3D Printed Comparison: Dragon (Snapmaker) vs Dragon (Bambu)

 

We have previously spent time discussing examples of printing and how a favourite staple of our work was dragons that were popular when we held school events like our 2023 Market Day.

A recent upgrade of machines from our Snapmaker machines to a Bambu H2D has meant that we have been able to look at producing a new range of prints and material - including a new range of dragons that were previously beyond our abilities.

The range of material that is available includes a huge range of predesigned and created prints.   Again without wanting to sound repetitious but the Bambu has the ability to allow us to produce a range of material that is not possible with our current Snapmaker set up - again as we have stated the Snapmaker is now four years old with its hardware set up.

The 'Ice Dragon' (shown left) was produced with some basic rafting between each of the links and took six hours to print.   

The 'How to Train Your' Dragon shown above left took three hours to print, combined several colours - including an eye and tail section.   It contained minimal rafting and had wings that essentially printed as a single print.

The prints are relatively similar in length however the Bambu version has elaborate wings that have the ability to move.   

The excess PLA not required as a result of the printing was produced into a package that came out with the print.    We are printing a limited amount of projects such as this to show these as examples for the students to look at, consider and explore.

3D Printed Ideas: Rainbow Filament - Market Day 2025

 

Every two years at Auroa School we hold a school market day where students sell products that are made using some of the technology that is available to students of Auroa Primary School, with our Market Day focussing on innovation and creativity.

We have posted about this in the past on this blog extensively, you can search the blog by using the box on the right hand side.

We also have videos on this event created by the wonderful staff member whose videos are featured on his Sonic Vision Studios Youtube page.

We have again started experimenting with different kinds of filament for designs.  In the past we have experimented with having students (supervised by our seniors) using spray painting in special circumstances.  The latest batch of prints that we are experimenting with are 'rainbow' tinted and shaded PLA.   You can see an example of the dragon shown in the top photograph, which was the basis for our 'Dragon' selling or the name plate/badge shown below, which has previously been featured on this blog.

3D Printed: Junior 'Unique' Dragon

Challenge: For a junior school student to create a dragon, from scratch.

Background: We have worked on designs of Dragons before, and featured them extensively in the school market day that took place at the end of last year.   We had a business that was run by Y3 students who were able to locate a range of available designs of Dragons that were available online as free designs.

This student was looking for a way to extend herself considerably.   She has shown a lateral view with designs.   The challenge put to her (she is a Y4 student so someone who is 8) was to use the basic shapes from the Tinkercad main interface to create a unique dragon.  Given the age of the student, the scale of the challenge and the likelihood that it would work seemed very challenging - but again it needs to be acknowledged that the teacher (myself) has again underestimated the talents of a junior school student completing a challenging CAD design process. 

However in the past we have had students create projects such as the Christmas Sleigh from 2018 which was able to achieve the design of a complicated project using the basic steps.

Level of Difficulty: Hard.  The process is to take something that is almost universally recognised.  the student is going to refine and remeasure this design moving forward (see below).

Timeframe: Ninety minutes.  This was ideal for this project as it will allow reworking and following a process of development, with the student taking the lead.  We would have been reluctant to allow the student to create a larger version when this is an early prototype.   

Size: 80mm long, 25mm across and 40mm high at the head.   Ideal for the process of design.

What we would do differently/Next steps for students:   The speed at which the student has succeeded in working through this process has meant a smaller print time to encourage the student was ideal.  The student is going to now work through the basic design that they have created, adding details, sculpting and shaping the design to make it more detailed.  She is using various illustrations and book series to look at details.  It has been a fantastic experience which has shown again the power of the potential for the student to continue to experience with design and creation.

School Holidays NZ - Update: September 2023

It is currently the break between Term Three and Term Four School terms in New Zealand - our students are one week into a two week holiday. We have a major event coming up in November - that is our 2023 Market Day.   This will feature a number of items sold to the local community many of which have been created using some of the specific technology available to our students.  You can see the addition of 'Market Day' tab on our main page.

Our laser cutter is being used in addition to our 3D Printers.   One of the businesses shown left features the MDF Laser Cut planes which have then been spray painted.   

We have also a group of students who during the holidays have been further developing and designing their own 3D Printed animal businesses.   They are roughly divided into two main groups - the first is those who are just exploring their 3D Printing.  These students are using open sourced prints that can then either be modified or 'value added' so that the students can input an aspect of their design.  A number of these businesses and designs have already been featured on this page.

An example of this is the rabbit shown left - the original design is a freely available one from Thingiverse.   The student concerned who is an avid rabbit owner has spray painted the designs (under the appropriate supervision) and then came up with the idea of adding glitter to the designs when the paint had yet dried.   This allowed the glitter to stick to the designs allowing them to sparkle.

This idea came from the students who are working on creating the 'Dragon'.    We have detailed this previously.  We have students who have the eighteen hour printed dragon (online it is described as an 'Ice Dragon' who have worked out how to layer it with the spray painting - who then decided to add glitter to the dragon to give it a dramatic effect when it is tilted slightly.

Again this came from the result of having the students print a design that they wanted to try and use aspects of it to copy another design.    Two students have the two prototypes which they have taken home for the holidays with instructions to play with, manipulate the prints and attempt to think about ways to enhance its presentation.  When the holidays are completed it will be interesting to see how these ideas have developed and what will follow as a result.   The second group of designs are the designs that are created 'from scratch' where the students have followed a process of creating a flexi-animal.   Again examples of this print can be found on this blog.

2023 Market Day - Y3 and Y4 Student Business Updates

We located the 'Giraffe Plant Holders' online via Thingiverse.   We focussed on this item with the design of the animals via spray paint cans and the student has sourced some potential succulents.   The print time for each of the units was three hours as mentioned - our Market Day is not until November however as we are experiencing anticipated extensive use of the school printers so we are preparing them well in advance.  The focus of the business is going to be put onto the research related to the animal and the student producing the information related to it.  You can see the first attempt at the succulent with the Giraffe on the second row on the right.

The Sea-Turtle business has the student who has made the design and again is now focussing on the next part of the project - selecting colour combinations and arranging to have the items sprayed.  The student has completed the process and created an original and fully designed flexi-animal following the instructions provided by an older student in the school.   The student responsible for this business has followed a similar timeline and pattern to the student featured on this blog that involved the 'flexi-dog' as we approach a School Market Day later in the Year.

We located a number of dragons online - the design shown left was found on Thingiverse and is described as an 'Ice Dragon'.    This is freely available file and design - it is a particularly complex design and not something that our junior students would be able to create.  

Our students had a commercial purchased dragon which was shown previously and this was used as the basis for the design - we attempted to replicate the spray painting, the design and the features of the dragon.   We also were able to increase the size of the design significantly as the design shown left is three times the size of the original that we had as a model.   Again we have junior school students working on this to achieve this project - who are seven and eight years old.  

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.

Ongoing 3D Projects: General Items for the End of 2022

As we are working towards the end of the school year in New Zealand we have a group of students who are working on several different projects at once.   This is a brief roundup of what some of the students in our classroom are currently working on.

Once again we have had a look at working within our local community to produce items that are specific to local businesses or local groups.   We've done this extensively in the past and some of our creations have been used for several years by local businesses/organisations as the PLA has maintained its shape despite three or four years of being handled and used.   This is part of a design for a local tractor contracting business which will be eventually turned into a key ring with the business logo slightly refined and a hole included with the design.   There is some thought to the colour combination and refining the design but this is proving to be a positive experience for everyone involved.  The projected print time will be in the three hour mark for the fully finished product.

Regular followers of this blog will be aware that we are usually reluctant to print freely available models unless there are special circumstances or we can see it leading into other projects.  In this case the dragon was located via Thingiverse.  In its current form it came out as a single print, which took an eight hour job on the regular settings.   The student who printed this wanted to increase its presentation by looking at its decoration.  It has been spray painted and small little details have been added to the eyes.   The student was to increase the colour combinations with the print, including putting gold detail.  There is the potential for other related prints to tie into this project.

The designs in this project have come again from Thingiverse, however there is an exception - in this case the deign has been altered.  As part of our detailed market day project, where our students ran various businesses,  many featuring 3D printed designs, one of the junior school teachers identified the potential to have the animals modified to help as a resource with rote counting.

The addition of the numbers in the base of the slugs is a simple tasks, the intention is to use the slugs for junior students to help with their counting.   We are currently meeting with our junior teachers to ensure that the blocks or segments on the base of the slug fits the counting expectations of the classroom.   We are able to replicate the segments of the slugs to include larger numbers.