Market Day Project: Slugs (Articulated)

We have talked at length about our school/student market day that is fast approaching when we are hoping to use the technology that we have available for our students to showcase projects that they have been working on.

The Snapmaker 3D Printer has been an important part of this with a number of groups opting to create various Flexi animals or create a range of accessories that relate or can work in with them.   

While we have featured some of these animals already one in particular needs to be highlighted due to the length of time, and discussions in the staff room have led to additional usage potential.

We sourced the articulated slug from Thingiverse.  As a print it is ideal in that its total print times is forty five minutes.   There is absolutely zero waste or rafting associated with the print.

The business run by the students intends to create additional media around caring and looking after the slug.

The slug measures 100mm long and 20mm wide with a height of 10mm.   It has five points of articulation and a head with two antenna on the end of it.

There was some concern that the antenna would be brittle or easily broken however handling this reasonably has led to no breakages.

The additional use of the slug has been expressed by one of the junior teachers who wishes to potentially use a group of the slugs to teach times tables or skip counting.   The teacher believes that by being able to handle the prints that a student could skip count using the print to handle and manipulate the numbers and the counting.   The slugs could be coloured coded with the segments being spray painted for different colour and number combinations.

The other thing that occurred during the printing of one of the slugs was a power cut.   The power cut eliminated electricity for the 3D Printer for ten to fifteen seconds.   The printer was able to recognise that the power had been cut - and was able to complete the print continuing from the point where the print stopped.   When this had occurred with the previous printer that we were using and featured on this blog it would result in the printer needing to be unblocked and the print started again.   This could cause major issues that would take several hours to potentially repair.

Micro Label Tag/Name Badge - Snapmaker

Challenge: To create the best possible manageable key ring/name tag of the smallest possible size.

Background: Having previously completed these as a basic introduction task for 3D Printing and not wanting to rehash these again and again we challenged the students to come up with something slightly different.

The different perfectly showed the comparison between the Ultimaker2+ that we have used in the past and the Snapmaker that we are using now.   

The dimension of this print is 50mm across, 30mm high and printed to a depth of 5mm.   The lettering shown on the print is only 10mm high in places and just under 45mm across.   As shown in the picture the lettering can clearly be read and shown in the details.  Given the nature of the printer being used this would not have been possible with the Ultimaker 2+.

We have previously detailed these projects on the blog but never been able to create them to this (small) scale.

Market Day Animals Accessories

 

Challenge: Creation of original accessories to add depth to flexi-animals for market day.

Background: As part of the market day the students are using the Snapmaker printer to create a range of flexi-animals for sale.   The question has been what is the content that the students can create that is original but fits in with style and design of the animal.   Originally the students were looking to manufacture and design a to scale accessory, however following a discussion about the viability of this the students decided to opt for 'comedy' accessories or accessories that were super sized but didn't necessarily stay true to scale, hence the size of the bone shown.     The other item clearly shown here is the dog bowl which is complete with food.  Both are created using Tinkercad - the students were able to identify the items, the theme was related to the animal.   The label was created from logomaker.com and the only other aspect that needs to be explained is the movie or the information.   This was created via a QR code which is on the reverse of the label

Level of Difficulty: Low - student was able to produce the bone and bowl from the basic interface in five minutes and was printed without any adjustment.

Size: The bone was 50mm across, 20mm wide and 10mm high.   These dimensions focussed on producing something not too small.   The food bowl was 25 across and 8mm high.   

Timeframe: Using the Snapmaker twenty minutes from start to finish for each.

What we would do differently/next steps for students: Spray painting and working out a way to add the small details with the print.

The students reasoned that the same accessories for the dog would work with the Tiger, as shown left.   Perhaps something more unique could be designed but overall very happy with the result.

3D Printed Student Business: Market Day Animals

Challenge: For students to use a 3D Printer to run a successful business for school market day.

Background: As mentioned previously the students are currently working to run a business.  We wanted to include 3D Printing in this aspect of the business as it allowed the students to create something memorable for the students.   Ideally we wanted the students to create a unique animal for the 3D Printed animals and while this was successful (see the Kiwi print) we also wanted to have an opportunity to have the printer use and create the other animals.   The question that we needed to resolve with this was what was the creative input from the students - if they were printing an available 3D Print (in this case design and located via Thingiverse) What would the role of the students be?   

The answer to this was the packaging that came with the product.     The labelling was created by using Logo Maker and then printed out.

For the back of the label had a printed QR Code - this led to additional information the students created two seperate sets of information.

The first was a movie about the animal featuring it in a series of adventures where the students made a short film featuring the animal.  In the second there was animal facts about the featured animals with a more serious non-fiction text.    Both these creative outlets allowed the students to create something to tie in directly with the 3D Print to be creative and orginal.

3D Printed Articulated Animals: Originals

 

Challenge: To produce a unique 3D Printed articulated animal.

Background: When we switched this year to using Snapmaker Printers one of the first objects that the students focussed on producing were a range of articulated animals.  These animals typically are able to be moved repeatedly (hence the articulation) which the students enjoy being involved in moving.    A selection of these were printed initially when we switched printers and the students were suitably excited however the challenge was to create our own unique versions of these.   The solution to this was to use Youtube tutorials for the students to focus on being able to identify the way that the linking could be created and then applied to a unique New Zealand specific animal, the Kiwi.

Level of Difficulty: High.   This project involved identifying the linking, working out how to apply it and then experimenting with using it to make sure that it would work with the design.

Once the linking had been successfully created there are a range of animals that we intend applying it to, over the next timeframe.

Size: The Kiwi measures 90mm across and is 80mm high.   The  width of the design was 10mm.

Timeframe: Using the Snapmaker the total print time was two hours.   There was no rafting with the print, the print was removed from the machine as shown in the diagram with no waste PLA (plastic).   Although there could have been some slight modification with the size it would have affected the overall of the quality of the print, which just felt about the correct size.

What would the students do differently/next steps for students: This was a very positive experience for the student concerned who was intent on completing the linking successfully.   This is going to open up a range of prints from this point.   You can see the original attempt at the linking shown in the above photograph which is placed underneath the Kiwi design.     The student could also consider the use of spray paint to decorate the print as we have done previously.

3D Printed - Desk Game Noughts and Crosses

Challenge: To create an original game suitable for a school market day.

Background: With a public market day coming up when the community is being invited into the school to look at businesses that are run by the students the students want to use their technology to create original items that they might be able to sell.    Rather than produce items that were copies of existing items we wanted the students to think carefully about what they might produce and how the 3D Printer and or the Laser Cutter would assist with the projects, to challenge the students with their design thinking.

In this case the student wanted to look at a small scale game that would have some universal appeal and would involve a successful design via using Tinkercad for the creation.   The student was also using an older Ultimaker2+ for the project so this meant that there could not be too much detail required for the print.   This student has shown time and time again to be a gifted and talent creative student who excels at creating 3D Printing and 3D Printed designs and some of their previous designs have been featured on this blog.  The student is currently eleven years old and has an aptitude for design.

Level of Difficulty: Medium, while the design is straightforward and a game that is universal the pieces needed to work in conjunction with the board or the tray where the playing pieces were placed.   While this was completed successfully on the first print the student was experienced and has a track record of design.

Size:   The base that held the playing pieces was obviously the largest.   The base measured 100mm across and was 100mm high.   The height of the unit was 20mm with the base of the internal shelf at 10mm which had a consequence of holding the playing pieces in the right location.  Each of the playing pieces was 20mm by 20mm which corresponded with the place for them to be placed.

Timeframe: Ten hours for the base and two hours for the playing pieces.

What we would do differently/next steps for the students:

One of the challenges was thinking about ways to expand the game - there are some versions of this game with super pieces that can be more powerful than the others and be placed to cover the basic pieces. The student also looked at a basic finish design and could have put more emphasis on the pieces finish and the colour that was used.

Otherwise the student design and creation process could be considered a success - the game itself is durable and was able to be washed or cleaned and could be used again - there was also some discussion about keeping the board the same and changing the playing pieces for a particular theme or unit of work.

The balance between having a unique creative challenge and producing something in a manageable timeframe was also met - potentially the project could have been slightly smaller however this would have detracted from the overall finished product.     Potentially this student could have look at some form of LED lights or having buttons somehow within the game or design.