2021 3D Printed Christmas Decorations

In the past we have used the seasonal time to have students create a range of 3D Printed Christmas decorations, to hang from a tree.  Typically by managing the size of the prints we have been able to target having the prints produced in a run for a classroom.

The prints in this series came about from novice students who were nine and ten years old using a design process of initially drawing a sketch, converting that sketch into a 3D Design via Tinkercad and then printing the design using the Ultimaker2+ machines that we have in the classroom.   The machines have been here since 2016 and were reconditioned in 2019 - so are durable reliable and slightly old.

The first print shown here was 80mm across and 80mm long, the bow was added via the main Tinkercad interface and a simple cross pattern was added to the design of the print.   The final design aspect of the print was to create a hole, which is located at the top of the present so that it could be easily hung from the tree.

The student concerned created this print following the design process with minimal teacher input.   The print took 45 minutes to print and following the process was extremely successful.   Further details will be applied in the decoration process.

Left: This design was shown prior to removal of the rafting.   The student wanted to create a traditional Christmas Tree design with the angles created to make the design.    The student concerned has used Tinkercad in the past but not for a year or so but was able to pick it up extremely quickly.   

One aspect of the design that the student needed to address was the decorations that he had added to the tree.   One of the baubles was not attached to the tree itself (hence the delay in removing the rafting so that the student could clearly be aware of the issue)

The total print took one hour to complete - it was a relatively quick design, with the student having a clear idea about the finished product and how it might be developed and decorated.

The student is intending to decorate the baubles and then see if he can return them to the print, with some form of adhesive.   

Left: This design is going to be significantly redesigned.   The student wanted to make a variation of the tree theme, place the name of their family on the tree and include some design aspects (the star, a mini-tree on base of the tree to give it a three dimensional aspect).    

Due to the size of the lettering of the family name, the print did not add this detail (this has occurred at times when the print is too small).   The student has decided to enlarge the base of the design and then to increase by scale ensure the detail was created - as a result of this the decoration would then bring the detail in the print to the fore.   All of the designs that have been featured here are part of a series of thirty that are currently being produced (on the single class printer).   The prints will be selective from this point forward.  We have posted a series of prints in the past from basic designs such as the ones that we have featured above running all the way to a extremely complication piece such as the sleigh from 2018.