above: Design showing the personalisation of the iPad stand

Challenge: Student wanted to create an original print, a combination of an iPad stand for use in the classroom, personalised for the student who created it, to include a built in draw for storage.
Background: This student inspired by other designs in the classroom has demonstrated excellent design and creation using Tinkercad and 3D Printing.   In this design the student wanted an advanced iPad stand created to allow her to have her iPad stand.    The personalised part of the design was to have her name featuring prominently on the top, and placed an emojii on the rear of the stand.   The dimensions of this were created, measured and designed independently by the student, to have

a regular iPad Mini sit on the stand.   The design included a hollowed out part of the base.  When the initial print was completed a second part of the design was to create the draw which could be inserted into the base.  The student delibrately choose a different coloured PLA for the print for the draw.   The student again spent considerable time ensuring that the dimensions of the draw were correct so that it could work in conjunction with the base.
The student concerned in this projecy is a Y5 student who is ten years old.  She has had two years experience with 3D Printing.

Above: The stand in use with draw in place

Level of Difficulty - High.  The student is designing this project from scratch and had to take a number of factors into consideration - the size of the project relative to the goal, and the inclusion of a drawer to work in conjunction with the base.   The stand was produced with a hollowed base, the draw needed to sit inside the base and be able to be opened.

Above: The completed design with draw in place

Timeframe: Twenty hours for the base - which had mininal rafting with the exception of the internal storage, which needed to be removed to allow the draw to be inserted.   The base would require a timeframe in this vicinity to be successful.   The draw took four hours, again with minimum rafting, and this would be a minimum requirement for this to be successful.   The combined time for the print would therefore be twenty four hours.  The printer was running on a 8mm nozzle and has a default setting of 20% infill inside
the print. 
Size: The base stand measures 100mm across and has a depth of 100mm.   The front of the base rises 50mm with the lip.   The rear of the stand was 110mm high and 20mm deep.   The naming letter on the top of the base raised 10mm.   The width of the sides of the base was generally 5mm.   The draw was of relatively similar dimensions.   It was 80mm and 100mm deep with a width of 3mm for the sides.   This was slightly smaller that it could have been.
What we would do differently: The students designed the draw to be somewhat loose as she was wanting it to be easy to open and close the draw, it could have been slightly larger to create a bigger fit, otherwise the design relative to the brief and challenge was extremely successful.
Next Steps for Student: To move onto other projects.  This project has been completed and completed to an extremely high standard, and while there are some very slight minor adjustments to be made the print itself is working extremely well.

3D Print - Novelty Desk Organiser

Above: Design shown in profile.

Challenge: Student wanted to create a gift to give another person.   They wanted something themed that was related to a specific interest that the person receiving the gift.
Background: Student wanted to use a precreated design to print, using this as a gift for another family member.  The student concerned was a senior at our school.   This was her first time independently working on a 3D Project.   The student approached the teacher with the completed project and wanted to print it.   It was obviously sourced from a free design site (in this case Tinkercad) and the student simply wanted to create a print that would sit at a desk.   The head of 'Groot' from the 'Guardians of the Galaxy' movies/cartoons.  Under these circumstances the option is usually made not to proceed with this print, as the student had not personalised or adapted a print in a way to make it unique.  Consideration is also given for the encouragement of students to do this, we at times allow a print that is potentially going to get students creating and thinking critically about producing individual works.

View from above showing storage.

Level of Difficulty: Low - the student sole aspect of the print was to produce it at a size that made it suitable for her to forfill its purpose, to be placed on a desk to allow the hollow part of the head to be used to store stationary items.
Timeframe: Four hours.   The print had a minimal level of rafting, but as it was a commercial design there was not much leeway to reduce the time without having to resize the print. 
Size: Print had a length of 70mm a width of 60mm and a height of 80mm.    Given the purpose, the size of the print was about the right size.   With hindsight it could have potentially been significantly increased so it could have been a storage item for pens/pencils, as it was at its present size it was suitable for smaller items.
What we would do differently: The student was happy with the project.   She had a particular character from the series in mind and therefore her creation of this character would not be possible from scratch.   There was of course a potential for the student to personalise it more with the individuals name that it was gifted for, however that was not something that the student felt that she wanted to attempt.
Next steps for students: For the student to use the experience to start to create orginal designs.

3D Printed Toy Accessories

Above: Test print showing show jumping obstacle

Challenge: Student wanted to create a series of 3D Printed accessories to use as part of a play set involving horses and show jumping.
Background: This student has themed various designs during the year based around a 'horse' theme, as it is something that she is passionatae about.   She was looking to create specific accessories for some of her existing toys, hence she was trying to produce something of a very specific size to scale.   She was able to source some online freely available materials and designs and then set about adjusting the size of them so that she was able to have them produced for the correct size (which she was able to do on the second attempt).   As the time was relatively short we had contemplated a series of prints in different PLA that would feature the same design and then be combined for a layering effect with differing colours.  The student in charge of this project (and to also answer a question that has come up recently, the student is also responsible for the conversion of the design into the 3D Printing Computer software and the full printing processs - the limit of the teachers input at this stage is to check the production time for the print, sometimes once it is already in progress to simply ensure it is a reasonable print from the student.  The student in this case is a Y5 student who is usnig the 3D Printer for the first time significantly. 
Level of Difficulty - Low: this print require a redesign for size, otherwise the design aspect was minimal as it was a Tinkercad freely available file.
Timeframe: One hour forty minutes.   This could be modified for the individual poles etc which were ten minutes each. 
Size: The size of each of the items that were part of the set varied significantly.  The poles that were featured for the dressage jump was 3mm thick and 60mm long.
What we would do differently: Minimal - the student considered the project to be extremely successful, and other than the relative failure of the first print, given that it was not to the students satisfaction relative to the size of the original toy. 
Next steps for the student: To move onto other projects, perhaps to use their talents and skills to create original pieces of accessories instead of relying on open sourced projects.

3D Print Key Wall Holder

Challenge: To produce a working model of a wall mounted individualised key ring holder to hold specific keys.
Background: Versions of this task were already attempted this year in a differing format, where the focus was on the holding of single key that was high use for students, and needed to be identified.  This variation came from the student responsible for the Oversized Tractor Keyring detailed on this blog.  He wanted to use the base to modify it to allow the hanging of a series of keys.   The design itself had its initial development as a key ring, and then when he was introduced to the challenge of mounting it solved this problem by producing screw holes, visible on the left and right of the top of the design.   The pegs that were introduced were intended as the way for the business, featured on the design, to hang a selection of keys.   A redesign is in process as the pegs have been road tested and found to be not as robust as intended.   The other issue that is relevant to the design is the student assumed that a selection of keys would all fit in the spaces provided, the student hadn't considered that the keys themselves would be on key rings that would affect the size.  The student who oversaw this project is a nine year old Y5 student who is completing his first series of prints.
Level of Difficulty: Low - this is progression on the basic design, that the oversized key ring came from so this is essentially a modified version of this, rather than a complete redesign from scratch.
Timeframe: Five hours.  There was a little room for some adjustments but not significant.
Size: This is essentially the same as the badge.  100mm by 90mm with a depth of 8mm.
What we would do differently: The pins for the keys need to be more robust, while still achieving their purpose.   The possibility of the reduction or the repositioning of the pins also needs to be considered, in the initial design the student just randomly placed them on the backing board.
Next steps for students: As above - the project is near completion but needs some additional to details.