3D Printed Stencils: Name Focus

 

Challenge: To produce a name stencil for a student that focusses on the name.

Background: This series of posts has been developing since the first tasks for the year.   In the initial stencils students focussed on basic shapes, provided by the main Tinkercad interface.  Following this students used scribble and then developed their names as part of the stencil.  We detected at this point that some of the students names could have been more of the star and therefore the final form has essentially gone back a step, with students creating a stencil with just their name as shown left.

We want to use this for an art based activity so have deliberately kept it simple.   These stencils were all designed by eight year old students using their iPads and Tinkercad independently - including the majority of students who were developing skills for the first time.

As noted we have used our Bambu H2D for this process, in allows us to confidently print 1mm wide PLA with minimal (ie no) waste.

Level of Difficulty: Low this is essentially a step backwards for the students for the purpose of having the name itself dominate more.  Having already completed this task and added numbers shapes and designs students were very clear and able to complete the process with minimal instruction.

Size:   The Lucy print shown measured 165mm by 140mm and was 1nm wide.   The Jules print was created using scribble hence the wavy lines this measured 180mm across and was 130mm high.

Cost/Price: Lucy cost $0.60c and used 23g of PLA filament.   Jules used $0.57c and used 24g of filament.  This was a standard PLA which we are currently sourcing for $30.00 per kilogram.

Timeframe:   The Jules print took thirty nine minutes to complete.   The Lucy print took forty one minutes to complete.

What we would do differently/Next Steps for the students: We have always had the intention of turning this project into some form of art based project where the stencil is the centrepiece.   The students are now going to take these design and apply a range of materials to them to look at the designs that are produced as a result (such as the example shown left).