3D Printed Prize Giving Awards: Progression

 

Challenge: To produce personalised trophies for a local sports club prize giving by having them designed by a student.

Background: There are a number of elements at work here.   We have previously blogged about the trophies that students have been working on based on an initial design from the Tinkercad main interface page.   We had students create the basic shape and then modify them by placing names or information into the design - you can view that blog post here.

The version of this design however that caused this project to be actioned was a slightly smaller version of the sellotape holder that was also featured as a blog post.  This physical copy was shown around to a number of staff and one of whom made a request to a student from the class - for there to be customised designs for the local sports team.

The sellotape trophy hybrid is shown left.  This has manner of the features explained in the posts.   This print currently measures 80mm across is 80mm high and has a diameter of 90mm.  With these dimensions and details the print had a print time of one hour and fifty eight minutes.   The print used 51g of PLA and had a price point of $1.01.

By producing a master copy of this print the student needs to only replace the name plate at the bottom for each person (and also put the name of the team on the outside of the cup).   There are going to be an experiment with doing this with the glow-in-the dark filament for a novelty affect which might slightly increase the price point.

After this was completed the first of the personalised designs was then taken and projected onto the school field it can be seen with Mt Taranaki in the background.

One student was able to complete the entire project including meeting the the person who wanted the designs created in under one hour and the only remaining part of the project will be to print the trophies.

3D Printed Basic Trophy

 

Challenge: To utilise Tinkercad to create something that would have a purpose moving forward.

Background: This project was 'green lighted' by the teacher because there is the clear potential for this to lead to other prints, designs and creations in the future.   This was located online and had a small amount of student input - but the potential is there for considerably more.

Resources to complete this print: iPad, Tinkercad App, Bambu P1S, Orange PLA.

Level of Difficulty: Low - the design was sourced by the student with minimum adaption although there was a clear path to modify this moving forward.

Size: The print measures 125mm across and was 95mm long.   The handles and some of the design aspects of the print varied however the base was 20mm thick and the handles were 10mm wide.   This was based around the design being 140mm high.

Cost/Price: The unit used 146g of PLA to complete the print.  This had a price point of $3.62.  The print produced 47g of PLA to complete the print and support the print.

Timeframe: The print took three hours and fifty one minutes to complete on the regular default settings.  As per usual this included six minutes of warm up time for the printer.

What we would do differently/next steps for the students: This trophy was not personalised to a high degree (such as last years example which was original which you can view by clicking on the link here) however there is clear potential from this design to do exactly that - by having the name plate at the front changed for that of a person or an organisation or even a team.   The colour could of course be altered as could the dimensions of the print - at the moment its used for holding a set of keys however there would be multiple purposes for it depending on the way that you wanted to approach the object (for instance a smaller size would lead to a easier print run and even going the other way a larger trophy would have more importance).

3D Printed Projects: Mothers Day 2026 Summary

 

We are approaching Mothers Day for 2026 in New Zealand and we have several students who have targeted projects based around this event.

The 'couch' which has been developed extensively and featured on this blog twice.  In its first form it was an idea for a project as a regular phone stand as detailed in this post about the print.

The print was further developed by the student from a generic project into one specifically focussed on a Mothers Day gift.   The print has evolved again as it has been now spray painted and has now a charging point included into the base of the design where the phone will be based.    This is now completed and ready to be presented as a gift.   This was completed independently by a seven year old student designing for the first time this year (for three months) and used their iPad, the Tinkercad App and the Bambu H2D.

This print shown left was completed by a middle school student in 2017.   At the time that this print was designed and completed we were using Ultimaker 2 machines (which we then replaced with Snapmaker machines before moving last year to Bambu Machines).    Despite being a number of years ago it was also designed using Tinkercad and iPad.

This was a significant print however in the years since it was completed the technology has moved on significantly and we would imagine the printing time and other aspects of the design would be improved.

You can also view this personalised Key Holder themed for Mothers Day from 2019.   In 2020 We created gift key rings/utility rings.  You can view all of these potential projects by clicking on the link and we would also suggest as a point of ideas you could view the Market Day 2025 ideas from our students as a number of those projects could easily be converted.

We've had a number of projects for personalised creations at the moment that offer a perfect example of something that could be created for Mothers Day.

In some of the examples the students have put the initials of the person that they were designed for.   In the instance shown left the prints used 32g of PLA to complete the print.     This has a price point of $0.33 for the pair.   The prints took thirty three minutes to complete.

There are a large number of examples on this blog from this activity which you can locate by using the search bar in the top right hand corner and the search bar phrase 'earrings'.

This would be an ideal project with a minimum printing time that would allow a class of students to complete the task in a relative short order.   We have also produced a slideshow dealing with this specific lesson, designed for a teacher taking their first steps in 3D Printing you can locate this by clicking on the link here.

Finally we have offered students the opportunity to create an original design which we are intending to print prior to Mothers Day.

An early design has come from this seven year old in the classroom who wanted to create an original and unique trophy that they could award to their 'number one Mum'.   With this design the student has used a combination of the main Tinkercad interface shapes and used 'scribble' to rate the handles and design the top of the trophy.   We printed this as an example to show the class and the student is intending to refine it.

The design at present is 70mm high, 60mm wide at the base.   It used 51g of PLA filament to complete with a price point of $1.27.    The print took two hours and twenty two minutes to complete using the Bambu H2D.

3D Print School - Ongoing End of Term 3 Projects

 

In New Zealand we are approaching the end of the third of four terms in our school year.   It is an extremely busy time we have our 2025 Market Day approaching in October, Term Four.  We have also a significant number of class projects and general 3D Printing projects going on.    We are documenting as much of it as possible at the moment, and on this blog - we have also after ten years created a body of work that includes the most posts now in a calendar year for this site.

We are still, as always, interested in making contact with other schools, student and teachers who are posting about similar topics.   We have expanded our online posting to include Facebook and are going to expand out digital footprint in a number of ways.   

If you want to directly contact us you can do so by emailing myles.webb@gmail.com or visiting Auroa School Website.

An example is shown above left.   Thingiverse was used to download a generic public domain .STL design cake topper.   Tinkercad was then used to personalise the topper by adding an individuals name between the rods that connect the topper to the cake.   The design was then printed on the Snapmaker and took three hours.   The print was 5mm thick, 140mm high and 90mm wide.

We are continuing with our classroom challenges, where our class of 25 students are given a design task to complete.   Although the task can sometimes vary the usual progression is a challenge, a design in Tinkercad, followed by a VR/AR test, and finally test prints of selective project before revision.  We have recently documented this process and project with a basic 101 slideshow which is aimed at beginning teaching and delivering something to the classroom.   We would also like to point out that this is being completed by the four printers that we have school wide, our three Snapmakers and our Bambu H2D.

The earrings shown here are a final version measuring 60mm long, 30mm across and being 5mm thick.   The print time on the Snapmaker was 45 minutes - we also tested these with inserts to ensure that they hang well and that the prints have a small wow about them, in this case the print has been completed with glow-in-the-dark filament.  You can read further details about this process and view the slideshow by clicking on the link here.

DPE is Auroa Primary Schools Tech program with a range of rotations for the students.   During one of the blocks students use the School Laser Cutter to complete a bluetooth speaker which is then embedded into an MDF speaker box.    The students then have the option to personalise or create a unique project.   You can read further information about some of our projects here, or click on the link here to view some of our ideas from previous years including some of our students unique and creative designs.

Anyone wanting to travel to our school and witness this program first hand or contact our DPE teachers directly can do so via the email above.

Our Principal has set a challenge to our students to create a unique trophy for the end of year prize giving.   In this instance one of our class students (who is eight years old) has been working on a design, the latest version of which is shown left.   

There is a significant degree of precision in this project as ultimately the intention is to present a permanent trophy to our prize giving students, and is currently undergoing its fifth version as the student is meeting repeatedly with the Principal to look at options.

Currently the latest version is being produced on the Bambu H2D and is taking three and a half hours.   The print is measuring 120mm across is 120mm high and 5mm thick for the top and 80mm thick at the base.  You can view more details on this project by clicking on the link from its inception here and see further progress here.

Market Day 2025 is approaching fast.   Each student in our senior school (four classes) and our Y3/4 classroom has been divided into businesses of around four students.

Each business has been tasked with creating a product or series of products that has the key driver of innovation (one of our school values) and personalisation.    Although groups have varied a large number have opted to use our 3D Printers, laser cutter or sticker machine as part of the production process.   You can click on the tab located here or use the search bar top right to find projects tagged for our 2025 version of this event or look back on our last event in 2023.   We are more than happy to provide these ideas for you if you are a student or teacher for a school event.

Another of our class challenges is to produce a physical set of geometric shapes, labelled and identified as belonging to our school that could potentially be used to help students with their Mathematical shape identification

We have asked students to design eight of the core shapes, ensure that they are labelled correctly and have information on them.  You can read a more detailed description of the projects and see our first examples that the students have produced here.   Again this is a class run projects of twenty six students which we are attempting to complete while we also focus on our other projects.

As we have mentioned we are very much happy to discuss any of the projects that we have detailed here on this blog, we are happy to help out with anything if you want to drop us a line or need advice etc.   We have a number of students and teachers who have directly or indirectly contributed to this work and we can also put you in touch with the relevant person responsible.

3D Printed Trophy - Second Physical Prototype

 

Challenge: To produce a detailed alternative for the school awards prize giving at the end of the school year.

Background: We detailed this in a previous post on our blog which you can read by clicking on the link here.  The challenge was for the class, which everyone initially designed and this was our second choice to print.   This was completed on the School Bambu H2D printer.

It was designed by a Y4 student on Tinkercad so the student is eight years old.    The design was completed independently and was submitted for printing.

Level of Difficulty: Hard.   This is a challenging project that would test the limits of most of our junior students.   It has been revised several times by the student under the direction of the Principal with the student working in an extended capacity. This is going to continue to be revised and reworked as this is something that will need to be of a particularly high standard to complete it for the purpose that it is intended, which would go home to award winners.

Size: The dimensions of the print as it stands has a base that is 120mm wide and 90mm long.  It is currently 10mm thick.   The award is 130mm tall from this base.   At this stage this may require some revision to ensure it is realistic to print enough of these to ensure one can be issued to every prize winner at our school.

Timeframe: Four and a half hours.  As noted changes are anticipated as a result of the completing of the process.   This was with the Bambu H2D printer.

What we would do differently/next steps for the students: This is version two point of of this project.  This student is been motivated to complete this task and it is going to be a significant project for our school involving our Principal who envisaged it and is regularly meeting with the student to ensure that it meets expectations.

3D Printed Trophy - First Physical Prototype

 

Challenge: As detailed previously in a post on this blog to create a unique trophy given to students during prize giving.

Background: We detailed this on a post previously on this blog. about the creation and intention of the project.    As we noted while everyone in the classroom (twenty five students) created their own version of this print.    Once it had been created by the students using the Tinkercad platform students where then able to use the AR/VR function available with the iPad.  From this point we were able to determine prints that would be potentially viable to print excluding any prints that we felt would not meet the brief.    The person of doing this was to create a physical print that we could then compare and look at improving with some additional details.

Further details of this print are available in the previous post.  This was completed using the Bambu H2D printer.  We had previously created a sport specific trophy in this print from 2015.

Size: As a prototype we wanted it to be as close to the size of the original as possible.    The print measures 120mm across at the base of the print and is 120mm long.   The height of the main section of the print 110mm at its main point.   

Timeframe: Using the Bambu H2D print three and a half hours, the Snapmaker version was predicted to take double this.

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

The students design with the name of the school needs to be balanced so both of them stand out.   The four corners of the design are currently pyramid shaped - one of the students has already stated that these could be modified to represent the mountain which is a local Taranaki landmark - Mt Taranaki.

The back of the design features the symbol for the school is on the reverse of the school name plate it has specific symbolism to the school, it is three feathers which are then intertwined.   This could benefit from further detail and development.    

3D Printed: Non Printing Design and AR/VR

Challenge: Set by the Principal for the students (Juniors) to create a suitable prize giving award for students at school.

Background: This challenge was set by the Principal of our School, following up from the paperclip challenge from the previous week.   This challenge was detailed on this blog, which you can view by clicking on the link here.

The challenge was created by our Principal who wanted a miniature trophy to be created by the students.    For the end of year prize giving our students are awarded a number of trophies, the idea is for students to keep the miniature version as a permanent reminder while the larger version could therefore remain in possession of the school.   The specific brief for the students was to feature the name of the school, and also have suitable details that were authentic to the school.

We provided with students to complete this task a physical example - that was a trophy created on Bambu Printer specifically for the 2025 School Step Master Dance Machine Competition.  This allowed our students to compare their AR/VR designs with an original design so they could compare the designs viability and composition.

In this instance the dimensions of the prints will mean that not all students projects will be printed.   We are going to allow the Principal to judge the competition on the basis of the virtual design and then select three to five designs to undergo the printing process.    This allows the class of twenty five to be all involved in the printing process, to refine their designs, share their designs and then complete the process.

We have documented a slideshow of ideas based around the use of projects that involve creation and design which is located on the tab here.

Size: Although this has not been completed yet - print wise, having the physical example present has been an excellent way to reinforce to the students about the exact potential measurements of their designs and print.   Tinkercad has the ability to do this accurately using the 'ruler' option.   The prints will have a base in the region of 80mm square and the disc with the heading and details will be 100 mm across.   These dimensions will obviously change on the basis of the final design.

Timeframe: Depending on the final design we would be anticipating the print time for this project would be four hours for the Snapmaker and two hours for the H2D Bambu.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students: While this project is not yet completed it is dependent on the guidance from the person who set the challenge.   Once the best designs have been selected and printed this will provide feedback to the entire class.   One of the issues that would be potentially the importance of the local story local aspects to our trophy - rather than have a generic mountain for instance in the base to have something specific to our locality.