Senior Tech - Roland Versa Sign Maker

 

This is an update from a post that we made on Wednesday, detailing the use of the sticker machine, the Roland Versa Sign maker.    In this example from our Y7/8 students during technology (our DPE program) the students have used Gimp to create virtual images  which are then printed and applied onto the base of the machine which have been printed using the Bambu H2D.

The students were responsible for the design, creation and information displayed on the labels which were then applied as mini-decals on the side of the machine.

The full range of photographs and images from the work can be seen via the companion Facebook page for this site.  You can click on the link to the Facebook page here.

Roland - Versa Studio Sign Maker BN-20 T-Shirt Project

One of the projects that we wanted to highlight was how we are using some of the additional technology at our school.

Our senior students who are Year 7/8 have one day a week when they take part in our School Wide Technology Program (called DPE).   We have a variety of options/electives on this day including some of the traditional lessons but we also include things like laser cutting and technology design.

One of the pieces of the technology used is the Roland Sign Maker.  This machine was used extensively when we had the Auroa School Market Day where it was used to produce a range of stickers that we used as labels for the marketing of the products that our students were then selling to the community.

Another use for this machine, but on a larger scale is to produce stickers or large adhesives that can be used as t-shirt transfers.   These can be seen in the photographs shown left.   The designs are created by the students using Gimp.

Once this is completed the designs are printed onto the machine and from here they are heat transferred onto a standard t-shirt.   The students of course have the control over the content of the T-Shirt and they can design areas, characters and aspects of interest that are personal or important to them.    We have contemplated also making school or team shirts or sets of shirts the same way as the machine would allow the potential for the shirts to be able to be completed to suit our individual, group or school needs.   The completed shirts tend to be of a comparable quality of those that might be purchased from a printing shop.

Once the transfers have been designed, created and printed they are then put through a hot press which steams the designs into place, the press being shown left.

Using the Vinyl Printer/Sticker Machine: School Market Day 2023

We have addressed the fact that our school has a number of significant items that we are able to use for our students and school events.

Two of these items were used significantly for our 2023 School Market Day, being the HP Latex 335 Printer and the Versa Studio Sign maker Machine.

The larger vinyl prints were made on the HP an example is shown left where the students documented the innovation process and took photographs at each stage of their learning.  They were able to print this poster off and display their learning as part of the market day experience.  This helped shared the learning and creative process with members of the community who came to view the market day.   These prints were extremely large.

The Versa machine was able to produce much smaller prints in a vinyl sticker format that the students used for the packaging of their products.  When combined with the Laser Cutter designing MDF cuts to back the work onto it produced a ready made stand for the display of the work.

The students were able to independently produce the prints using Pic Collage and then convert them for printing using their individual iPads.

Each of the students from the classroom was able to create a unique presentation (as shown left) another bonus was that as it was vinyl the dye used to stain the MDF could be applied after the sticker had been put in place.  This just required the sticker to be wiped down if any dye had moved onto the design.

Another use of the HP Printer was to work in conjunction with some of the Gala games that were run by out senior students at school.   These traditional games had an ideal opportunity to use technology to aide in their creation and advertising and explain the rules of the games.    We had previously contacted some local real estate agents to ask for signs that they did not use and also had sourced some corrugated cardboard for the purpose.  This turned out to be extremely important as it allowed us to have signs that could survive if the weather was slightly inclement - which is was on the night.

It also meant the signs were robust enough to survive some significant wind gusts (which again occurred on the night).   This allowed us to display the events and provide some eye catching graphics.

We were also able to produce the material for specific games that was more durable than would have been possible otherwise.   An example is the golf map shown with this photograph.   This was the target for a game involving throwing ping pong balls at each of the holes with a small prize for being successful.  As it was printed on vinyl it allowed the game to be played numerous times without concern that the game board would be damaged by the competition.

The HP Latex Printer allowed us to print the game board as a single sheet - although it had significant dimensions.

Roland - Versa Studio Sign Maker BN-20

Project Details: Roland Versa Studio Sign Maker BN-20

How are we using the technology: We are very fortunate at our school to have a variety of technology that is available to our students.  One such piece of technology is the Roland Sign Maker (detailed and linked above).   We have used this machine to produce stickers for our school.   As a result students have to think about how they might use the technology - what is the purpose?

We have posted with significantly about our School Market Day which is coming up later next month.   One aspect of the work that the students are producing is the packaging that goes with their product.   In this instance the sticker machine is being used to produce adhesive stickers which can then be applied to the packaging.

The older students in our school tend to use Mac Books and programs such as GIMP for the photographic design and manipulation.   In the junior school students have used a straight forward program with their iPads such as pic collage which is available from the App store.

In the example shown left the students from this group ordered online from a retail site in New Zealand which sells batched products for lip balm.   They then used the available information to produce the lip balm.

For packaging the students ordered the bags shown in bulk from Ali-Express.    The personalisation of the products came from using the sticker machine to produce individualised business stickers for the product.  As they are adhesive they attached to the plastic tubes and stay in place.

This adds considerably to the presentation of the product and the individuality of the groups work and branding.  We have also used some branding sites in addition to this for students to create individual and unique business logos and designs.

Additional information on this machine and process will be following as will a tab from the main blog page.

3D Printed IRB Boats

Challenge: To produce an IRB Boat for a special event.

Background: The local Surf Life Saving Club was holding a significant milestone event (a hundred years since the club was founded).  For the event the club were looking at featuring something that was unique and related to the club that could be part of the celebrations.  The solution to this was for a 3D Printed IRB (inflatable rescue boat).    ideally we would have looked at creating something unique for the situation however given the time constraints and the need to produce a semi-significant numbers of the print we went searching online for a pre-created version that we could either adapt or use.   

We have spoken before about using Thingiverse as a location to find detailed prints that have already been created and again in this instance the presence of such a print was located on the site, which we were able to access and then use.   

Once it had been selected and located we looked at detailed presentation but again based on the timeframe that we were looking at and the scales of units that we needed to get a decision was made to remove the rafting from the design and spray paint it with a single colour (orange) from a spray can.    The piece was produced in four hours with minimum rafting (the only amount was the single piece shown above in the top photograph).

The final issue was the ability to make the print have some kind of unique relation to the event.  In this case we made the decision to combine the 3D Print with another machine that our students have access to at our school, in this case it was a Versa Studio  Sign Maker ( Bn-20).   This machine allows our students to take files and produce stickers with it.

The design shown in the photograph on the left is the stickers with the club emblem and initials, the date of the event.   These are going to be put onto the side of the IBB boats where the club markers are for the actual boats, therefore making them unique for the event.