Custom Making 3D Printed Solar Panel Stands

Challenge: To produce a custom made design to hold a solar panel (that is tilted to increase exposure to sunlight) that is flexible and adaptable to meet the needs for an electronics project with specific dimensions.
Background:   Over the course of lockdown there have been few posts on this blog.   A lot of time and energy has gone into the COVID19 lockdown situation and also working on the Sound Lure Project that was started in 2019.   3D Printing has a special role to play in this project as the students and the classroom are focussing on a major local and regional project (including partnership funding and details) with a number of external groups.   Full details of this project can be located at the specifc project blog: SoundLuresNZ.blogspot.com.    Essentially the component parts for this project are being created specific to the pieces used (for instance the speakers for the various sound lures are all different sizes so creating a new box for each different speaker has been a matter of creating a master and then changing dimensions to meet the size of the speaker.   For the

solar panel a simialr requirement was needed to be met.

In this case it was a single sized solar panel, needing to be raised up to decrease the ability for water to pool on the panel (to protect the connection points on the back of the device) that would be stable.    This is the first design in this process with a student who is producing independently for the first time.    A effort to minimise the amount of rafting or PLA that needs to be removed as supports is intended, so this is very much the first prototype of a series until the criteria can be met.

This print took eleven hours, by reducing the amount of PLA, by flipping the design and removing the need for supports that serve no purpose this should be halved at the least.   The student designed wanted to build supports but the base as it is is able to remain upright.

In conversations about the purpose and the aim of the print the student has made some significant adjustments and the next version is about to be designed.  We have highlighted the improvements in the process to show the adaptability of the printer in this case.
Degree of Difficulty: Medium - the adaptability is key otherwise the design itself needs to be able to applied to a basic task - which is simply holding the solar panel in an upright position to maximise sunlight to ensure that the unit is attatched to the sound lure, to ensure that the unit can charge as much as possible.
Timeframe: Eleven Hours - this needs to be reduced considerably, as there is excessive PLA as a result of the unit requiring rafting to be supported.   We are experimenting with flipping the stand so that we print it on its side, which should mean there is minimum rafting required for the print. 
What we would do differently/next steps for the students: This project and this 3D Printing example are designed to get the students thinking, get the students motivated and working again on a significant project which the 3D Printing is ideally suited for.