2022 Introductory Projects: Refining Basic Ideas

One of the issues when having a 'new' group of students in the classroom as we have this year is we have been pushing out 3D design to some of our younger classrooms, so when the students make it to our room they are already well versed and experienced in using Tinkercad and have in many cases already completed basic designs.

One of the options here for their first individual prints is to look for examples that are 'different' or more creative.   One is example is sinking the lettering into the design rather than have it, a very basic version of this is shown left - the design here is only a 45 minute print, the name of the student stands out by virtue of it being cut out of the design, while the strength is maintained by the print.   This is the standard 80mm by 60mm design - the student in question here wanted to look at redesigning the hole in the top right hand corner, he queried whether or not his design was not perfect, resulting in the rough edging (it was not, it was a result of the plate of the printer having been adjusted by the previous student and not returned to the correct place.   If you have an eagle eye on this blog and an excellent memory you may recall a variation of this design was created two years ago, which is featured in the exemplar section.   This is the same student who two years later is continually using the point of difference created by this in his 3D design and creation.

This design, shown left while it may appear a standard version of the usual tutorial actually has a detail setting it apart from the regular print.   The student concerned wanted to incorporate an arc into the design, and spent a small amount of time making the arc work in terms of design and the overall presentation.

She was able to produce something for someone with a unique name that could not be sourced elsewhere.   The print took sixty minutes to complete and was 90mm by 60mm with the typical dimensions.   The print was created by a student in ten minutes and they spent time refining it to ensure that it met the expectations of the student (who is ten years old).

The arc of the print can be clearly seen in the photograph to the left showing the arc.

The student has been tasked with using spray paint to decorate the design and think about additional aspects of it that can be added to the finished print.

2022 Classroom Introductory Projects

The 2022 has seen another school year start in New Zealand and a new group of students have arrived in the classroom.   In our room we have a new collection of students.   While this is a little repetitive for regular viewers or visitors of this blog we have something of a tradition where we allow students to produce one individual piece of 3D Printing.

Our default for this is a standard badge or a keyring with the template produced via a video that we have featured on this blog.   There are a couple of basics related to our hardware.  We have a classroom printer which is an Ultimaker 2+ which was reconditioned four years ago.  It has been set with a 6mm nozzle and we are using 'Sun' branded PLA.   The students again this year are Y5/6 students from New Zealand which makes them between nine and eleven years old.  At this age level we have consistently found that the students can use Tinkercad to produce perfectly serviceable prints.

Tinkercad is in our opinion a perfectly serviceable app/web based browser that allows students to create designs for 3D Printing.   They are typically able to pick it up within a few minutes and the design features are easily manipulated.   In recent years they have developed some of the options to include circuits, coding and virtual reality (for the app) to further add dimensions to the program.   Its also free and teachers can set up an entire classroom of students in only a few minutes.

We have detailed this type of print extensively in the past, and you can view some of the initial basic print ideas that we have produced in the past here.

You can click on the link to the tutorial video here.

We are again using this as a launching platform to get the students interested in design and working to use the printer as a creative tool - and we will be following and posting some of the ideas and work again on this blog this year.