3D Designed Stationary Holder/Pencil Sharpner

Challenge: For a student who is confident in 3D Printing to design something that has a purpose, was original and also personalised.

Background: This student is a second year junior student who has been in the classroom for sometime.  She is confident in using Tinkercad with her designs and was challenged to design something with a purpose, as per the brief.   While she wanted something to house stationary for her work in the classroom - however she made the decision to include the ability to have a pencil sharpener included with the design.   In the photograph of the finished print (shown left) the indentation is directly below the name of the student.  This has been introduced into the base of the design.    The design is shown prior to spray painting and the name should be highlighted more at this point.

The photograph shown left is the AR/VR version of Tinkercad. This student created this design in Tinkercad first, and then placed it on a desk in a typical situation that it would be used in, to see how it would look.   Viewing the design in this concept you can clearly see the parts of the design which are not visible in the first photograph.   This allowed the student to get the dimensions and design features correct to ensure that the print was likely to be completed.

We have previously been able to identify problems with designs that can be detected prior to printing to ensure that the printing is more successful.

This is the completed print, with a photograph of the print taken with an iPad.   The print has then been put through the PicCollage App using the 'Magic Camera' option.   The default setting for this option is the 'watermark' option which can be shown as an example on the left, this is the completed print put through the filter.

Level of Difficulty: Medium this print has several elements to it and was worked on independently by a student who is a Y4 student.   The print was successful in this regard.

Size: The print measured 140mm across and was 140mm deep, this gave the print considerable stability.   The print had a height of 120mm.    The width of the rim was 20mm at the front and was 5mm at the back.  This was something that the student had deliberately done as the front part of the design is intended to house a pencil sharpener.  If the design was 5mm all the way around this last part of the design would not be possible.

Timeframe: 28 Hours.  This was a considerable length of time for this project however it was intended to be a statement piece that would be used for considerable time moving forward - examples such as these have been created and existing and still in use at our school several years after they have initially been created.   Given the considerations (including the use of the pencil sharpener) these dimensions and the subsequent print times would be expected.

What we would do differently/next step for students: The student is looking for the decoration options for this project to complete it.   The student will focus on the final decorations, spray painting and the attaching of the pencil sharpener and it operating.

3D Printed Stationary Holder - Building Themed

Above: Design shown from the front.

Challenge: To create a unique and use able storage container user the 3D Printer to create.
Background: The student came up with the concept for this idea and had very clear intentions and design ideas for this project.   The building/windows theme were strong from the outset and the student wanted to clear go with a combination of colours that would contrast against each other to really make them stand out.   This student is an eleven year old who has shown considerable design innovation and creation during multiple projects.    The input from the teacher into this process to complete this project was minimal, other than the super gluing of the window frames onto the design once they were printed.    The student independently completed all other aspects of the project.
Level of Difficulty: Medium, while the project appears straight forward the student concerned was able to use the resources available to complete it at the second attempt with the potential for some slight adjustments.   More complex additions could be made to the design but she was adamant that it

Above: Design from above showing storage options

needed to remain as it was.
Size: The design measured 150mm across at the front, was 50mm wide and 110mm high.   The internal components of the design were hollow to allow for storage and measured 35mm by 35mm.
This design size was influenced by the purpose of the design which was to store stationary but could be adapted depending on the items that were intended to be put inside them.
Time frame: Fourteen hours for the base, one hour for the tops at end of each design to give the illusion of a roof and two hours for the window frames that were on the outside in black.  A total project time of seventeen hours.
What we would do differently/next steps for the student: While this was a excellent idea and worked well the student could have potentially modified the window frames for the outside of the windows, two fit more or less correctly and the third was out slightly.    The student could have also investigated looking at ledges potentially or adding other details.   However the student was pleased to the extent that they did not want to modify this project further.

3D Printed Advanced Themed Stationary Holder

Above: Base of the design shown above.

Challenge: Student looking to push themselves by producing an advanced multi-part desk stationary holder with a 'tractor' theme, personalised for the student that it was intended as a gift for.
Background: This student has completed a number of previous projects and was looking to extend herself by producing something significants with an original creation - she made the decision early on to create this project from scratch, not relying on prebuilt models of using freely available models - this proved to be challenging as she needed things to be relative to scale and also wanted it to have a purpose that it was able to store stationary.   The wheels had to look right, but we're required to work.  She originally created an 'all in one design' featuring all the wheels, lettering and scoop for the tractor in a single design.   This design didn't have the desired affect, as the wheels and the scoop suffered from being part of a single block.   When this was discussed with the student it was redesigned featuring components - the base shown above left, this had a much more polished affect that the student was very pleased with.  To put this in context this student is ten years old.

Left: The component pieces - shown in profile - a name label of the student that it was a gift for (bottom left).   The four wheels and the 'reverse' scoop (at the rear of the tractor).    The combined print time for these additional pieces of the project was four hours - this included the significant front scoop shown below.

Left: The front scoop, the dominating feature of the design of the tractor.   This was printed as part of the component pieces of the design, with the delibrate use of the grey PLA plastic to contrast with the base (see below).   This is the print prior to removal of the 'rafting' we try and always keep this to a minimum as it essentially the waste of the print, but at times it is unavoidable.




Level of Difficulty: High - it is slightly deceptive because while the print would appear straightforward it has been built from scratch and all of the component pieces need to work in relation to each other.   There are significant additional features related to the presentation of this piece - some of these had to be redesigned several times to ensure that they were completed to the students satisfaction.   It involved considerable design and reworking, testing and adapting - for this student the design stretched them to a considerable level and should be considered amongst the most difficult challenges for a ten year old student to complete.  In addition to all these considerations the bottom line was that the deisgn needed to be functional, as it had a specific purpose and needed to work.
Timeframe: Ten hours for the base, the foundation of the tractor and four hours for the additional parts to complete the design.  There was potential to modify this to reduce the time - a combined fourteen hours for the entire design, as it usual for projects featured on this blog a 8mm nozzle was used on the printer and the infill was 20% of the total print (these are the default settings essentially).
Size:    The base of the print 100mm long, 50mm across, 60mm high at the front.   It was 135mm high at the back.   The inside storage part of the base was 35mm by 40mm and 70mm deep.   The wheels were 20mm at the back and 10mm at the front.   The main scoop extended 70mm across from the back to the front.   The other additional features were relative to that.
What we would do differently/next steps for the students:
The student was fully extended by this task and completed it to the best of her abilities.  Her intention with the deisgn was to experiment with using spray paint to complete the design, otherwise the print design, conception and production was considered extremely successful.