3D Printed Mini iPad/Phone Stand with storage draw

Challenge: Student wanted to create a stand for their iPad/iPhone and include storage in the base of the stand as a feature.   The student wanted to personalize the stand with their name.

Above: Design in profile prior to rafting removal

Background: While this student had not designed this sort of project before, a sibling of theirs had and as a consequence the student was able to call upon them for guidance with the design and the dimensions of the project.   This student had completed a number of projects in the classroom this year and was one of the chief designers for things related to the sound lure project boxing.

The student also needed to consider number of factors that were challenging in this project - getting the balance right was significant between producing a functional stand and having a long term print.

Degree of Difficulty: High - to get everything working in conjunction with the other features is something of an art.   This project will require considerable reworking to be considered successful.  All of the elements need to work together - for instance introducing a draw into the base of the design increases the storage significantly but the trade off is the fact that the base becomings considerably weaker when empty which can cause the base itself to tip with the weight of an iPad.

Above: The internal draw.

Size: The front of the design measured 80mm across, the print was 70mm long/deep and the print was 55mm high at the the top of the backing of the design.   The internal draw measured 70mm by 60mm and was able to sit into the base of the design.   The size of the sides of the draw need to be noted as they were 3mm across.  This would be the minimum size required to produce a stand, and in retrospect these dimensions would probably be increased to be successful.
Time frame: The base of the stand took four and a half hours and the draw took an hour.  This contrasts with some of the larger iPad stands and holders which have been up to twenty hours with the default print settings.  What we would do differently/Next Steps for Students: There were a few things to consider with this design - the weight of the print would hold a basic iPhone or iPad if it was regular dimensions (ie without a case).   However if you knocked the iPad then the stand would fall, so more weight would be required (although this could be addressed by filling up the storage

draw.   The student choose to include thier name and sink it into the front facing side of the stand.   this significantly weakened the strength of the design.   The student would have been bettered served to have printed their name in a separate print run, ideally either in another colour or one that could be spray painted, and then super glue it into place.   When the lettering around the students name was removed a significant amount of detail around the lettering also came out.   This was despite a teacher removing the rafting and taking all the care possible - a student would face particularly more challenge in doing so - with a straight basic print, and the name in a second colour this would be easily achievable.

Given the knowledge and the skill set that the ten year old student has managed to achieve I would consider it to be an easy fix for the student to successfully adapt their design to include these features and re-print the project which the student will do early next year.   

3D Printed Projects: Individualised Basic Projects

Challenge: For students to create (independently) a variety of designs that were original and created and personalized for the purpose of a gift.
Background:  Having completed the 'sound lure' project for the year the 3D Printers here at School were available for a variety of projects.   The students were asked to create a concept or idea, which was original, which allowed them to personalize something and then created it independently.  Some of these projects were inspired by work from the past, which has been already featured on this blog.  Full details of those projects are available in the links next to the photographs.

   Left: An introductory name plate for a student completely new to 3D Printing.  The instructions for the student was prepared by another student who tutored the student, and also in the form of a flipped video that students produced earlier in the year.

This is a basic design/concept/idea that has featured many times on this blog which is detailed here.

This took four and a half hours and was 90mm by 60mm and was 5mm thick with the lettering another 5mm (and star) out from the design,

Another project was similar but 'Christmas Themed' with an insert Reindeer, and hearts that wen through the shape, the name of the student in this instance was sunk into the design of the plate (in contrast to the design above when it was raised up from the base).    The student was also working for the first time on a 3D Printing project and like the student involved in the above project is ten years old.  They were able to be paired up with a student who had worked Tinkercad before and the design was original and personalized.   It was 100mm by 100mm and 5mm thick, with a five hour print time.  Again the tutorial video was used as a back up resource to assist with teaching, and there are considerable Christmas themed examples of this on this blog running from simple designs with a name to individually created 3D Projects based around Christmas ideas (such as the Sleigh featured here).   These projects range in difficulty level from basic, which would take five minutes to much more advanced and complicated designs that would potentially require reworking and remodelling.

A slight variation of the above themes saw the creation of this badge for a child's room, which was created by a student following the format above.   The PLA used by the printer is extremely durable and wearing, meaning that the designs themselves seldom fade or can be broken.  We have been testing this theory with a number of prints to show the evacuation assembly area at school, which when put outside in an exposed area have maintained their shape and form for approaching two years.   This print was 5mm thick, with the lettering and stars an additional 5mm, 60mm high and 140mm across the print time was four and a half hours.

In the final design that we wanted to highlight, a student wanted to create a gift to mark a family members, first Christmas.   Again the basic design format was followed as with other designs in this group.   The design featured no 'rafting' o additional PLA required to complete the project, the student was able to created, design and complete the project themselves while meeting the criteria that was created at the start of the project.   The print measured 140mm across, was 10mm thick (including the lettering in the middle) and featured a whole in the top of the design to attach it to a Christmas Tree.   This took four hours to print on our default settings.

3D Printed Christmas Decorations

Challenge: Student wanted to use a 3D Printer to create and design a personalised decoration for a family member.
Background: Student was new to the classroom, near the end of the school year (in New Zealand).  We had a new student who had no experience with 3D Printer and wanted to show the possibilities that the printer could be used to create something.   The student had mentoring from another student, both of whom are ten years old.  The creation process was simple using the basic template from the main Tinkercad interface.  The photos shown with the print show the print prior to any 'clearning' of minor excess PLA.    The lettering was sunk into the base of the design to add detail to it (it also has at times been reversed and raised up, but the sinking into the base generally looks better in our students opinion).  The teacher had no input into the process or the design.
Degree of Difficulty: Medium - this is a students first print, but the basic design features can from the student and someone offering design advice.  We have created, and there are online tutorials available on how to create inserts and lettering, so the design is very similar to the 'keyring' and 'badge' design that have previously been published here on the blog.  Students could work independently on this task to complete it from the middle school (Y5 onwards).
Size:   The design measured 100mm across and was 120mm high.   The print was 5mm thick (this could have been reducded to significantly improve the printing time).   Variations on this design/theme have been created and posted on this blog previously.
Timeframe: Four and a half hours for the default setting with a 6mm nozzle and 20% infill.   This is standard Tinkercad/CURA settings for our Ultimaker 2.  These machines are now five years old although two years ago they were upgraded to Ultimaker 2+.   One would strongly suspect that a more robust machine would improve on the printing time considerably.
What we would do differently/Next Steps for students: None - this turned out exactly as required.

Further reference: In 2018 our students created Christmas Prints for everyone in the classroom and also buddy created with another student - this prints, ideas and designs are featured here.  Further examples can be located here and exemplars can be seen here

In total there are several pages of designs, creations and idea that have been featured on this blog (including the 'sleigh' design which was create dby students from scratch using the main Tinkercad Interface, as shown left.

Please link in anymore great examples that you know about and share this post!