3D Printed Desk Storage: Pushing the Smaller Details

Challenge: For a student new to 3D Printing to challenge themselves with the design details.

Background: Its been ten years of 3D Printed designs from students featured on this blog.  During this time the the machines that the students have been using to print have continued to evolve and improve.  Ten years ago the first machines that we used produced prints that were functional but lacked details.

Our upgrade from Ultimaker to Snapmaker took place in 2022.   These machines have continued to allow the students to come up with creative and interesting designs which in the past would not be possible.   An example is shown above.  This student is a junior student at our school, a Y3 who is working on 3D Design using Tinkercad for the first time.   The student has produced several prints that have already featured on this blog from this first year of designs.

In this design you can see the first version of the print prior to the removal of the rafting, and with the removal shown left.   The student wanted to develop a person standing outside of their house, with the house being used for storage.  The student created a house and then designed a figure at the front left.   They added additional details such as the fence shown at the front, and the dog house shown at the front right.   The student wanted to make a door and a window, allowing the storage at the rear of the house.

The issue was potentially if the rafting could be removed without compromising some of the smaller features of the design.  In this instance the teacher involved used a small pair of pliers and a small screw driver to remove the additional plastic PLA from the design.   

Level of Difficulty: Medium - while this student is a relative novice to 3D Printing this design has a number of aspects that make it detailed and creative.    This was completed independently and the student was thrilled with the aspects of the design, the composition etc.   The teacher was not so sure as he felt (incorrectly) that the fence would not be successful.

Timeframe: Five hours.   The dimensions of the print were not overly large, the amount of storage possible is reflected in this.   The student with hindsight wanted to print this on a larger scale but as noted the teacher was dubious with the features, the nozzle and the timeframe if they would be successful.   This will be revised on a larger scale now that we know it will be successful.

Size: 80mm across and 60mm deep - 50mm high.  These dimensions allowed the print to be completed and then tested for its viability.   The student has already planned to upscale this design to ensure that it was able to hold more material.

What we would do differently/next steps for the student: On many levels this was very successful.   The students has used other tools in the past but this is his first design that he can be really excited about which he felt was his.   He should continue to be motivated to work on ideas and designs which we will do our best to make.   He worked independently which also challenged the teachers thinking as he didn't think that he could complete the design and it would work - however it was more than successful and also allowed the teacher to look at the progress over the past ten years and see how the ideas have developed.

Extension Student Project: Next Level Boxes

Box Shown above in profile

Challenge: Student wants a creative challenge that will extend themselves.

Background: The student has created a number of projects during the year and would consider themselves to be be a confident student who is capable of design and creation (it should be pointed out the student is an eleven year old).   For the final week of the school year they wanted to complete a project that would have a number of aspects to it.   The first stage with the box was to design the base as shown.   The challenge for the student was for the box to be personalised in some way and be able to have a clear purpose that it would be easily recognised as its main use.    The student opted to include their name on the side of the box and to include the name/title 'lollies' on the other side of the box.    The student wanted to ensure that the lettering worked in the best possible way so the lettering was sunk into the design, rather than having it stick out externally which at times can cause the lettering to fall off.

The student concerned was able to complete the entire design without any input from the teacher using their individual student Tinkercad account.   We have mentioned this previously but one of the reasons that we still use Tinkercad is the fact that the teaching interface/classroom organisation is exceptionally easy to use and effective.

Level of Difficulty: Low - its a basic design that looks impressive but the student was able to complete this without previous experience in box design or input from the teacher so that makes it the best kind of print.  The student was confident of the dimensions and the design and extremely pleased/proud of the finished product.   The next challenge for the student is to link this to a lid that is functional and fits perfectly with the base - this has been completed before but it increases the difficulty quite considerably.

Size: The base of the box measures 120mm across is 120mm long and is 40mm high.  The sides are 5mm think meaning that the box is quite robust and this, also considering the fact that the lettering is internal means there are no concerns about how strong it is.

Timeframe: Four hours to print on the standard default settings.  Given the intention/purpose of the box and what was required this would be correct - any scaling either smaller or larger wasn't really required.

Next Step for the Students/What we would do differently: We have already identified or targeted the fact that the success of the lid will be crucial to this design.  This will require exact measurements and a lid that interacts perfectly with the main box - in our experience as shown on this blog this is going to be a challenge...

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.