Product Evolution: Christmas Label

This series of prints were all produced by the same student, whose designs were the first time that he had used Tinkercad.   It was his first design using Tinkercad and the first time that he had created a 3D Print.  He is a Y5 student meaning his age is ten years old.

The original design and print - student brief was for a label suitable for a present for Christmas.  As it was a prototype and the students first print he opted for a simple block design with 'Mila' (the name of his cousin, who the gift was for) written across the top.   He created it from scratch in Tinkercad, with a three hour print (rafting has not been removed and is visible at the base of the print).   Design was 4.5cm across and high to a depth of 2.5cm - print time for this project: three hours. 

 Having created the first print he decided to refine the print on the basis of being able to attach it to the present, thus he created a hole in the top (earning the nickname of the 'toast' in reference to its likeness to a slice of bread).   He also sunk the letter for the name and added a geometric shape in the bottom right hand corner.  Width of 6cm, height of 5cm and depth of 5mm.  This was also a three hour print, however it was printed on an Ultimaker 2+ (the previous print was printed on an Ultimaker 2 regular).

In the third version of the project print the student had started to experiment with added additional shapes to the design.  The holes that were printed at the bottom were intended to 'hang' to design, which meant it was impractical work as a label.   The design features of all of these designs were created from using the geometric shapes design feature of Tinkercad.  This third version was also printed on the Ultimaker 2+, without any rafting.  Width of 6.5cm, height of 5cm and depth again of 5mm.
This project was again with a print time of three hours.

This was the final run of the project - the student made the decision to print the project using Glow-In-The-Dark filament.  The intended recipient is a cousin is four years old so the student felt that by printing with that filament would add something to the project.    The print was completed on the Ultimaker 2 (note the comparison between this and the last two prints in the sequence with the 2+) an exclamation mark was missing following the '1'.   The depth of the print was 2cm - it therefore gave somewhat of a 'block' effect rather than a label, however the student himself desired to have this effect as he thought it would work as a stand alone present given its display possibilities.   The two holes that were printed into the design were of different sizes in the form of an experiment.   10cm wide by 7cm high by 2cm deep.   This print took nine hours to complete.

3D Printed Christmas Labels

'Mila' label prior to rafting removal

Challenge: To create a label suitable for the naming of a Christmas present.
Background: This task developed organically from the previous task (which is still a work in progress involving 3D Printed Christmas decorations.  As part of this task while awaiting filament and brainstorming potential ideas about other projects students in the classroom came up with the idea of creating labels to individualise presents.   For these students (Y5/6 students - 10 years old) it would be the first time designing original prints on the 3D printers.
Task: To create a label for the identifying/naming of a Christmas present.  Students needed to consider ways to attach the label to the gift and personalise it (with the persons name).

Above: 'Denise' star label

Level of Difficulty: Low - this was the students first individually designed print attempt in most cases.
Issues: In the first two completed examples - 'Mila' print neglected to have an easy attachment location to secure it to the gift (student could potentially have inserted a hole) the 'Denise' star needed to have a more robust base for the name part of the design and potentially the star aspect could have been thicker, however in both of these cases the students should progress from the original design and refine it to meet the brief successfully.
Size: the 'Mila' print was 4cmx4cmx2cm (although the height could easily have been adjusted to 1cm).   The 'Denise' print was 11cmx11cmx1cm - although as noted it potentially could have been increased to make it more robust).
Timeframe: Approximately two hours for both prints (with adjustments in height to 'Mila')
Process: These were designed directly in Tinkercad by the students concerned before being converted to Cura and downloaded for 3D Printing.
Reflection: The tasks is relatively straightforward with the potential for an entire class to produce models/designs in a straight forward manner in a relatively short print time.  This was an introductory task for the classroom that followed a natural progression from the 'Christmas Decorations' print and in many cases featured the students first individual designs.  Further refinement and improvement would be expected as the students bounce ideas off one another and continue to print.