2025: Goodbye from 3D Print School

 

The Year in Review: Sonic Vision Studio Movies

Its nearly the end of the year in New Zealand and the end of the 2025 School Year has occurred.  We are back in February 2026.   

There are some projects happening in the background.  One example of this is our amazing AV teacher, Mr Bloor who is currently working on preproduction for another one of his fantastic movies.

These movies are major events for our school involving a cast of students and staff and amazing work from Sonic Video Studios.   You can click on the link to Youtube page here.

When the movie is completed we will be having another Drive in Movie Night were we have the community come to our school.   You can see the 2023 Drive in Movie highlights here:

There are two amazingly epic videos that Mr Bloor has now included on his youtube page.   They are huge events and a fantastic amount of work, we are so proud of our wonderful Mr Bloor.   The first is 'The Fast and the Furious: Undercover Student' - this was the Drive in Movie from 2021.  This was created as a family movie for our local school community.

The second epic move is the 2023 'Ella vs. The Space Invaders' from 2023.   This was another huge effort from the staff and students at Auroa Primary School and a great event for the local community.  It is designed to be for students from five to thirteen years of age and was the movie presented to our community at the 2023 Drive in Movie Night!

If you would like anymore details about the production, creation and event involved in this movie please drop us a line and we can assist you or put you in contact with Mr Bloor.

3D Printed Christmas Tree: Junior Example

Challenge: To produce an original and suitable Christmas tree with potential to include LED lighting.
 

Background: Please note school has now concluded for 2025, our students and our teacher will be back at this stage in February 2026.   In the meantime we are finishing off the year with a series of posts wrapping up 2025 and also including some of the 'best of' highlights of the year,

This challenge was set for the entire class with a range of challenges during the last weeks of school based around the creation of Christmas Trees.   Students created a range of Christmas Trees and AR/VR them into cards and also various challenges around the school.

This challenge was slightly different in that the students (this was created by a seven year old student) had to design a tree and then ultimately the goal was printing the tree and looking at the possibility of using LED lights to light up the tree - similar to how we had worked some of the projects related to our school Market Day for 2025.  

The intention was to include LED lights and potentially use glow-in-the-dark filament to pop the print.

Level of Difficultly: High.   This had a number of elements that the student designed working in conjunction with each other.  Key to this print was how would the LED lights be hung from this design - this was the 'ring' that can be seen wrapping its way around the design.   

Size: The print measures 100mm high, has a base that is 80mm in diameter.   This is the base which extends the furtherest, the tree itself extends 50mm in diameter from the base.

Cost: 72g of filament was used in the production of this tree.  The cost according to Bambu Lab with its price point identifying that the $1.72 to produce the tree.

Timeframe: Three and a half hours using the Bambu H2D.  This was used as during the design the detail that was included (in the groves and in some of the decorations).   We would not have attempted to complete this print using the Snapmaker.  A relatively simple design was completed with grooves (which was intended for the LED lighting).

What we would do differently/Next Steps for the students: This is a straightforward print in some ways, in other ways (the LED lights) there are complex elements to the prints.   Some of the decoration on this tree looked fine in Tinkercad but didn't translate really well to the printed version.

We are very reluctant to complete prints that had a large level of rafting (waste plastic).  This print had a notable print support under each of the levels of the tree - which as a result meant quite a bit had to be removed.

We have yet to complete the print using glow-in-the-dark filament.  In doing so we would imagine that it would considerable add a level of presentation to the print.   The cost or the print time etc would not increase significantly.

2025 - Year in Review: Stepmaster + Livestream

 

There have been a number of school projects this year that have involved technology and the students of Auroa Primary School.

Credit for this amazing work needs to go to our incredible teacher Jason Bloor who has an entire Youtube channel of his amazing work which you can click on the link here.

This post is focussed on the school Step Master machine and the technology that is associated with it.  The first starting point is the video is the creation of the Stepmaster video.   This video is a explanation of the process behind the making of the machine itself.

You can click on this videos here in the thumbnail.   A number of our students were involved in the making of this machine and we used technology such as our laser cutter, sticker machine and 3D printers to complete the build. This is the machines Promo Video:

This machine is an ongoing piece of technology at our school.  While the machine itself was built over five years ago the media for the machine continues to be updated with additional media (songs) which are recorded by the students and the accompanying video.   This is the dedicated video explaining its construction:

Finally we also use the machine, and the media that the students have made as part of the progress and the event when we have a livestream.   This year at Auroa Primary School we had two - a regular competition featuring the different student categories which we broadcast live to our community

Once this had been completed we held a second event during the year that was themed around a very popular series of media, music and movie - K Pop Demon Hunters with another livestream.  You can view the video for this livestream below:

As we have stated at the start of this post this work is primarily the work of the amazing Mr Bloor from Auroa Primary School.  If you have any questions or queries about this epic work please send us an email at myles.webb@gmail.com and we can put you directly in contact with him.

3D Printing Christmas Projects: Updated 2025

This is the updated 2025 version of our Christmas themed slideshow.  We have nearly ten years of projects, ideas that are created with iPads and Tinkercad, laptop and Sketch Up.    These projects have been created by students from the ages of 7-12.  Each print idea on a slide has a link to full details and examples about the project on this blog.

Please share these ideas with anyone who has an interest in 3D Printing and Education.  We will be adding additional information to this slideshow in the next twenty four hours.

3D Printed Christmas Calendar: Junior

 

Challenge: For seven and eight year olds to use their design skills to challenge themselves with a multi featured print involving a number of aspects.

Background: After one or two years of using Tinkercad to create a print that had a number of aspects to it, as a 'days to Christmas clock'.   The print needed to have a way to change the day on a regular basis.

Students were able to use pre-generated figures to complete the design but they had to ensure that they had worked these into a new design and been responsible for editing or changing the design.   In the example shown left the student did so with the trees that they wanted to put on the top of the design.   The other aspects of the design were either created for this design or created previously by the student and then adapted to the design.

While there was not any time devoted to the creation of the design in terms of guiding the student a basic example was shown and the issue of the date changing was discussed - as the students assumptions were that they could use a regular die to represent the count down, when naturally once they got to a date regarding the number seven this would prove problematic.

The design came in a series of stages - it naturally started with the base and then the student hollowed out the space for the date blocks.   Once this had been completed the student used the snowman and a tree and duplicated both multiple times to complete the design.

The student responsible for the design is seven years old and other than the general instructions and the prompt at the start of the lesson they were able to produce the print independently.   They used their iPad and the Tinkercad app to complete the process.  Printing was completed via the Bambulab studio software and the Bambu H2D printer.

Normally we would expect students to complete a detailed AR/VR exploration of their creation but we were under a specific time pressure (ie the end of the school year) and the student conducted some but not as we would usually expect, which at times can be an entire session in itself.

Level of Difficulty: High - this was intended to be a challenging print from conception to execution.  There are elements of the print that need to be refined and this was given as an optional challenge.  Our of a class of twenty five students this was one of the better attempts at completing the project, but some students worked on the die and left the base alone.   If we have insisted that the entire print was original then the students would have needed to use unique Christmas Trees and this wouldn't have been out of question as a number had already design them for our recent virtual Christmas Challenge.

Size: The cubes that display the date or the countdown days to Christmas (the student wasn't sure what was best) are cubes measuring 25mm across.   The base for the main unit is 80mm across, 50mm deep and 50mm high at the back.  The base is 10mm deep at the insert and 15mm high in total.   The snowman are particularly small being 20mm high.  The trees are only slightly smaller being a total of 25mm high from the trunk to the star.  This meant that the entire print while being quite small was functional, with hindsight the size could have been bigger but actually this worked in a perfectly fine manner for what was intended (see below).   This also was potentially a task when more versions of this would be created.

Cost: The main unit base cost $1.57 to produce as determined by the Bambu Labs automatic software.   The print used 57g of filament to produce.   There was some 'rafting' waste PLA to hold aspects of the print in place however it was minimal.   The dice were relatively inexpensive as they cost $0.44 for the pair and  used 18g of PLA to complete.  There was no filament that was required to support them, nor was any tools required to remove filament from the die once the printing had been completed.   The main base required tools to remove the PLA particularly the support that was between the trees although given the dimensions of them (being 25mm high and just over 2mm wide at the widest pint it was minimal.

Timeframe: The base unit took two hours and seven minutes to print.  The pair of die took thirty seven minutes to complete.These were both completed on the Bambu H2D.  Given the specific details that were required of this print (particularly the trees) this was not a print that we would attempt on one of the Snapmaker printers as we would doubt the level of detail would be able to be produced.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students: The trees that topped off the design proved to be challenging for the teacher to remove the PLA.  They had to use specific tools to do so, which the students are not able to use due to the edges.  Despite care taken with this one of the trees as shown left came off the base in this process.   It could be re-glued however the trunk of the tree is particularly thin and if this print was dropped there could potentially be more  issues.  The solution of this would be to engineer additional support at the base of the tree by including box presents or something else that would allow support but not detract from the image.   The student also needs to address the snowman.  If you look at the first picture the boxes for the date are not sitting square on the base of the print.  This is because the two centre snowman extend into the main area where the die needs to be placed and their carrot nose extends into the area where the block sits.  It does not prevent the block from being placed there but it means it needs to be wedged in under the nose.  This is potentially a design weakness and would need adjusting.

Finally the die themselves require careful engineering to ensure that they meet purpose the student was still in two minds about whether the calendar is a 'Days in December' or 'Days until Christmas' a decision needs to be made about that and then engineer the die to meet the numbers required by this.  With hindsight this would have made a great STEM/Mathematics algebra equation challenge. 

3D Printing Junior Challenge: Introducing Scribble

This is the third in the series of recent 'Cookie Cutter' class project work.   School in New Zealand has now broken for the school holidays, we will be back in person in February, in the meantime we will be revisiting all of our 2025 project work and we have a range of prints and projects from the year which we we will be posting.   As always if you want to get in contact with the teacher who runs this blog you can do so by emailing him at myles.webb@gmail.com.

Challenge: For students to create an original, unique and working cookie cutter suitable for use.

Background: We have detailed this process over the past two days, detailing how the original inception and idea featured a tree shape.  

As the students started developing ideas a clear next step was going to be using the 'scribble' tool present in Tinkercad.   When selected with the students iPads it allows students to be able to freely draw on a seperate design page then bring this straight into Tinkercad.   This allows the students the ability to create a range of shapes and designs and the students have proven increasing adept at developing their skills to use this to produce different ideas.   In the case of this challenge the students started looking at traditional ideas and shapes associated with Christmas and then experimenting with them.  

Having already identified that early prints lacked a handle and tended to be too thin this student wanted to make sure that this print addressed both these potential issues.

Level of Difficulty: Low - this is a straightforward design that took the students a few minutes to independently produce as a eight year old.

Size: The print is 90mm wide 70mm high and has sides that are 10mm thick and 10mm high.

Cost: The print has a PLA use of 13g and an associated cost according to Bambulab of $0.31.

Timeframe: The print using the Bambu H2D took 38 minute to complete.   This makes this project an excellent challenge based around the concept of printing a class set or a large group of prints as the timeframe makes it somewhat realistic (with our classroom we are attempting to complete the entire run using a single printer over the course of a week at school)

What we would do differently/next steps for the students: The run of prints in this sequence were based around tree designs, this version was the first 'scribble' tool designed version and it was printed as it was intended to share with the students a different approach.   The handle while it is functional needs some more refinement.   The student also has created 'sections' for the hat that are quite distinct.  In testing when the students use the cutter to cut through the play-doh if the students cut right through it does not leave a single piece, but it leaves the design in two distinct sections - so the students need to engineer a solution to be able to  press it trough some of the way, but not completely through so the shape remains intact.    

This will be updated with further versions of this print later.   You can also see the 2025 Christmas themed slideshow featuring ten years of different Christmas Designs and Challenges for students by clicking on the link here.

3D Printing Junior Challenge: Cookie Cutters Revised

 

Yesterday we wrote about how we had attempted to develop the students skills by developing the challenge of creating a suitable 'cookie cutter' task.   The first example came out, being the print shown left.   We were then able to give the students the opportunity to test the print by applying it to Play-doh to check the imprint.

The initial print quickly proved to be lacking in details and was somewhat difficult to push into the play-doh.   The student responsible for this design then spent time looking at what they needed to do to improve the design and make it effective.  There second version of the print is shown left next to the original.

As we described yesterday the original was 50mm across 90mm high and 3mm wide.   The revised version was 110mm high 60mm across and 10mm thick.   The original took fifteen minutes to complete the revised version was forty five minutes on the Bambu H2D.

We also detailed a significant development with the design shown left that was a virtual design from the previous post.   This example was also printed on the Bambu H2D and took seventy five minutes.   This version (which features a significant handle 160mm high, 60mm wide and 20mm thick.

Observing the play-doh (left) while the shape of the tree can be seen from the imprint of the cutter the student has indicated that they potentially would like to develop the dimensions further.   Technically the star that sits on the top of the tree is too big for the design.

This project has been worked on by seven and eight year old students working with their iPads, using the Tinkercad app and printed on the Bambu H2D. 

3D Printing Junior Challenge: Cookie Cutters 2025

 

Challenge: For students to create an original, unique and working cookie cutter suitable for use.

Background: Its the final week of school in New Zealand prior to our summer break.  During this time we are trying to complete our end of year projects across the curriculum and we are also producing a range of designs that we are potentially publishing, printing and creating during the holidays.   One of the things that we have done is revisit some of the other successful projects that have featured on this blog and used the blog itself as a resource.

We were producing versions of these back as student projects as early as 2016 which you can see via this link.  We have also revised designs like this again in this post in 2019 and in 2022 we summarised our Christmas themed cookie cutters in the shape of Santa's sleigh with this post.

We also have gravitated towards projects that are realistic for the students to complete in a short space of time.  At present time with the main printers with the school is at a premium.   There are a number of classrooms using the machines and they are available and their use is encouraged for everyone.

We have a number of complicated projects due for the Bambu H2D while we can complete a project like this using the older Snapmaker machines.

One of the issues for the students to overcome is that they have already started designing these cutters but having only one edge to them and not thinking about the entire design.

We are going to allow the students to access some Playdoh with the intention of allowing the first designs to be physically printed.  This should allow the students the ability to look at the designs that they have made and consider what they might be like when applied in a cookie situation.   Some of the designs at present have a range of shapes that are separated by a solid line, which will in some cases not leave a shape but instead a series of seperate objects.

Level of Difficulty: Low-Medium.   We have used this as a basic level entry task in the past, while we are finishing off this year we would like the students to design and create using their iPads something that they could use and could be practical for the end of the year.  There are a variety of designs but the brief has been deliberately left open to the students interpretation.

Size: In the physical print shown top left the student has designed the cutter to be too small.  It is 50mm across and 60mm high in total, including the star.  Some of the subsequent designs are clearly bigger - however the student response to this was quite clever as this design fit the criteria for our recent Christmas Cracker Challenge - so it was transferred to this!

Cost: The sample is costing $0.20.   This is low for a general print however this is one of the benefits of this project.  Students need to also consider when using the cutter how much force can be used.

Timeframe: The example shown at the top of this post took fifteen minutes to complete on the Snapmaker, had the Bambu H2D been used then this would have been expected to be half of the time.

What we would do differently/next steps for the students: This print has a long way to produce a finished product.   The testing phase of the prototypes which the students are now moving onto as usual will be crucial to the students overall success with the project.   The designs should also move on from the basic tree design that is currently being focussed on.

3D Printed High School Science Projects

 

This project was completed by one of our teachers and was for order for a significant local science project.   It really pushed the limits, size and depth of the Bambu H2D and we've tagged it as 'High School' to reflect that it is of a complex level of design and creation and not something we would be challenging our students to complete.

The project is related to measuring local water flow - in this instance a 3D Printer and ones with advanced capabilities has huge potential.

The yellow portion of the print is the entry point.  It took the Bambu H2D twenty hours on a single print that had no rafting or excess PLA.   It was designed in Sketch Up.   The dimensions of the print are quite significant - it measures 125mm high, it has a 10mm width as shown is 300mm across.

With regards to the turbine shown here on the left (in grey) the width is 160mm across and 100mm high.  There is an additional attachment at the base of the turbine.   This took fifteen hours to print and again is a major piece of technology.

We know from experience that the printing of the PLA can last long term having had a number of prints that are still in use ten years after they have been first printed - as featured on this blog (numbers - see it here at its inception in 2018) or seven years after their creation this keyring still in daily use

This print will be slightly different in that it will be working to measure the flow of water in a river, however we are confident that the elements of the print will work as intended.

Virtual Christmas Designs: Into Cards

 

The design shown left is a Christmas card created by a student in Y4 (eight years old).  We have been detailing this process recently where the focus has been on to complete a virtual creation - in this case using Tinkercad and crossing it with Pic Collage.

We detailed this process with the creation of our virtual Christmas trees and also previously using the designs to show a song.   In this instance the next step is to reapply the design process and the students using their iPad to create a material art project.

The snowman inside the globe has been created using Tinkercad with the student creating it as part of a Christmas Challenge.  They have then AR/VR the design into the classroom setting to remove the background and used the PicCollage app to take a virtual image.   The virtual image uses the shapes in the background to create a raft of festive themed images.

The students have then taken this image and reintroduced it to Pic Collage - here they have then added the Merry Christmas heading which you can see in the picture.  We actually used a range of designs from other locations (a extended font search) and looked at printing out these fonts and adding the lettering onto the original picture the students opted to include it with the original.

The next stage was to look at the cover - the students as they were using the iPads to screenshot an image had a couple of watermarks to discuss, and look at options to potentially cover them.

Finally the message that was placed inside the card was a seperate writing lesson, the details were fairly standard but a combination of the card shape, the original design an image on the front and then the students message on the inside of the card proved to be effective.

This extended the lesson out further and included a written element which took it from a standard Tinkercad design into something with a range of layers to it.     We also looked at the composition of the card and whether the original design suited a portrait or landscape design and what else could be created.

This also sent the students back into their Tinkercad accounts- looking for previous designs that they might be able to apply a filter to.   An example is the Santa figure shown in the image left - this was a previous design created and turned into a 3D Print that featured earlier on this blog.  The student felt the image would benefit from being put through a filter so they added additional features to the design (the body) which they felt the filter would then pick up and add details to (which it did).

The last potential stage would how else could we use art techniques with the card? We considered the applying of dye to form a border around the image on the cover - and how the rest of the inside of the card might be decorated, as well as the overall size.

By utilizing Tinkercad in this way the students were able to take an original image, apply the filter and rework and represent it into something completely different, unique and using their iPads and two apps to do so.   They worked independently as seven and eight year olds to complete the task without any teacher input.   They also used 3D modelling to make something that did not require 3D Printing or another technology to be applied to it.

Virtual Designs: Christmas Theme - Part Two

 

We've started moving towards the end of the school year in New Zealand as we have a school year that runs from February to December - at Auroa Primary School our students have a week remaining.

There's a range of projects that we are trying to complete before the year comes to a close.   Some have a festive theme.   We have used our iPads, the Tinkercad App to create designs, but for the purpose of publishing we have looked to combine a range of 3D Printing with some virtual printing.  In this example shown left the 'bauble theme' from Pic Collage has been crossed with a Tinkercad design that was modified by the student.   It was exported from Tinkercad via the AR/VR feature and then imported into Pic Collage where the AR/VR filters that are currently available were applied

We are then taking the image and going to then publish it as the front page of a Christmas Card, with the student using other apps to produce the lettering and the message to go inside the card.    The design was modified by an eight year old and worked on independently so the teacher didn't have any input into the process.  There are other examples located here or as always you can use the search bar top right to search this entire blog.

A montage of student photos from our recent Virtual Christmas Tree challenge.   Again as detailed previously we used Tinkercad to create from scratch a virtual Christmas tree complete with decorations.  Students then used the Tinkercad App to project the tree around our school grounds in a variety of locations and sizes.  The students had to rotate the tree in each shot to show a different view of it and include in the decorations some unusual shapes or objects as 'easter eggs'.   The process took a block (an hour of teaching) from start to finish - the student was an eight year old who design the tree independently and then went around the school themselves to complete the VR/AR imaging.  This is not intended to be a fully print using the printers.  

Using TInkercad to create virtual Christmas Tree

 

This task took several different stages and was completed during a block of work, just over one hour, in the classroom with the class of Y3/4 (seven and eight year old students).   This task was not considered as a 3D Print project, it was completed with the intention that the AR/VR being the final stage.

Stage One: Tinkercad: Tree Design

The students used their iPads and the Tinkercad App to create a unique Christmas Tree.   The students had to do this from the start using the main design interface.   This proved to be something of a challenge however the students were able to overcome this by using the scribble feature.   This design feature was used to create the first layer of the tree which was then repeated and resized to create the next layer and then so forth to build the tree.  A basic shape was used for the trunk of the tree.

Once this had been completed to the students satisfaction the student then decided to focus on adding the decorations for the tree.   The standard decorations for the tree, baubles are obviously a basic shape.  

 In addition to this the student choose to add some additional features on the tree that would not be expected to be seen which you can see when you view the design.

Stage Two: Tinkercad: AR/VR

One the design was completed the Tinkercad App was used  (in conjunction with the students iPads) to project the tree in different locations around the school.  The students had a series of challenges that needed to be met with the tree in different directions.  For example when the tree was projected onto our school field as shown left this was the 'big' task when the tree was placed somewhere and the size of the tree was intended to be significant.  You can see other examples of this process here on this link.

The next challenge in the series was to place the tree somewhere with the 'small' tag.  This challenged the students to think about composition and where the tree could be placed.  In the example shown left here the students found a wheelbarrow here and placed it in the wheelbarrow so that it allowed some framing for the object.

We had the students take a significant number of photographs but when we came to publishing we identified five photographs that the students felt told the story of the tree and used that for the purpose of publishing.

The tree had to be rotated in different scenes.  As a result of this when the tree was originally designed we made sure the students had rotated the tree a full rotation so we could check that all sides had details and different aspects and viewpoints to it.

In the example shown left the student wanted to put the tree next to another tree as if it looked like a group of trees in a row.   This was another of the checklist criteria that we wanted the students to be able to complete.

While not trying to hide the print as such it was about thinking about where we could locate it.   The process to AR/VR involving Tinkercad is extremely easy for the students to complete independently and can be completed without the need for another App.

The next photo proved challenging to the student where they had the wire fence and wanted to place the tree on the other side of fence.  In essence they attempted to place the design in the garden but couldn't work out a way to address the fence that placed the tree in front or behind of.

Again the design was rotated again by the student and they continued to look for locations around the school where they could place the tree.

Once this was completed and the student had identified the best five photos for this sequence we had a sharing session with the students in the classroom.  The purpose of doing this was to give them feedback about what ideas and creativity the students had developed and allow them to think how they might apply it to themselves.

Potentially this tree activity could have been adapted - we made the students create the tree from scratch, however they are a class of students who have been developing ideas and creations for between six months and two years and are confident problem solvers and creators using Tinkercad.  There are very templates and models of trees available that the students could have used to shorten the process and instead focus on the decorations and the additional features.   We also could have been more descriptive with what the students could have placed or hidden in the tree.

Tinkercad Christmas Song Challenge!

 

Can you recognise the famous Christmas song by looking at the image?

This image was created using Tinkercad, where the student, who is eight years old, found the lyrics to a famous Christmas themed song and wanted to create a literal interpretation of that song in Tinkercad.

Once this was completed (hint: have a look at what the two figures are passing to each other!) the student then took the created image and AR/VR it into the classroom setting.  Once this was done the student then took the image and put it through a filter - which created the overall effect.   Looking at the image, and the details and the presentation can you work out the lyric from the image and therefore identify what famous Christmas song has been shown here?

How could the students added more detail to make the song title clear? (The answer for teachers present, is of course the song is "Last Christmas by Wham!" as the lyric is 'Last Christmas I gave you my heart' and the two figures are passing a giant sized heart to each other).   There are more  images in this group to come.

To complete this process the students used their iPads and the Tinkercad app.   The design was created on their iPads using the Tinkercad App,    The students then used the app to AR/VR the image into another location (in this case the classroom floor).  The final step was to use the Pic Collage app to then apply a Christmas themed filter to AR/VR the amended image.

3D Printing Christmas Cracker Challenge Part Two

 

Challenge: To produce something unique with purpose that would be suitable (size wise) to include in a traditional 'Christmas Cracker'

Background: This design came in the first round of class designs that met the brief that was discussed.  The size of the earrings shown here is deceptive as they are amongst the smallest (and quickest) things that we have ever printed.   That we attempted to print these was very much reflective of the fact that we had the Bambu H2D to attempt to complete this with as the miniature detail is not something we would have attempted with a larger printer.

As per almost every design that is on this blog (unless otherwise stated) this was designed by a Y4 student, an eight year old, using their iPad and the Tinkercad App.   They used Tinkercad for the design and the creation, then used the AR/VR feature to project the creation in different locations prior to printing.  The student worked independently and there was no teacher input into the process.

The student designed one and then was able 

Level of Difficultly: Low - this was pretty much a 101 design task.   This student has been in the classroom for a short period of time but has picked up 3D design and creation easily.  This is a basic design that was completed in a single session.

Size: This as mentioned is one of the smallest prints that we have ever attempted.  The earrings are 40mm in length, 20mm wide and the tree base was 1mm wide, so including the baubles 2mm thick.

Cost: According to the Bamu Lab Printing software the total PLA used for the print was 2g and the cost of the print was $0.04 for the pair.

Timeframe: Twelve minutes, it waa s print that took more time to complete with the printer warming up than printing the project print, which is extremely unusual.   This is the minimum that you would realistically want to print.

What we would do differently/next steps for the student: This activity ticked all the boxes and the print process was completed - the size issue with this challenge was easily addressed.

3D Printed Panda - Tinkercad vs Minecraft

Challenge: To create an authentic Minecraft animal using Tinkercad

Background: Prior to our School Market Day one of the projects that we looked at in-depth was the creation of Minecraft animals, creatures and locations (such as buildings) using the medium or tool of Tinkercad to create it.  There were a series of prints that were created - nearly all of these we 

One of the stand out early designs was the Dolphin which was so successful it ended up as a item being sold at the School Market Day as an item (when converted into a keychain).

The other standout was this Panda.  In this instance the student used Tinkercad and coloured the different parts of the design to create the famous black and white pattern.

The figure looked fantastic as a design and worked extremely well as a AR/VR creation that the student was able to project into the classroom and around the school in different locations.

The final step was the printing of the design and looking at what might be completed or have the print turned into something.   This was completed when the students had finished the design, checked on its viability and then printed it out as a physical print.     

Level of Difficulty: Medium/High.  This student choose deliberately a challenging animal to create in Tinkercad - which had distinct features and a very distinct colour combination.   This lent to a discussion about the students using two different colours to complete the print in future (using black and white).

Size: Printed as it was designed the print measured 70mm across was 60mm deep/wide and was 80mm high,  A key factor in determining the final size will be the purpose of the print once the students have assessed it.    

Cost: This was printed on the Bambu H2D as part of the software for printing we are able to determine that the print used 28g of filament and cost $0.75 to produce.

Timeframe: This was completed on the Bambu H2D.   It took one hour to print - if we had used the Snapmaker machines there would have been considerably more rafting, less detail and the print time would have been approximately double.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students: This print would have absolutely benefitted from a different colour scheme and as a result we are intending to reprint it once its purpose has been determined.   The creation was completed by an eight year old.

If you would like to see additional ideas from our students with regards to cross over designs you can click on the links to further Minecraft vs Tinkercad designs here.   You can click on this link to see our students combining Tinkercad, their iPads and Pic Collage here.

As always a reminder that you can use the search bar top right to use keywords such as 'Minecraft' and 'Pic Collage' to see the designs and creations that our students have been working on and various projects from the last ten years.

3D Printed Miniature Bee Challenge: Earrings

 

Challenge: To use a craft bee to create a print that interacts or complements it

Background: As we have now completed our 2025 Market Day projects and our follow up work it is allowing us to concentrate on other projects that we have been exploring or looking at during the term.  One such example was the previously detailed 'Miniature Bee Challenge' at the time we used the Tinkercad App and the AR/VR option as many of the design as possible as this was the 'publishing' for the students in this instance once their design was completed.

One such instance was the ear rings that are shown above.  The student worked on the size of them on the basis of the bee, which was only 10mm long and created a honeycomb themed earring, which was then duplicated to produce a matching pair.   As part of the project in general the student had researched honeycomb and was looking at the different shapes that are associated with it.

We have featured earrings several times this year as a way to produce something in high quality that the students can personalise that is also realistic to print in quantity - ie for a classroom.  You can search for many examples on this blog by using the search bar top right and including the words 'earrings' in the keyword.  We also have created an overview slideshow and video detailing all of the elements of this process (from a teachers perspective) which is located here.

As per nearly every design crated by students this year the process was using their iPads for research, then using the Tinkercad App to create the design, followed up by AR/VRing the object into place (again by using the app (Tinkercad) and the students iPads).  In this instance we also followed it up by printing the design on the Bambu H2D.

Level of Difficulty: Low - this is an entry level task for students which was completed by an eight year old completely independently of the teacher using the materials listed above.  

Size: The earrings measured 40mm across at the wide point were 50mm high and were 7mm thick.

Cost: According to Bambu studio on their detailed cost analysis the print used 8.6 grams of PLA filament and cost $0.21 for the creation of the print.

Timeframe: 37 minutes - ideal given the potential scale of the project.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students: With some slight modification this task would be ideal to feature as a potential item for the 'Christmas Cracker' challenge.

Christmas Projects 2025: Updated 3DPrintSchool Ideas Slideshow

 This slideshow has been updated for 2025 - it includes a selection, ideas and projects that were originally published on this blog, with links details etc.  It is designed to give you some options or ideas relating to the use of technology in your classroom.

All projects were created using Tinkercad and an iPad by students who are between seven and twelve years of age.   If you have any questions about any of these projects as always you can contact the person who is responsible for this blog at: myles.webb@gmail.com

3D Printing Christmas Cracker Challenge

 

Challenge: To produce the 'item' that you might find in a regular Christmas cracker.

Background: This challenge was based around the concept of the students developing something that by its nature needed to be small.  The item needed to fit inside a cracker to meet the success criteria to be printed - if it was too big too fit in, it was 'out'.

This really refined the students designs as early in the process the students typically went too big and when they then adjusted the size to meet the criteria the purpose could be lost.  To ensure that it was correct I purchased a small amount of crackers from the dollar store, this gave the students more spatial awareness of what they were dealing with and how they were also challenged.

An early example came left in the form of this tree.   

Level of Difficulty: Low - this was a whole class activity and a range of responses were expected while some would clearly hit the mark easily the restrictions on size caused a challenge that some students really found more challenging than they should have.

Size: The tree measured 50mm high, was 30mm wide and was 10mm deep.  It was designed as a ornament to hang on the tree, although there was a hole in the star that was supposed to allow a thread to be passed through it to allow it to be tied.  This hole was too small for this purpose so it had to be sent back to be redesigned.

Cost/Price:

The dimensions of this print meant it used 4g of PLA and had a cost of $0.10 NZD.

It is one of the selections of 3D Prints that the students designed that looked fantastic as a Tinkercad design, looked wonderful when AR/VR around the classroom and in position as a tree but possibly lost something in the translation of becoming a print.  It would be possible to make this multiple colours potentially.

Timeframe: 17 minutes this was a situation where the machine warming up, starting the process and preparing to print took longer than the print itself.

What we would do differently/Next Steps for the Students: The student met the brief however there are adjustments that are required - the connection to the way to hang the decoration at the top of the tree being the most obvious.   The print would be a great example of something that could be used for a bunting etc as its size and time frame means the potential of the printing could be completed en masse.