Minecraft Vs. Tinkercad: Review

 

Challenge: To replicate the Minecraft Bee in Tinkercad as an original creation with recognition factor and details that relate to the original from the game.

Background: There has been an entire series of posts in this series, the majority of which were published last year.  We've spoken in detail how the shapes of the Minecraft game have a relation to the design features that can be created in Tinkercad.   We have linked this to an entire slideshow of projects below.

Printing this design came about as we were looking for other examples to add to the insect project that we were working on.  In this instance however there was a clear difference between the Minecraft version of the insect and the actual characteristics that the students researched that a insect should have as its features.

Resources used to complete this print: iPad, Tinkercad App, Minecraft Education (for screenshots to compare the final design with).   

Size: The print of the bee was somewhat oversized being 85mm wide from tip to tip at the front and 110mm long.   The bee had a height of 30mm.   

Cost: The bee in its present size used 28g of regular PLA to complete and this had a price point of $0.56c.  The bee itself looked oversized and obviously was not able to be used in conjunction with the Pet Day Art as intended so the design would be made significantly smaller with the next print.

Timeframe: To complete the print as it stands at present the printer had a operational time of 57 minutes.   As noted if we would significantly reduce the size of the print then this would be reduced to scale.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students:  This print would benefit from a double colour print and a different base coat, also resizing as noted would improve its viability.

3D Printed Minecraft Enderman Figure

 

Challenge: For a student to produce an original figure that had recognition factor from the game Minecraft.

Background: As a reference if you click on this link you can see a summary of previous works on this topic (from April 2026) and included is a significant slideshow.  This was also one of the topics covered by our 'best of review' for the end of school year last year.

This figure is a key figure known as the Enderman - the figure is essentially a solid black figure who is sometimes depicted holding a Minecraft brick and sometimes without.   There are also variation with the lengths of the arms of the character.  When you use a search engine to find the character (as was done to check its accuracy) there are some versions where the arms are as shown in the design but other where the arms are clearly much longer.

The figure shown left is an example of the shorter armed figure located in the game (as the longer armed figure is nearly touching the ground).   In essence this was one of the most straight forward of the Minecraft figures to design - the students only issue with the figure was making sure that it was completed/printed in jet black and they considered some way to highlight or have the eyes coloured red.

The box that the figure was holding was also a discussion the students felt that if they made the brick interchangeable then there was potential for several different designs.   The idea was for the figure to potential hold a TNT block. 

Resources used to complete this print: Minecraft (game), iPad, Tinkercad App, PLA, Bambu P1S.

Level of Difficulty: Low - if you compare this figure to others in the range this had the simplistic design.

Size: The print measures 30mm across and is 70mm high.  The figure has a width of 20mm.

Cost/Price:  The print used 22g of PLA to complete (as is shown the 'eSun Silk multi colour was used'.   This had a price point of $0.51 to complete the print.   Of note this included the cube which in the photo left has been removed so it has a clear potential to reduce both (to 18g and $0.40)

Timeframe: This print was completed on the Bambu H2D and took one hour to complete and that was represented by 54 minutes of printing time and six minutes of machine warming up.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students:  Obviously in the test print shown left the figure is not all black and does not have the eyes of red which means that it has reduced the recognition factor.  This print also has the ability for further development as a range of blocks could be placed in its hands or arms - which could also be adjusted.  Finally there is lots of scope for the AR/VR aspect of this figure and how that might be incorporated into different settings and scenes.

3D Printed Minecraft Fox Storage

 

Challenge: To produce an original design that would have a purpose - in this case a Minecraft themed Fox that would be used for storage as shown in the photograph.

Background: We have shown over a considerable amount of time on this blog that the students using Tinkercad as a design tool.   You can see a summary of some of our projects here.  We also complied a slideshow of Minecraft and Tinkercad activities which you can view by clicking here.

This student who is responsible for this design while they are an eight year old student has consistently shown that the are aware of a range of concepts and ideas and they have a particular interest in Minecraft and Minecraft themed designs.  If you want to see further examples of their work you can click on the link on the top right hand corner of this blog.

The student designed this independently and presented it to the teacher in its completed form.  There was no additional reworking or direction required.

The student also ensured that it was going to be a viable print by using the AR/VR feature of Tinkercad on the iPad to project it into various locations around our school.  In this example shown left the student deliberately oversized it and projected it onto our school courts.  He was then able to rotate it around to inspect it from different angles.

Resources used to complete this project: Tinkercad, iPad, Tinkercad App, Bambu H2D, regular black PLA.  We switched back to using the Bambu H2D for this project after a number of projects using the Bambu P1S.

Level of Difficulty: Medium/High.  This print, its design and concept works extremely well however it is something of an art to have the recognition factor the purpose etc.   The student also used the colour coding adapting to change the colour of the fox to match with the colour of the original Minecraft.

Size: The prints dimensions at the moment are 130mm wide 90mm deep and 40mm high.  As the purpose of the print is stationary storage the student has considered that these will need to be increased to realistically hold more material such as pens and pencils.  However as it stands at presents each of the six holes is able to do this with stability.

Cost/Price: The unit as it stands at the moment.  The print currently uses 75g of PLA to complete.  There was minimal rafting with this project, only a small amount under of the face.  This had a price point of $1.75 to produce.

Timeframe: To complete using the Bambu H2D print the print took one hour and forty one minutes.  There was a six minute standard warm up time for the printer.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students: This project needs potentially to be resized otherwise the elements of it are completed.

Minecraft Figure: 3D Printed Witch

 

Challenge: For junior student to use Tinkercad to create an original Minecraft inspired design.

Background: The student concerned wanted to create a recognisable Minecraft Figure.  They had previously designed 'The Villager' which was a print that we featured on this blog, in March.   The student identified another figure that they felt they would be able to replicate and the shape of the figure when it was 3D Printed would have a high recognition factor.

The student was able to create the figure independently using their cohort two skills and able to present it to the teacher as complete.  The student is an eight year old student, experienced with Tinkercad in class this year and last years. 

Resources Used: iPad, Tinkercad, Bambu H2D, Regular PLA.

Level of Difficulty: High.  This is a small scale print in terms of size (see below) however there are layers to it and all of the different aspects of the design need to work in unison with each other.   The other issue is that other students gave feedback to the student about the degree of the recognition factor.

Size: This figure is 30mm wide, is 80mm high and is 20mm deep.  As it stands the purpose of the print needs to be refined and this would adapt the size of it.

Cost/Price: As it stands at the moment the print uses 16g of PLA to complete and the price point for this is $0.40.

Timeframe: The print using the Bambu H2D took fifty three minutes to complete.

What we would do differently/Next Steps for the students: There are various possibilities moving forward, depending on what the student decides.  There have been a number of versions of Minecraft prints and projects created by our students this term.  You can look at other examples by clicking on the 'search' box in the top right hand corner of this blog.  If you want to see a summary post of our ideas you can click on the link to the summary here.

3D Printed Super Sized Minecraft Cow

 

Challenge: For eight year old students to produce a unique, original Minecraft themed print using Tinkercad as the design tool.  Criteria: Print must be original and also have a purpose.

Background: Much like last weeks Axolotl which had been completed and organised for storage, this Minecraft cow originally featured as a AR/VR post on this blog which you can view by clicking on the link here. 

The print was deliberately designed to be oversized and we were interested in pushing the limits of the Bambu H2D, as shown in the dimensions below.

The link between Minecraft and Tinkercad has been documented numerous times by the students at our school as the blocks of Minecraft can be replicated directly or indirectly via Tinkercad.   You can view examples of this by clicking on the link here.

Level of Difficulty: Medium/High - this was not for the feint hearted and involved two students one from cohort one and one from cohort two producing a joint effort to complete this print.  Given the scale of the print we would not be producing it unless we were happy that it ticked off a number of criteria.

Size: This was one of the largest prints that we had completed in some time.  The print had a height of 170mm and was 180mm long.   The main body of the cow was 90mm across, 130mm wide and 60mm high.  Each of the four legs are 40mm by 40mm and 120mm high.

Cost/Price: The print used 382g of filament to produce, including the rafting or waste plastic.  This had a price point in its current format of $9.55 to produce.   With this in mind this is the biggest in the series, by some distance of the prints that we are intending to turn from AR/VR designs into physical projects and prints.  With PLA being generally ordered in 1kg spools obviously three of these would be required for each roll.

Timeframe: Nine and a half hours.   As we stated this is one of the longest prints that we have produced in the classroom this year.   A reminder that as we are using the Bambu H2D the speed of machine is roughly twice as quick as that of a regular Snapmaker, hence our reluctance to undertake to print this sort of project on that machine.   As we have stated during the year it is our intention to complete every print this calendar year from a single machine.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students: It should be evident from the dimensions of this print and the details of it that we are not intending to complete something of this scale to any great level based on the cost and the amount of filament used.   The students could have increased the size of the storage area on the back of the cow and ideally perhaps added some small details to the design.  They are intended to have adults spray paint the print to complete the colour matching for the design.

3D Printed Minecraft Chicken

Challenge: For a student to create a unique original adapted Minecraft themed design with a purpose.

Background: Previously we've adapted versions of this task with various groups of students from Y3 onwards.  In this specific example the student working on the project is eight years old. It was a Minecraft Chicken.    

This print and project was completed by two students using their iPads and the Tinkercad App.  Minecraft Education was also used for the inspiration where they located the animal as a model to recreate.

 This term in New Zealand is about to end, so as part of the finishing off activities we've been working on a number of projects for the students as we complete other work as an incentive.   In this case this design was created by two students working together who then conducted AR/VR testing by taking the design and projecting it in the classroom and outside.   

There are some design issues with this project - and perhaps in hindsight they could have been addressed prior to printing, however on the balance of the design the decision was made to progress with the printing as it is anticipated that the students are going to add additional features to this print.

The design of this took two students working in conjunction with each other one thirty minute session.  There was no teacher input, it was completed independently by two eight year old students.

Level of Difficulty: Medium - the student task was helped by the clear design link between Minecraft and Tinkercad, as both have a core base of shapes that are used to create design, and while the colour palette does not match perfectly the students are attempting to resolve this.  There is a lot of specific details that the students needed to resolve - such as building such a large object and what the feet needed to be like and how they needed to be spread to make sure they supported the design with balance to ensure that it stands without any tipping, as demonstrated below.

Size: This is substantial print as it was designed to be able to house a number of items of stationary.   The main base of the Minecraft Chicken is 120mm long 110mm wide and is 60mm tall.   The centre storage hole has a diameter of 60mm and a depth of 50mm.   The head is 40mm by 60mm and is 70mm high.   The hole for storage is 50mm long and is 70mm deep.   The legs balancing the print are 60mm by 70mm and 40mm from the base of the design.

Cost/Price: This was a significant print - the #bambulab studios calculation is that the print used 256g of PLA to print the project and this included rafting to support the print as it was printing.   This had a price point of  $6.40.

Timeframe: This took seven hours and twenty minutes to complete on the Bambu H2D.  We would not have completed this on a slower machine as the timeframe and the detailed print would not have been present.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students:   Its not obvious when viewing the print from above or the side but one of the feet should have had a bit more attention, as shown left.  It is functional but there is a distinct difference between the two designs.

The colour of the PLA was the most relevant one for the printer at the moment, the students obviously want the design white and yellow as its a chicken for Minecraft. One of the eyes could require some additional finishing.  During the print process one of the wings did not remain as it was attached but not to a level that would allow the design to be handled as one would expect.  The students are going to reprint this single piece and then use a hard glue to attach it to the design, perhaps looking at adding some texture or layers to the design.

This is both students first independent large scale project and they should be able to more forward with a range of designs in the future using the practical experience from this task as a guide.

3D Printing Oeo Pa Buildings - Opunake Primary

 

We are always looking for amazing examples of 3D Printing from students to share.  In this case a student from the amazing Opunake Primary School made a Minecraft model of their local Marae.

They were able to get the dimensions of the building by using the site Maorimaps.com.

This allowed a realistic and detailed view of the buildings which meant that a detailed design could be completed and the students could constantly refer to the design to check for accuracy prior to a visit to the actual site.

We have seen excellent versions of this created in the past using tools such as Apple Maps and Google Earth.    Combining this with a tool such as Minecraft or Tinkercad then allows for a digital creation of an exisiting building following by the printing of an accurate, unique and personalised version of a building or a location.

2025 - Year in Review Involving Minecraft in 3D Printing and CAD Design

 

Our class of students is junior and has some amazing students in the classroom.   One of their favourite learning activities and programmes to use is Minecraft (in classroom of course, Minecraft Education).   During the course of this year we used the combination or similarities between Minecraft and Tinkercad for a range of learning activities that the students were involved with.

The main Tinkercad interface has a range of design tools which include all of the main geometric shapes.  This works in very well in designing the corresponding Minecraft items or animals as they can be replicated accurately and the students have a knowledge about them.   You can see an example of this progress from the screenshot top left when one of the junior school students (who was eight years old) was able to use the Tinkercad program and their iPad to replicate the Minecraft Panda.  You can view an extended description of the process by clicking on the link here from September 2025.

Once we had completed the first wave of these designs we then challenged students to create more depth, more details and add to the process.   The first round of prints tended to be things like creepers and bees which you can view here. 

Further more detailed examples followed such as the Panda shown left (which was then duplicated to show a second Panda, which is a copy of the first).   The student used Tinkercad to design the shape and added the details, then used the colour palette to match with the black and white theme.   This was one of the few designs from this run that we turned into a full 3D Print.  Given the time of the year and other commitments that students had at the time this was always going to be a 'virtual' project as opposed to a 3D printing project.   You can read the full details of this project here.

It goes without saying that for regular visitors to this blog our major school event this year was the 2025 School Market Day.   During this event when we were working through the design and creation process Minecraft and Minecraft accessories featured heavily in the planning process.  Our students found that there was a very significant amount of material online from free domain sites that we have used to source .stl files (such as Thingiverse).

Of our eight class groups one of them was specifically focussed on Minecraft and utilised glow-in-the-dark filament to use in combination with LED lights as described in details in this exemplar post.

We also used Minecraft educations design tool to create our Market Day items - so using Minecraft to create a scale model of a Tinkercad design.  In this instance here we recreated our students model of the iPad stand that was the major item for one of the market day groups.

This allowed the students in a group of four to team build the item and design it as a copy,   You can click on the link here to view this post from November.

Thank you for your visit to this site - as we have stated previously we are currently on our summer break with our New Zealand students and will be returning to the classroom in February 2026 when we will start actively posting with new material.

We also used Minecraft and Minecraft creatures or animals as a basis for a general 3D Printing design.

We made designs such as our original Dolphin which became a keyring which we marketed for Market Day 2025.   This design was further developed with storage ideas based around the design such as the example shown left or a further recent example shown on a previous post here on this blog.

3D Printed Minecraft Dolphin 2.0

 

Challenge: To use Tinkercad to produce a 3D Print of a character of animal that is featured in Minecraft.

Background: In September as we were approaching our Market Day we spent time with challenges based around crossing over between Tinkercad and Minecraft.  We featured several posts about them.

One of the students at the time completed the project shown here which was not printed at the time but was one of the outstanding prints that we completed at the end of the 2025 school year.   With this print the student wanted it to be different from the other Dolphin that we produced at the time and subsequently became an item that we sold at school market day.

The alternative print had the eyes of the dolphin next to the nose on the front, the version shown here is more accurate and authentic to the game, with the eyes on the side of the animal.  In the original although it was glow-in-the-dark it also was converted to a key ring by inserting a hole into the tail, in this incidence the student wanted to have a specific purpose which was storage, hence the hollowing out of the back of the dolphin, which also reduced the print time and the cost.

The student who produced this print independently of the classroom teacher was an eight year old student who had been designing in the classroom since last year having no previous 3D Printing design or creation experience.

Level of Difficulty: Medium - we have discovered that there is a natural fit between Minecraft characters and Tinkercad and have in fact created an entire series of projects, prints and ideas as a result of the clear connection between the two.

Size: The print measured 160mm long was 110mm wide at its longest point and the print was 50mm high.  The storage area in the back of the print measured 50mm by 20mm and was 20mm deep.

Cost: By using the Bambu studio lab auto creation software we can determine that this print uses 65g of filament and that the identified cost is $2.00 (NZD)

Timeframe: Using the Bambu H2D the print took two and a half hours.   

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students:   There is a slight printing error with this print - the nose of the Dolphin was not attached correctly, normally this would be identified during the AR/VR prototyping but in this case it was missed (which would suggest the student did not complete this part of the design process) This project also could have potentially had a larger design area based around the storage, which could have been extended or had two seperate areas (which would have been divided by the dorsal fin).

Market Day Exemplar: Minecraft Night Light

 

Challenge: Using creativity, innovation and personalisation students from a Y3/4 classroom create a unique product for our school market day.

Background: This Market Day 2025 item started off early with a combination of Minecraft and the use of glow-in-the-dark PLA filament which we have experimented with in the past.  As noted over time the filament has improved significantly and we have seen improvement in the colour options available and the ease at which printing can be completed (which historically in our experience was not always the case).   You can view previous glow-in-the-dark prints here such as 2018 Glow-in-the-dark horse or 2022 recap of previous Christmas decorations of which the glow-in-the-dark has featured significantly.    You can look on the tab labelled 'Guide/Special Projects' for the full range of these activities or use the search bar for activities tagged with this label.

In this instance the students also wanted to organise objects that they associated with Minecraft and while they initially attempted to recreate some of the designs, and were relatively successful they also quickly located a number of items that were available on public domain sites - primarily Thingiverse

The process involved the students locating the items that they were interested in, considering if it was a viable print or not - and experimenting with different elements.   Originally early versions of the project (in May) had a laser cut box underneath the base.   Later on as the students developed ideas the decision was made by the students to use additional boxes of TNT to raise the base off the ground.   Personalisation which was a major feature of the Market Day 2025 Projects was addressed by having a gap between the TNT and Minecraft logo.  Development in June saw the students experimenting with different PLA for the names and displays and using AR/VR to project additional items onto the stand.

Level of Difficulty: Low - the emphasis was on the layout for the designs, the students were able to use designs that were available and the creation of the names to be inserted into the design was someone that the seven and eight year olds were easily able to create, test for the size for the unit and put it together - there had to be some variation for the number of letters of students in their name, which required larger lettering.

Size: The wooden base for the stand was 140mm across.   The standard sword designs were 80mm and the TNT was a 20mm cube.

Cost/Profit: For a standard nightlight we used four TNT boxes - each one was just under 0.20c to produce on the top and three underneath - a total of $1.40.   The sword was close to 40c as was the Minecraft and name plate.   In total assuming the MDF for the base of the print was $1.00 - the entire print could be produced $3.60.   We used standard LED lights available from a local dollar store which cost $4.00.   This gave the project a total of just over $7.50 - and the students decided the cost per unit and wanting to make a small profit that they would set a price of $10.00.   As we have mentioned throughout the process it was not intended as a profit making process - it was focussed more of the three aspects of innovation, creativity and personalisation.

Timeframe:  The stand took ten minutes to print, the TNT was 45 minutes per box on the Snapmaker.  Each of the three additional elements on the stand took just under one hour - the entire print was able to be completed in approximately seven hours, this was done on the Snapmaker and thanks to the extensive testing that we have been completing comparing machines we would anticipate if this was done on the Bambu H2D we would anticipate it would take half of the time.   Once the elements had been produced we also required to glue them into place using a universal plastic glue.

What we would do differently/Next Steps for the students: The students experimented with creating their own designs however they were never satisfied with the details that they were able to produce.  This product took a considerable amount of time to produce but was sold out in the process and we could have produced more.  The LED lights were sourced locally from a dollar store a better long term plan would have been purchasing them online from an overseas supplier.

Minecraft Vs. Tinkercad Part Three

 

During our School Market Day 2025  one of our groups spent time working on producing iPad and iPhone designs using the main template that is available on Tinkercad.

The personalisation occurred because we were able to use Tinkercads App to create virtual versions of the print and then sent them to the potential customers as an order.

You can view the post about that on this blog here.

We have also posted about other learning activities with the students involving the creation of using Tinkercad to create Minecraft versions of the equivalent animal or design.

You can see this example of the activity here.

It was also intended to do the inverse of this activity - that is to use Minecraft to complete a copy of a design that had been created by Tinkercad.

The example is from the iPad group shown above.   The iPad design shown in the advertisement was taken from the poster that students created to advertise their project with the original Tinkercad design.

The screenshots shown left are a Minecraft interpretation of the Tinkercad iPad design.

The student was able to use a variety of block colours to put together a 'life sized' version of the iPad stand.

The creation was completed during a three quarters of an hour session in regular class time.

The student could have looked to put additional details into the colour matching of the project but was happy and able to replicate the details in a way that reflected the design.

Market Day Preparation 2025

 

This Friday at Auroa Primary School we have one of our key events for the year - our 2025 School Market Day.  Students have been working since March of this year on a business with an underlying focus on the school values and in particular innovation, creativity and personalisation.

Over the course of the time the students projects have undergone revision and reworking to meet different challenges based around the students creating and producing work to run their business.

This Friday the local community will be visiting school for our Market Day which will run here at our school from 5:30pm-7:00pm.   While we will be producing numerous media for the event we will also be focussing our time on ensuring that the students from school are prepared and have their stall sorted.

We are not attempting as such to make as much profit as possible for each of the businesses, the goal for the students is to use creativity to engage with technology.

Throughout the year we have been posting about the projects and details including various labels for each post.  You can follow individual projects by using the label for each group such as 'Minecraft', 'Octopus' or 'Bath Toys'.   Mr Bloor our amazing audio visual teacher will be updating the Market Day at a later date.

Tinkercad Vs. Minecraft

 

We are always looking for challenges to engage and encourage the students in the classroom, particularly in anything related to digital design and creation.

We are using Tinkercad with our class of seven and eight year old students (Y3/4 in New Zealand) and we have a class of 25 students working at a (regular) state school in New Zealand.  We are very lucky to be a ADE school and we have a 1:1 iPad school (of 200 students).   You can locate further information about our school by clicking on the link here.

One of the most popular and enduring games or activities that the students have used and work and design in is Minecraft and Minecraft Education.

Minecraft has a range of characters, creations and locations which are typically block based - which works in wonderfully with Tinkercad which has a design page based on a number of shapes.

This has allowed the class of students to create their own version of the Minecraft characters using Tinkercad as a creation tool.   Our students spent the afternoon choosing a Minecraft character and then attempting to replicate the character in the creation process via Tinkercad.   Students then checked in which each other about details - as we had several experts in the classroom they were able to look at the characters and provide feedback to each other about them.   They then compared the specific details of the creations with the originals and made adjustments to ensure that they were as close as possible.   There were several instances where the originals were very close.

The Tinkercad interface allows the design tool to alter the colour of the individual shapes and details.   This allowed students to introduce specific details and colouring, such as the design shown left.   The student manipulated the design of a specific colour.

We have written in the past about activities that involve 3D Design (CAD) design but do not necessarily lend themselves to 3D Printing.  

This design task was another example of this - if you click on this link it will take you to a page on this blog which labelled is 'guide/special projects'.

Once the design process was completed, the designs had been compared to the originals and then refined the next step was for the students to AR/VR their designs into the classroom setting to 'pose' them.

In this example shown left, the students have designed a Minecraft Creeper and placed it in the classroom setting.   The creeper was designed using Tinkercad in the main interface and then projected into the classroom setting using the AR/VR button on the iPad via the Tinkercad app.

This example shows a basic character from the game when the student presented this and then projected the image the next step was to challenge the student to create a more complex or detailed design.   

There is an example of the next level of design showing below.  In this example the student chose another animal that is popular in Minecraft, the axolotl.   This proved to be an extremely challenging design.

The design is shown left, the design has been AR/VR onto the floor the classroom.

The colour that was created using the design matched the colour of the design in the game.   The ability to recognise the design was high amongst the students.   This was amongst some of the most detailed creations from the students in the classroom.

There will be an additional slideshow that will be published on this learning activity explaining it in detail.

3D Printing: Replicating Minecraft Creations in TInkercad

 

Challenge: To replicate a Dolphin from Minecraft using Tinkercad as a creation tool.

Background: Minecraft is a particular strong favourite of our students who like aspects of the game and the design potential of it.   We have one of our groups for our 2025 Market Day that is basing its theme and design on Minecraft and some of the characters from the game.    We also have our structured literacy running with a theme each week - in this case the theme was Dolphins.   We combined the two for a 'ten minute challenge' which is we allowed student creation and design based around a theme and time to do so.    We reported back to the class with ideas after ten minutes - highlighting designs that students were happy with or felt were showing creativity.

We have mentioned before that the geometric shapes that are freely available on the main Tinkercad design page lend themselves to certain shapes and creations - and this is clearly the case with Minecraft and this Dolphin.

As with nearly every project that we are currently making with students the criteria was for the print to be original and have a purpose if possible.   Both these criteria were clearly ticked by the seven year old student that designed this creation.

We are always asking the consideration for students as to 'what is the purpose of the print?' or 'what could it be used for?' - in this instance the student inserted a hole into the back right fin, suggesting that it could be viable as a key ring.     Given how the print has turned out there is the likelihood that this will be incorporated into our upcoming school market day.

Level of Difficulty: Medium.   The student is using the key geometric shapes which are available to replicate the design but the student has shown a consistent use of composition and balance to get elements of the design 'right' so it easily recognised as the original.

The student completing this design (independently) is a seven year old.

Size: The print measures 140mm long is between 10mm and 30mm wide (at the head) and is between 20mm and 10mm deep or thick for the various portions/parts of the Dolphin.

As shown left, in addition to being 3D Printed using the Schools Snapmaker printers the design was also AR/VR and tested using the Tinkercad App on an iPad.

This allowed us to see how the design would like print and adjustments that might potentially be made.  Although it was printed with glow in the dark PLA (pink) we were also to alter the colour of the design using Tinkercad to match the original Minecraft figure.   In this instance the student projected it onto the floor of the classroom but we did discuss being able to repeat the process in different locations.

Timeframe: Two and a half hours on the Snapmaker.  We would anticipate the Bambu H2D would deliver the same print, with slightly improved finishing in under half of the time.

What we would do differently/Next step for the students: The Dolphin in Minecraft has the eyes on the side of the head, in this instance the student placed the eyes at the front as they felt it better suited the design.   Other students pointed out to him that the fin on the back of the dolphin is longer than the Minecraft example on which the design is based, however the student was more than happy with the print.

3D Printed Glow-in-the-Dark Project Ideas

 

As mentioned on a previous post we have been looking at ways to incorporate and include glow-in-the-dark filament with some of our students other designs and creations.   For example this is the bead group that has started experimenting with including some aspects of the designs, the first, second, fourth and fifth letters are glow-in-the-dark.

We have several groups who are looking at some variation of a night light theme. One of the aspects that matches with the glow-in-the-dark filament is to have it glow by absorbing light.

The Minecraft themed or similar swords shown here have been personalised with a name on the blade and are going to be grouped in combination with some of the other objects that the students have located.   The students have been experimenting with the size and dimensions of each item, some taking thirty seconds or so to complete.

Using or creating 'Lego-ish' figures (or figures that feature similarities from a range of plastic figures).   Students wanted to design figures that had the physical characteristics associated with the figures - the block legs/feet, the square body, the hands and the head.

This student design also included an object in the hands of the figure and they had some challenge with the head, which is why they decided to work on creating a hat.    

The concept of lego and mini-figure like figures has been something we have looked at over the years and practical experience was gained this year by the process of creating the figures for the Dolls House.

One of the groups for our 2025 Market Day has been the creation of key rings specific to a range of customers.    One of the point of differences for our students, which has been as simple as altering the PLA that we are printing with (and not the design) to produce something with a point of difference.

This is also allowing all of our students to think again about how they can use the technology and how they might use glow-in-the-dark filament for projects and prints.   Already we have had students look at the previous projects including the Christmas Ornaments from the past.

3D Printing: Term Two Junior Ongoing Projects

We have our deadline approaching for our videos for Market Day 2025.    Students have until the end of the short term to produce a 'kickstarter' style video.

Each group has a focus and key idea based on innovation and personalisation which are key themes that we are always encouraging our students to experiment and demonstrate.

We are tagging all projects for this year with a 'Market Day 2025' tag and you can likewise search the blog for projects from Market Day 2023.

As detailed previously on this blog students who are working on unlocking the secret to one of our most enduring and popular series of prints - the flexible animals.

We have already featured the creation of the rabbit shown left, however the student has now improved the linking as shown in the picture and they are now going to apply the linking to the designs, once this has been completed any animal can be created using the process, format and linking.

We have numerous examples of these designs shown on this blog over the past few years you can search the blog using the headings 'flexi animals'.

We have now completed a sample prototype for one of the first groups the 'Minecraft' themed night light.

We are previously AR/VR this name badge, however following a two and a half hour print we now have a badge that could be used as part of the design process.  All the remains now for the prototype is to spray paint the base and the box (under supervision using our adults/staff).   
 

The students can then complete the video component of the project in preparation for our market day.