3D Printed Personalised Storage Stand (Advanced)

Above: Design with secondary PLA prior to super gluing

Challenge: For student to produce a personalized stand, the included storage component - in an advanced format (in this case a draw in its base) and use a mixture of PLA and print component parts.
Background: While the student involved in the creation of this project is nine years old and has only been working with the 3D Printers in a classroom context for a relatively short time frame this student has demonstrated creative flair and understanding of what is required.  As such when discussing this brief with her we were looking to challenge her specifically to include storage in her design, which she did by considerably hollowing out the base of the design, designing a separate draw to be inserted into the design, complete with a handle.   The student worked on a number of concept models with this project before she was happy to run the design. 

Above: Storage with drawer side by side

The intention with this design was for the storage to be the focal point of the design, with the additional features (in this case the horses) there for decoration.   She also made the decision to produce a backing side for the display, which was to allow her to print a phrase or sentence that was personal to her which is being super glued on the back.  This was produced in a separate print on a separate printer, hence the different colour (she had also investigated which colours when compared to each other would produce the best results.
Level of Difficulty: High.   This is about as challenging as it gets for a nine year old with regards to 3D Printing.   The storage base shown in the photography needs to work in conjunction with a drawer that has to be a perfect fit to allow storage to be used.    The student has to ensure the draw takes into account the perfect size to work in conjunction with the base.  The student has not completed this design to date, as she has had to revise the design, shape and design of the drawer.  In the original shown above the entire base of the draw was hollowed out, on revision three quarters would have been more suitable.  In addition to the above challenges, the last aspect of the design would be to mount a horse on the base of the design immediately above the base.
Time frame: There was essentially four prints working in conjunction here.   The first was the base, the draw insert was then developed on the basis of the size of the base.  The third was the blue PLA/ design featuring the name and the horseshoe.   The fourth part of the design was the animal (which in this case is going to be a horse) which is going to be the featured animal/main design for the storage.   The times for the various component pieces are twelve hours for the base, six hours for the draw, one hour for the lettering and the horseshoe and it would anticipate five to six hours with a total time in the range of twenty five hours.
Size: The base of the design measured 100mm across, was 20mm high, and was 130mm long.   The block at the back was 110mm high, 10mm wide and deep and 100mm across.   The draw that was designed to fit inside was 120mm long and 90mm wide.  It was between 10mm-20mm thick in places.  While the horse has yet to be designed and printed, it will fit within the dimensions of the base of the storage item.
What we would do differently: The design has proven to be challenging for the student.  As an entire project, to get everything right (which the student has yet to do) there are some notable parts that need to work in conjunction.   This has proven to be a design that has taken several days for the student to work on (please note the student is creating this design in their own time in the majority of the cases, they are not creating and designing as such in class time).  This print when finished will feature inter-connected parts, a variety of prints, personalised with the students name and storage that is not apparent when the design is first viewed. 
Next steps for student: The student needs to redesign the draw so that it fits in conjunction with the base.        It has been discussed with the student for the introduction of a hidden storage component or a second draw in the base of the design.  This print will be updated when it is in its final state.

3D Printed Gift Box (Advanced) - Xmas Gift

Above: Box with lid and person lettering

Challenge - To produce a Christmas theme gift box with a working lid, personalised for the person that it was intended to be for.
Background: Student was attempting an advanced print for the first time.   They had completed basic designs but this was the first attempt to involve using the 3D Printer to produce an object with parts that related to each other (in this case the lid, with a drop down base and ensuring that both parts worked in unison with each other.
Level of Difficulty: Medium.   The box as shown in the illustration included a lid, with the name of the person that it was gifted for.  It included a handle that is clearly shown above, with rafting removed.   The base of the design included lettering themed with 'merry xmas' as it was intended as a seasonal gift.  The 'box' template that was used came from the Tinkercad main interface.
Timeframe: Fifteen hours for the base and the lid combined.   The width of the lid was 5mm and the handle potentially could have been lower, however redesigning the box would not have been possible to reduce the printing time.  An 8mm nozzle was used for the print, which ensure that the time was probably the minimum that would have been required to produce a print of this size and design.
Size: 10cm by 10cm with a height of 8cm.  The width of the lid and the sides of the box was 5mm.  As noted the size of the box relative to the purpose of it (as a gift box for jewellery etc)
What we would do differently: As shown in the photograph above the lettering in the base of the box was dropped into the design.  In removing the filament around the lettering it is extremely difficult to remove it succesfully without causing part of the font to be removed (such as the middle m stroke in the 'merry' part of the design).  We have tried a variety of tools to remove this successfully and are still searching for the best soultion, it is particularly difficult given the size of the font.  Potentially the font could have been increased in size.
Next Steps of students: Student is now able to confidently produce and make boxes of medium difficulty.   Student will be encouraged to move onto more challenging and varied designs.   Student could mentor others to produce this sort of design and also variations of it.