Junior Coin Box - Exemplar

Challenge: To produce a functional detailed purposeful 3D Print.

Background: While we have students who are working on what we would generally consider to be beginner or starter projects we also have students who are at the other scale of things - students who are creating independently innovative and interesting projects and pushing the boundaries of CAD and 3D Design as Y3 (seven) and Y4 (eight year olds).   One student who has consistently done so has recently started to revisit projects that she worked on in the previous year.   She has previously work on designing a money box, and we featured this design in 2023.   She recently began a process of revisiting her previous designs and looking to improve and think critically about what she had been working on.

In this version of the money box she focussed on redesigning her name, which now dominates the print more significantly than the previous version, has hollowed out the inside of the box (which allows for much greater storage, the original was merely a slot on the inside).  She also included another subtle difference by placing her initials on the top of the design.   

In reworking this design she has improve its functionality and appearance considerably.  There has been no teacher input into the project.  The student has created, tested and worked on this design and then presented it to the teacher to print in its finished state.

Size: The print measures 50mm across and is 45mm high.  This has made it rather compact however the student wanted to create this revised version to see what it would look like.

Timeframe: Eight hours to complete - a version with a larger storage area or greater capacity would of course have to have an additional print project time.

Level of Difficulty: Medium - this is a complex print that has a number of elements with it that need to work, in conjunction with each other so that the print works as a project.   As noted this has been worked on by an eight year old student however this is one of the top creative designers in the classroom.

What we would do differently next steps for the students:

The student has been given a task, a challenge based around this design.  While the design is functional and works the student has been asked to come up with a locking mechanism for the base of the design so that the student can open the design from the base and use this as a means to empty the storage.  At present the entry and exit point remains the (significant) slot at the top of the container.   The student is going to use technology to research.