Junior Design Challenge: Dolphin Theme

 

Challenge: For (junior School) students to produce a unique design that had a 'Dolphin' theme.

Background: The challenge came from our week task that was linked around Dolphins.    Some students as detailed previously opted to design and link in via Minecraft in a post that you can read here.

In this instance the student wanted to create a storage option for themselves.    They chose to create a draw on the opposite side of the design from the name, which was on this side.

The print was completed in two intended stages.  The first was completed on the Snapmaker.   With this print the student produced a design that they were happy with, however they wanted to reshape the design, and then opted to print it with the Bambu printer, which the student felt would provide a better finish.

The area of particular that was the most noticeable in this regard was the letter.   In the Snapmaker version there was waste PLA that needed to be removed and this compromised the lettering, in the case of the Bambu no adjustments were made and the lettering had minimal adjustments were required. 

The next stage of the process is to develop a working draw into the side of the design.   The student is going to work on a draw and then investigate the engineering required to have a working draw.

Level of Difficulty: Medium.  The students is wanting to engineer a working draw into this design, this is going to prove to be a interesting project for an eight year old.   The Dolphin design as shown was original and created by the student using the main interface.

Size: There are two distinct prints here.   The first was 100mm long 50mm wide and 40mm high.   When the student adjusted the print for the Bambu printer the new design was 120mm long, 80mm wide and was 50mm high.   This was reflected in the desire to create a bigger design.   The student is still working on the dimensions for the draw which they have adjusted as a result of the project upgrade.

Cost: The software to print this design is suggesting that it was be in the five dollar range.

Timeframe: The original print (Snapmaker) was eight hours on the Bambu it was reduced to under four.   This was printed with regular settings which in this case is an infill of twenty percent.

What we would do different/Next Steps for the students:   This project is going to involve a detailed engineering challenge which is the drawer that will operate as the storage for this.

We have also looked at using other 'wow' additions to a significant print such as this, we would like the student to consider LED lights for instance or another range of shapes or details that could be added to this project.