Junior Design Challenge: Physical TNT Combination

 

Challenge: For students to combine a physical novelty object with a second object created using Tinkercad.

Background: There were a number of objects that featured in our 2025 School Market Day, one of the most popular novelty items was a small TNT Minecraft box, that was a candle holder.  It had been located from Thingiverse where it was available as a free download.  We used it in conjunction with the Glow-in-the-dark-PLA.

In this challenge we gave the students a physical copy of the TNT which is 20mm by 20mm.   The students were challenged to use this item to then create an original item to work in conjunction with the item.   Initially a lot of the students tended to just copy the TNT rather than having an object work in conjunction with that - we highlighted the examples and encouraged the students to think outside of the box.

The first range of designs were typically as shown left.   The actual TNT is shown on the right, with the students interpretation of it shown on the left.   The dimensions are close however the student could have further refined the design and put more details into it.   

The student also chose to make the copy instead of looking at ways to have the object interact with something else.

The student shown left used a basic design and then added several other aspects to it.  The original TNT is the orange design in the middle of the picture.  The seven year old student then added the 'pac-man' like figures to the left and the right of the TNT box before then adding another layer, the red TNT which can all be seen in the photograph.

The student could have put additional time into the designs and improving the scale and composition.

Further development was shown when students moved to creating something that combined different elements.   Obviously shown left is the TNT at the base of the design and then bridge was created over the top of it, with a further detail that two cars from the main Tinkercad interface were added.

This activity is being added to the 'non 3D Printing' Tinkercad design challenges that are featured on a slideshow that is located on the blog here.

Market Day: One off inspiration for Junior School

 

We are preparing students for the bi-annual Auroa School market day.   In doing this we want to get them enthused and thinking about what they are interested in, what they are able to create and what gets them excited and motivated.

Minecraft is an example of something that is available with numerous examples and creations online.   The two examples shown here are available as free creations from the Thingiverse site.  In both instances we did not design or create these prints.   We wanted the students to handle, use and then think about what could be next or what could you compare these designs to.

The sign that is shown above took just over sixty minutes to print and due to its current size it has a limited purpose, however the students have already starting thinking about what they could add to it, could it be made into a sign or a display, or used in combination with an LED light.   The second design the iconic TNT boxes have been developed as candle holders by a user on Thingiverse.  This print took over sixty minutes to print for each box measuring 30mm across, high and deep.  

Sensory Fidget Stars - Unpacking the Design

 

Designs shown left include a 3D Printed design, made on one of our schools Snapmaker machines.   The second toy, shown on the right is a commercial available from a stationary supplier company.

While the two objects are identical we have seen the larger 3D Printed star start to appear as a fidget toy which is available online from online retailers.  We have seen considerable variation in the price - some price points have the object on sale for $16.00 (NZD).  

We were able to locate the plans, the .stl code for this print from Thingiverse and found the code freely available.    This then allowed the students to print the design.  As a fractal star as shown, the design was printed as a single piece with no waste PLA that is created as a result of completing print.

We have posted about this topic in the past and identified that we are looking for students to be able to understand the design process, understand the making an production process (such as working out exactly a price point for an object like this) and look to encourage and inspire students to create their own projects an items such as this.   Realistically they would also be something we could produce as a fundraiser for our school or for a potential school market day or event.

Unpacking the Production Process - Spiral Toys

 

Recently at our school and amongst our students there has been a wave of interest created by students who have purchased toys that are labelled as 'fidget toys' or 'impossible shapes' or some similar variation.   

In each case they are some geometric shape which can be combined into a solid or which twists together to form some kind of visual illusion.

When the first of these appeared they came in the form of objects that were bought online, which the students brought into the classroom.   Much like the plethora of 3D Printed Dragons, which we have identified and then been able to replicate ourselves and then sell for our school market day, the first task in identifying and unpacking these objects was to locate them online in a way that we could identify how they were produced.

A reminder that this process is being undertaken by students in the classroom who are juniors at our school that is students aged seven and eight years old, most printing and designing for the first time.

For this we ventured to Thingiverse - where here we were able to identify the .stl code for the 'spiral code fidget toy'

This allowed us to duplicate the original purchased design, and although we did not have the exact PLA which matched with the base of the triangle the students then set about looking for it online so the school could order it through our suppliers.  This took four and a half hours to print on regular default settings.    There was of course no design from students as they were able to find the .stl and once it was imported into Tinkercad they were able to manipulate it and adjust the design.

This then led to a search on online selling sites for objects that were similar or designed in a similar way.  This led the students to discover the following designs from a place called Temu.

Obviously the spiral has already been identified and printed successfully, but there are clearly a range of other designs and shapes, which follow a similar format, that are now potentially available to students.

Our students are also experimenting with the 'rainbow' and 'sheen filaments' which will meant these designs will not require spray painting (and as the spray painting adds a layer to the print there is the question about whether or not this will make it slightly more difficult for the designs to come together).

The making process can be shown to the students, the price of the objects can also be discussed (as with most printers it is possible to determine exactly how much PLA is used in a print, the sphere uses 8.6m of PLA or 25.6g.    The spiral cone shown uses 13.4m or 39.9 grams of filament.   At current prices for our school a regular roll of PLA is $30.00 or $42.00 for the 'silk' version (which is how the metallic look is achieved).

By dividing the amount of PLA for a spiral cone into the roll of filament, we can determine that 25 spirals can be manufactured off a regular roll.   When we divide the cost of a regular roll of $30.00 we can determine a basic manufacturing cost of $1.20 per unit (although this assumes that the PLA is that price it can be obtained cheaper).    We have seen these priced for as high as $15.00 (excluding delivery).

Likewise with the 'silk' or 'rainbow' PLA (shown left) with a slightly higher price point the spirals can be produced for around $1.70 (again which has been priced online as high as $15.00).

For the smaller impossible spheres (as shown above) we can produce them at a price of seventy five cents on a regular roll of filament or just over a dollar each if involving 'silk'.

This has considerations for pricing if we wanted to sell them as part of a market day or at the office but also allows the students and children a window into the production process and setting a price for an item.

3D Printed Themed Ongoing Projects

As our class of students who are Y3/4 continue to prepare for the upcoming School Market Day we are continuing to produce original, from scratch flexible made animals. 

As it our students first attempts at printing these some are taking some more refinements than others - this sea turtle shown left requires refinement in its linking to ensure that they are even and the joints move when manipulated - the design looks 'fine' but is not at a stage where it would meet the 'sale' criteria for the Market Day.

We are continuing to look at existing prints that have been produced by others to act as inspiration for the students in the classroom.

In the design left, we were able to source it from Thingiverse as a free design download.   The Giraffe theme is a plant holder.   The current print has a two hour print time - but the concept is something that this group of students has yet to encounter hence we see value in printing out some examples and sharing them with the classroom to inspire students to consider creating their own version of this - and also consider what plants potentially could be placed inside this.

Recently one of our students attended a commercial show in New Zealand.   At this event there was a booth/temporary shop selling '3D Printed Dragons'.   The student wanted to purchase one, although they did recognise that that was something that had been produced in the classroom.   The dragon shown left w was priced at the event at $30.00 NZD.  

We have been able to produce a dragon that is three times the size which has been also made available online for free - which is currently taking eighteen hours to produce.   

The paint colour is proving to be slightly more challenging to overcome however the students concerned are looking into various media and suggestions so they can identify and then complete their own version (three times the size) with a similar paint scheme.

3D Printing: Cookie Cutters Revisited

Above: Example from 2016

Challenge: For students to produce an original and personalized for a Cookie Cutter.
Background: This task has been completed in various forms, which have previously been detailed on this blog.  In the past the students have created an original 3D Cookie Cutter design from scratch reflecting an interest in of theirs, such as the Cookie Cutter detailed in 2016 based around Golf.   We have also had creations based around animal themes of 'Cats' which was designed and published in 2017.    We have also focused on a  beginners 3D Printing tutorial from converting a silhouette which produced a 'Cow' Cookie Cutter.    This example is for a market day that our students are participating in coming up later in the year.  The students have to run a business in the form of market day.   One group of students from the classroom are producing a 'Cookie' business and as a student in the group has a strong interest in Dinosaurs.  As part of the process we went online to establish an online example that the students could use, print out and design.   We performed a simple Google Search using the key phrase 'Dinosaur Cookie Cutters'

which produced several pages of examples.  We were wanting to produce a reading made .stl print to run one off for the students.   We located an example on 'Thingverse' of a three piece Triceratops Dinosaur Cookie Cutter - this provided us with the .stl file to run through our printer.
Level of Difficulty: Nil - we wanted to provide a pre-made example for our students so were simply looking for an example that we could print that was available to use as the inspiration of our students to produce an original.
Time frame: Three and a half hours - it was a design sourced from a third part therefore the dimensions of the design, print time etc were already pre determined and we had no input into that, it was simply to provide an example.

Above: Cat design from 2017

Size: Its slightly larger than it might appear the two main body pieces are 150mm across and 75mm high.  Again as we've stated this came as a finished product that we simply ran off without design on our students part, the purpose being to provide an example to act as inspiration.
What we would do differently: Occasionally examples that are already created are shown to our students as an example as something to build or work on and then deconstruct it from there.   This is providing a hands on example for a group of students who need hands on example to inspire them.  The Cookie Cutter works well as we are producing an outline so the print time is not too extended for the students to produce something and it has a use as a tool.