Challenge: To produce an original 3D Design to hold a pencil sharpener.
Background: Its been a year in the classroom of using 3D Printers. At the halfway point of the year we are looking to provide some extension challenges to the classroom, and particular students who have shown an aptitude to design.
This was a project that was first attempted in 2019 by a group of students. This design was originally charged to a group of the students although the results were always requiring refinement. Since then we have changed printers from Ultimakers to Snapmakers and the resulting prints have been significantly better.
The student working on this project is a Y4 student, so someone who is eight years old. This is their first year of using a 3D Printer in the classroom. This is an extension student who is achieving extremely well academically across all of the curriculum areas. We instructed the students to create an original animal, but the animal needed to be able to house or have a pencil sharpener that could then be inserted or placed inside the animal so it would be functional.
The student worked around various designs and decided to identify Tinkercad. They decided to use a 'turtle' themed design as they felt that they could replicate the key features using the basic shapes from the main Tinkercad interface. The original design (shown top left) had a large insert for the pencil sharper however the student had not considered the exit of the pencil once sharpening was in progress or successfully identified, measured and placed the print to work in conjunction with the sharpener.
The refined version of the print, shown left included a reimagined housing for the sharpener and refined designs for the feet and face.
The student then also considered how to introduce an exit point for the pencil sharpeners waste. This was devised by introducing a block into the back of the animal. During printing this is filled by 'rafting' that is material that is designed to support the structure when it is printing to maintain its shape, which then can be broken or removed following the printing, when the print has set (the print effectively sets instantly). The student was basing the design around the size of the pencil sharpener relative to the size of the turtle designed.
Level of Difficulty: Extreme. This is not for the faint hearted. We are anticipating that the student will revise this design again and again until they reach a completion that they are satisfied with and meets the brief. This student has shown creativity and an eye for detail.
Features like having an entry point and an exit point working in conjunction with a pencil sharpener are extremely challenging for older students in our experience and this is a relatively young student.
Timeframe: Five hours. The dimensions have been dictated by the pencil sharpener and the desire to create an original creature/animal or design that matches with the housing potential.
Size: The current design is measuring 100mm long 60mm wide and is 50mm high. The insert for the pencil sharpener is 15mm by 30mm and is currently 40mm deep.
What we would do differently: This challenge has taken a couple of blocks of design and creation, the issue is now to refine what the student has made check that it works and makes the design brief and look at refining it in conjunction with the pencil sharpener.
We are intending to keep all the models in the process to look at tracking the progression of the project to see what the student is going to develop with their ideas. We would now be realistically at the testing phase as the student is happy with the design (although the turtle has a single eye if you look closely).
We are thinking that this will lead to more creativity and challenges for the student moving forward and as we are having another market day this year this finished version (when it is finished) may well be something that is original that we look to market.
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