3D Printed Design: Butteryfly

Challenge: To produce something unique, something personal and something with a purpose.

Background: This student is new to the classroom and we were investigating design, ideas and how to create something different from students in the classroom.   The student decided look at creating a unique 3D shape, so opted for the Butterfly Wings.   For the personalisation, the idea was to link the wings, or reinforce the wings, by putting the block lettering across the front of the design.    The student is developing her ideas and concepts and the purpose of the design was identified by the next stage in the process.   She wants the design to work in conjunction with a storage box, this is the top or the major feature of the lid.   She is developing this idea and developing what is practical and able to be designed.

There was a bit of experimentation of the design and the shape, relative to the wings.   You can see this in the profile shown on the left.   The rafting has been removed from the print by this point, and there was a significant amount to give the shape of the design.   

Level of Difficulty: Medium.   This is intended to be an increasingly complex print with a number of future elements.   The butterfly would rate as a straight forward idea, but this is the first stage of a print by a novice Y3 student, who is eight years old.

Size: The wings measure 120mm across. the lettering is 20mm high and 20mm long.

Timeframe: Nine hours including the rafting, which as noted was significant.  The student was looking at design ideas and creations and in this case the larger the design was intended to shape further ideas and creations.

What we would do differently/next steps for the student: The student had the lettering linking the wings to provide further support.    The student decided that in future versions of this design the student would provide a stabilising block in the back of the design.   The next step having produced this design is the measurements for the box that it will work in conjunction with.  The student has started measuring and looking at options.

There will be further details on this project moving forward.