3D Printed Junior Basic Designs: Cats

Challenge: For a first time seven year old to introduce them to 3D printing in the classroom

Background: A recent writing prompt in the classroom centred on domestic cats.   We were looking at an opportunity to integrate 3D design into this process, so students were tasked with using Tinkercad to create something that was 'cat' themed.

In this instance we were encouraging students to design something that they could have as a small storage device.  This student went and attempted to build a cat, inspired by a 'block' version of a cat that we had showed to her.   She used the basic Tinkercad shapes to design the different features of her animal, then went back, VR/AR it using the Tinkercad App and then refined and addressed some of the design.

The dimensions for this design were deliberately kept small because we wanted to be able to realistically print a variety of these, each with improvements or refinement so that the student would be excited by the process and produce an outcome each time.

The student was able to work independently to complete the project, then look at reworking the project and refining the design.   The whiskers on the face of the cat proved to be a particular challenge, in the students design they were long and detailed, being somewhat thin - however these did not survive the printing process and would need to reworked.

Level of Difficulty: Basic.  This is considered to be an introductory task for a student to complete a print for the first time and be successful.

Size: The main body of the shape is 30mm across, was 60mm high in total (to the top of the ears) it was 30mm wide.   

Timeframe: The entire print was completed on regular setting with standard PLA etc.  It took just under one hour.   The idea is to produce multiple versions of the same print and to make it realistic to do so it needed to be small.    Once the design is complete in full then there is always the potential to up skill it in future when it is complete. 

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

The student wants to redefine the facial features of the animal as shown left.   The student was attempting it for the first time and once they saw the first printing they wanted to adapt it to introduce more features to scale (such as pay attention to the eyes).

The student was contemplating looking at ways to address the body of the cat, relative to the size of the legs for instance.