3D Printed 'Cyclops' Challenge: Masterclass

 

Challenge: Given a toy eye the students in the classroom were told to create a build/project around it.

Background: This is the finished version of the first initial print.  The process behind the design for this print was detailed in a previous print on this blog.

This design is now shown with the eye firmly in place - without glue as the student was able to force it into the eye socket when it then expanded into place, held there by the design.    The design is used to hold a USB flash drive.

At the same time that this was being produced one of the other students wanted to create something on a more significant scale.   This student is a eight year old student who has shown creativity and aptitude with her designing work and skills.  She wanted to use a 'cyclops' theme to produce a unique storage location.   Tinkercad was used as the main design tool.

The design is shown left on the Tinkercad design page.    The student opted for a single eyeball which as shown was on a stalk, with two pods of storage either side of the main body.

Level of Difficulty: Medium - the design has a number of aspects and details in it.   For instance the spikes on the body and the boils have been created by adding small cones and circles at different locations and then flattened out or added.     The balance with the design was required and it also needed to work with the scale.

Size: This was a significant print in terms of size.    The print measured 170mm across and was 90mm wide.    The main height of the body of the print was 120mm.   The Pods were 70mm long etc.    This was intended as a significant print.    The stalk with the eye in the middle was a further 70mm high.

Timeframe: This print took four and a half hours and took place on the Bambu H2D Printer.   This made sense with the dimensions and also the details that we wanted to bring to the print.   There was absolutely minimal rafting that was produced with this print - if we had used our other primary machines, the Snapmaker then we would have expected significant rafting with this projects.

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

The student has shown the ability to be able to produce prints such as this.   When the initial challenge was set to the students they were asked to incorporate an eyeball into it this student opted to move in another direction.    The student could have looked to use this with the design, as they could have opted to use the printer to change it colour.

The student could have looked for additional features and develop the design further.   While they put a considerable amount of additional features onto the design but they could have added further details.

We have used the 'monster' theme numerous times in the classroom as a design focus because it allows the students to not follow particular rules or details (such as when a cat is designed)