3D Printed Batman Desk Storage Utility

Challenge: To produce and personalize a desk organizer/storage device with a batman theme as a gift for someone.
Background: This came about as an original design worked on by three students who had worked with the 'Mr Bloor' in the design.  They wanted to create an original gift for him and give it to him, with it having a practical use.   The original design featured three different versions of this print.  The three all had different storage and props as part of the design.   When the three students met together to discuss the print they identified that the different objects as part of the design (boxes, storage etc) meant that the Batman head was not able to dominate the design in terms of size and functionality.   As a result the earlier designs were scrapped in favour of this version that focused on the 'Batman design' as the dominating feature and being able to hold a significant amount of stationary.   The personalized part of the design obviously came from the name going on the base of the design.   The 'Batman' head was a readily available from Tinkercad as a publicly available design for use. 

Level of Difficulty: Medium - the design featured  was straightforward and was easily created once the students had sourced the 'Batman' that was the key piece of the design.  Once it had been selected it was simply a matter of resizing it, dropping a hole into the design to hollow it out, and then placing it on a stand.   While these are very basic steps they needed to all work in unison to be successful.
Time fame: Seventeen hours - this design was the right size for the project, consideration could have been given to reduce the height of the base, this would have reduced the print time, the base as it stands was 10mm thick and could have been made 5mm. 
Size: The base of the design was a hexagon that had 80mm sides.   The thickness of the base was 10mm.   The entire design had a length across of 140mm.   The lettering for the name was 80mm in length and 5mm high.   The 'Batman' design, which was the focus for the print was 90mm across and the point of the ears was 120mm.    These dimensions would have been about right for the print given the original plan and idea.
What we would do differently/Next steps for students: The print featured facial designs that included significant rafting that needed to be gently removed.  This has left some filament that has remained on the facial area of the design.   This can be removed however it is a process that takes time and care to get it right.   There are several products that are available to assist with this process.

3D Print - Novelty Desk Organiser

Above: Design shown in profile.

Challenge: Student wanted to create a gift to give another person.   They wanted something themed that was related to a specific interest that the person receiving the gift.
Background: Student wanted to use a precreated design to print, using this as a gift for another family member.  The student concerned was a senior at our school.   This was her first time independently working on a 3D Project.   The student approached the teacher with the completed project and wanted to print it.   It was obviously sourced from a free design site (in this case Tinkercad) and the student simply wanted to create a print that would sit at a desk.   The head of 'Groot' from the 'Guardians of the Galaxy' movies/cartoons.  Under these circumstances the option is usually made not to proceed with this print, as the student had not personalised or adapted a print in a way to make it unique.  Consideration is also given for the encouragement of students to do this, we at times allow a print that is potentially going to get students creating and thinking critically about producing individual works.

View from above showing storage.

Level of Difficulty: Low - the student sole aspect of the print was to produce it at a size that made it suitable for her to forfill its purpose, to be placed on a desk to allow the hollow part of the head to be used to store stationary items.
Timeframe: Four hours.   The print had a minimal level of rafting, but as it was a commercial design there was not much leeway to reduce the time without having to resize the print. 
Size: Print had a length of 70mm a width of 60mm and a height of 80mm.    Given the purpose, the size of the print was about the right size.   With hindsight it could have potentially been significantly increased so it could have been a storage item for pens/pencils, as it was at its present size it was suitable for smaller items.
What we would do differently: The student was happy with the project.   She had a particular character from the series in mind and therefore her creation of this character would not be possible from scratch.   There was of course a potential for the student to personalise it more with the individuals name that it was gifted for, however that was not something that the student felt that she wanted to attempt.
Next steps for students: For the student to use the experience to start to create orginal designs.

Ultimate 3D Printed Desk Organiser

Above: from side showing emoji

Challenge: For student to create a stationary holder to store their stationary.
Background: Inspired by other students in the classroom the student designed a container for all of her stationary.  This was the second recent print from the student who had recently designed a significant print to hold her iPad, as linked here.   For this design she was inspired by a previous student design in the classroom, linked here.   The student used this as a the base, and then added a series of additional features to the design - including a subtle face on one side, a donut at the front for effect, a side bar to hold the protractor of the student and a emoji, yes that is a 'poo' emoji on the front to one side.
Level of Diffculty: High.  This print featured a number of intricate details and features that were added to a basic design.  All of these needed to add and work to the design and did so.
Timeframe: Twenty hours - this was a significant print in both size, design and timeframe.   Some of the features could have been reduced or decreased and given the dimensions a consideration was given to reducing the infill for the back of the design.

Above: Design shown from above clearly showing the naming

Size:  The base of the design is a square shape that is a 120mm by 120mm square.  The height of the back of the print was raised 150mm from the base.   As noted in the previous print that this was used as base.  The first tower included in the printer was 65mm high.  The second tower was 100mm high.  The name block that was at the back was raised 135mm.  The purpose of this design was to hold a variety of stationary items.

Protractor holder and 'donut' design visible

What we would do differently: The width of the hexagonal design for the different levels of the container was 25mm thick in places.  This could have been reduced to 10-15mm and would have served the same purpose for the design and would have reduced the overall print time. This particular design has been described as the "ultimate" desk organiser in the sense that there is not additional features that could be added.  The only aspect that students have been attempting to solve is the issue of a headphone holder, by either introducing a bar or a holder.   There have been a number of attempts at modelling this however these have proven to be unsuccessful as the bar designs have caused all the models to tip or a high degree of likelyhood of tipping has taken place.
Next step for students:   This student could have designed the project from start, instead of using another design as a basis for design.  She could have reduced the width of stationary holders and reduced the level of infill.

3D Printed Student Desk Organiser - Short Term Print

Above: Unicorn design shown prior to removal of rafting

Challenge: To produce an original designed container for student to store work material.
Background: Student was inspired by other creations in this series to produce a desk organiser.   Student is nine years old and has already produced an impressive run of prints, including the horse glow-in-the-dark on a stand.    She was challenged to personalise her design by adding something that could be identified as hers onto the print.  She choose a 'Unicorn' motif that she was able to source from a third part and personalise her design.   Print was produced completly by the student with no input from the classroom teacher.   Student in fact managed to complete the design at home and brought the finished design to school, which was then run through the printer.

Above: Design shown as above

Level of Difficulty - Low, which is a reflection of the work and the confidence that the student is starting to develop with the 3D Printers.  The basic design comes from the Tinkercad main interface.  The student thien shaped it as appropirate.  The additon of the 'Unicorn' motif was a challenge, to be located correctly and was pulled out of the design, instead of being sunken in.
Timeframe: Four hours.   This is considerable shorter than other prints in the series, which are ranging from twelve to twenty hours.  As a consequence this was more realistic print time for a group or class based project where a number of prints could be produced that work together.

Size:  As shown above -  the design is 7cm across from side to side.  The width of the design is 5mm across at all points.   The height of the design is 8cm high.  Given that this was intended to hold pens, pencils and other items of stationary, this would be close to the minimum shape required. 
What we would do differently: The student made a decision to not include their name in the design as the 'Unicorn' was intended as their personalisation.   The student intends to produce a series of this containers using different PLA to produce a different range of designs, and different sizes to then group.
Next steps for the student:  This design has been more or less mastered and the student needs to move forward to challenge themselves in other ways on other projects.
Print Notes: 8mm/Dark Green PLA/(Sun Brand).   Created in Tinkercad.  Printed UM2+.

3D Student Printed Desk Organiser - Take Three

Design prior to removal of all rafting

Challenge - previously on this site we have detailed the design and creation of various desk organisers for students to use to keep their stationary.  These have been individualised by the students and we were looking at an eight hour or so print time.  We also decided to encourage the students to look at producing smaller versions.  This item came out of this process.
Background: Student based her design on similar designs from other students in the classroom.  She focussed on individualising it by having her name sunken into the base of the object.

Level of Difficulty: Medium the student letter and font was made as part of the shape and the shape itself was oval.  Not all the letters were able to be sunken to the same depth due to the design.
Size: The student organiser was 10cm heigh with a base of 6cm across.
Timeframe: Four hours - this was halving the time for the larger pieces.
Process: Student was producing her first next design using Tinkercad following a name plate.  She was clearly influenced by this design in the series, however the size aspect of it made it unique.
What we would do differently: The students object was limited by what it was able to hold as a result of its size.  The lettering worked extremely well and the student was able to produce this independently.  As a consequence she was thrilled with the design and able to produce an object that she was proud of.

3D Printed Student Desk Organiser - Take One

Desk Organiser in Use! 

Challenge: For student to graduate from producing an original name plate/badge to produce something more challenging and 'next level' using the schools 3D Printer.
Background: This is the students second print, using Tinkercad as a design project.  The student was assisted by other students who had produced work from the classroom and was looking to refine her design to produce an object that was useable and achieved the purpose of creating a pencil desk organiser.
Level of Difficulty - This was medium - the issue was the lettering/font that went with the shape.  The basic design was a default design from Tinkercad from the main interface.  Once the shape had been measured and identified the only issue was the stretching of of the shape.
Size: 8cmx10cm with a height of 10cm.
Timeframe: Nine Hours on a regular print setting with a 8mm nozzle.

Viewed from Above

Issues: With the base of the design none.  With the lettering of the students name - plenty.  In the original Tinkercad design the lettering wrapped seamlessly around the shape and was attatched with rafting to the design.  The practicality was the lettering didn't work in this format - so an alternative plan was devised with the letters being sunk into the design for the reprint.  This design was carried out by the student who had worked successfully to do so to insert his name into the 'gift box' post.  The original design was left with the rafting still attatched (see photo) to ensure the lettering and the students name remained in place.
Process: As with nearly everything else on site the student used Tinkercad which was then converted into a Cura 2.6 file, and then printed on regular settings with an Ultimaker 2+ Printer. (as noted on previous posts the previous nozzle was 4mm and we are now printing on a regular basis with a 8mm nozzle which is having a considerable and positive influence on the print times of the projects the students are working on.
What we would do differently: The student was extremely pleased with the print so much so she insisted on using the object even though it hadn't met the design brief.  The student has every intention of repeating the process, this time with the lettering embedded into the print.