3D Printed 'Rare' Panda - With Storage

 

Challenge: For an eight year old student to push their design skills to create an original version of a Minecraft creation that has a recognition factor and also a purpose beyond being a 'novelty print'.  

Background: Without wishing to sound repetitious there are a series of posts from this site over the last few days and weeks relating to the use of the students iPasds, Tinkercad (the browser) or the Tinkercad App for the students to be involved in CAD design to create their own versions of these creatures from the game Minecraft.   

A reminder that as a visitor to this blog you can use the search bar top right to use the keyword ''Minecraft' to view several years of examples from the students from our school.   One of the more challenging examples from this series was the 'rate panda' shown left.  In this example students spent a considerable time to gain the recognition factor by correctly reimagining the facials in particular of this animal.  In the Tinkercad version the students were very aware of the colour matching required.

Level of Difficulty: Medium/Hard - this animal was one of several panda chosen by the students and in particular this version requires subtle differences from the regular one.   Two different students were involved in the production of this piece working collaboratively with each other (as you can do when working in Tinkercad).   A third student who had expertise was also called in to help with the facial details.

Size: As again this is something of a one one the print has quite significant dimensions.  The print is 130mm high, 100mm long and 70mm wide.  The legs are each 10mm by 10mm and 40mm high.   The base of the Panda is 90mm by 70mm by 40mm.   For storage there are various holes in the back of the Panda.  Most of these measure 20mm by 10mm and are between 15mm and 40mm deep.   The largest hole is the one tha tis at the rear of the design which runs the length of the body of the Panda.

Cost/Price: We have been quite clear that some of the designs in this run have been deliberately oversized.   This has meant that they are not necessarily intended to be a class set or a copy for each student.   This print used 144g of PLA to print (including rafting) this had a price point of $3.60.

Timeframe: Using the Bambu H2D this print took five hours and ten minutes to complete on the regular settings.  We would have been reluctant to produce this on a slower machine or a machine not capable of subtle details (such as the lettering on the back of the design to label each of the stationary area).

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students: The obviously next step is the colour matching for the print by spray painting it, white and then highlighting it to follow the colour matching.  The areas of storage on the back of the design could have been enlarged to store more meaningful material as while they allow one item each it could potentially hold more.  The labelling of the different boxes could have been refined better and perhaps organised slightly differently.  Finally the general shape of the panda is here but could be further refined by the students.

3D Printed Panda - Minecraft

 

Challenge: To produce a 3D Printed Panda inspired by the Minecraft game using TInkercad as the interface and design tool along with the students iPad and the Tinkercad App.

Background: As previously noted in a series of posts on this blog there has been a recent Minecraft theme for the students to build utilising the use of Tinkercad.

In this design the student focussed on the Minecraft Panda.   Students had completed this design last year and one of students from cohort two who was present wanted to complete a different version of this design.   The thinking behind the design was that the colour of black and white would be easily created using the colour palette which would greatly increase the recognition factor of the design.   

Level of Difficulty: Medium.   This design was somewhat complicated and the student spent considerable time crafting the facial features, the student could have potentially spent more time working on the legs of the creature particularly when they are seem in profile.

Size:   One of the positives of the design was that 80mm high and 20mm wide and 40mm deep.   The legs extend slightly longer than this.   The storage hole for the design, in the head was 40mm deep which will be addressed in additional revisions.

Cost/Price: Using 25g of PLA for this print the print had a price point of $0.63 this made producing the print relatively easy.

Timeframe: The print was completed on the Bambu H2D.   This had a print time of 59 minutes.    It does to be noted that this machine is considered a 'high speed' printer and this affects in a positive way the print time for any projects completed.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students:

The storage for the unit here is relatively small - it is able to hold a single whiteboard marker, pencil or pen and therefore it needs to be quite selective.   Upscaling the design to increase the storage would have a subsequent affect on the print time, cost and the use of PLA.  The student spent some time trying to work on the post for the Panda and in particular the legs as shown in the photo in profile.   The student could have look at some different techniques or poses to address this.   We have looked at options for spray painting to colour match the print or have looked into using the Versa Sign Maker to complete the project or activity.

This is the student created seesaw example - shown here with the original screenshot (on the right) and their Tinkercad created image on the right hand side.

In the example the student can shown the digital creation verses the original which they used for their format and creation.

The student used Seesaw to create this post.

Tinkercad Vs. Minecraft Part Two - 2026 Edition

 

We are continuing to develop our design school using Tinkercad   The seven and eight year olds are using the block design aspects to make copies of animals that they have encountered and interacted with in Minecraft Education.

Tinkercads main interface has a range of geometric shapes available that resemble the shapes that are needed to be created in Minecraft.   The colour palette is able to allow the students to modify it to further enhance the recognition factor.

We have started the process at present - students have had to this point only a small block of time to start designing.  From here students are going to refine the design and break down each of the sections.   You can see the summary of this project from last year which will give more of an indication where the project will ultimately end up.   

An example like the one shown above needs the students to be able to refer back to their original design.

Clearly when you compare the original (shown left) to the work in progress (above) the students need to refine their design and colour matching.

As note this is an instance where the colour matching is important as is the overall sizing and adaptions.

We have two weeks remaining in the school term during this time we will be encouraging students to complete their designs, AR/VR them in locations around the school as we did last year with the 'Virtual Christmas Tree' activity.