Background: The teacher realised that the online version of the cake topper that she was about to purchase for her wedding had been in fact created using a laser cutter. As such she recognised that the students of our school would be able to produce something very similar without the need for the cost that was associated with the object.
The student who was responsible for designing this was able to do so in under five minutes once she had the brief for the size. She was able to create this by using the basic font design, insuring that all of the lettering was linked and then produced the print. There is a small technical issue that there is a strip of black filament (PLA) visible on the back of the yellow print, this is residue from a previous print as this was a test.
One of the advantages of the Snapmaker machines is that it is possible to create and print projects that are extremely thin, which can be done successfully which was not necessarily the case with the prints that were completed before this with prior (older) machines.
It is not the intention of the students at school to out-do a commercial hobby operation but in this case it was something that came about because the opportunity was there and the students at our school were lucky enough to have the resourcing.
We also were able to make something that was extremely quick here - this was not the intention, the purpose was not to make something small on purpose, however it would be possible to produce a class set of these prints in a relatively short space of time.
Size: The print measured 150mm across and was 120mm high at the pin point. The thickness width of the print was 1mm - this ensured that the print was extremely flexible however the intention with the finished version is to make it slightly more robust to double its thickness to 2mm.
Timeframe: Twelve minutes - it would anticipated to be double that was the increase in the length of the print time along similar lines.
Level of Difficulty: Low - it really is a case of being able to have a linked font and a pin dropping off the bottom. Particularly as labels could be easily made for a range of food or items (for instance flavour of muffins etc) or if there was a celebratory or special meal this would be easily constructed and put together and would look effective).
What we would do differently, next steps for the students: As this is for a wedding the teacher has asked for, as noted, the design to be doubled in thickness so that it is more robust, and slightly alter the placement of the pin, so it is dead centre instead of being slightly to the side. This is a simple adjustment that will take a few minor adjustments.
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