2022 Classroom Introductory Projects

The 2022 has seen another school year start in New Zealand and a new group of students have arrived in the classroom.   In our room we have a new collection of students.   While this is a little repetitive for regular viewers or visitors of this blog we have something of a tradition where we allow students to produce one individual piece of 3D Printing.

Our default for this is a standard badge or a keyring with the template produced via a video that we have featured on this blog.   There are a couple of basics related to our hardware.  We have a classroom printer which is an Ultimaker 2+ which was reconditioned four years ago.  It has been set with a 6mm nozzle and we are using 'Sun' branded PLA.   The students again this year are Y5/6 students from New Zealand which makes them between nine and eleven years old.  At this age level we have consistently found that the students can use Tinkercad to produce perfectly serviceable prints.

Tinkercad is in our opinion a perfectly serviceable app/web based browser that allows students to create designs for 3D Printing.   They are typically able to pick it up within a few minutes and the design features are easily manipulated.   In recent years they have developed some of the options to include circuits, coding and virtual reality (for the app) to further add dimensions to the program.   Its also free and teachers can set up an entire classroom of students in only a few minutes.

We have detailed this type of print extensively in the past, and you can view some of the initial basic print ideas that we have produced in the past here.

You can click on the link to the tutorial video here.

We are again using this as a launching platform to get the students interested in design and working to use the printer as a creative tool - and we will be following and posting some of the ideas and work again on this blog this year.

3D Printed Keyring Using Scribble

Challenge: Using 'Scribble' option from Tinkercad to produce a unique 3D Print.
Background: As a new school year has started in New Zealand we are looking at ways to use the creation process involved with 3D Printing for students to create new projects and cover new ground.   As some of the students in this years class cohort have already mastered using basic Tinkercad design we wanted to use another tool to help encourage them to create something individual.

One of the key Tinkercad design tools is the 'scribble' icon, which can be seen in the bottom right hand corner of this screenshot.    The student concerned was challenged to use this tool to create something unique.   She was wanting to create a gift for another student and work independently to create a design.

By utilizing the scribble design she kept the design brief and was able to create the cat that was featured to the left.   The 'scribble' option allowed this Y5 student to create something with an easily recognisable design.   To ensure that the print was personalised she added the students name to the bottom of the design (which indeed is spelt with a single l).   Finally to allow the item to have a purpose she used the ability to easily put a hole into the design in the top right hand.

We are previously created detailed step by step instructions to complete this sort of task as we would appply it as a basic introduction to 3D Printing for students who are in the Y5-6 year level (independently).
Degree of Difficulty: Low - there is a variety of tutorials and assistance to complete projects like this.  As an introduction to 3D Printing we usually find students can complete it successfully after watching videos such as this.

Size: The design measured 110mm across from end to end and was 90mm high.  One of the key elements to reduce the print time but to also ensure that it was manageable was to ensure that the thickness of the print was 5mm.    Given the purpose of the design, the size ideal for the project.
Timeframe: Three and a half hours.   The printers that we are using for this project are working on a 4mm nozzle and are nearly five years old (although they have been reconditioned).
What we would do differently/next steps for students: 'Scribble' is a basic design to allow students to create more unique pieces of work.   The icon and nature of the design tool does not suit every design, however it is something different and it allows for something unique to be created by the students involved.   Result.