3D Printed Boats: Catamaran

Challenge: For a student to create an original boat.

Background: As part of the challenges that we are giving the class of students this year we recently gave them a 'boat' making challenge.    Experience has taught us in the past that the 3D Printer is able to produce an object that will float, due to the typical infill that is present in most printing.   This has meant that students have been able to produce themed prints (such as bath toys which we used as part of our school market day, which was last held in 2023).

We also had our senior students attempt to create Catamarans in the past (due to their balance).   You can see examples of this that were originally produced in 2017 and later variations and expanded updates from 2019.

This is the first attempt at a project like this with our current classroom which consists of junior school students who are seven and eight years old.

This project was open ended in that it was presented to students and they were encouraged to come up with an original design.   The students were provided a very basic example to help guide them, but were also encouraged to push themselves to look for real life examples that they could draw inspiration from and have details that they could mimic with their designs.

The teacher also demonstrated to students that Tinkercad, which was used for the designs,  includes as part of its object interface a hull option.  In this design shown in this post the student was able to use the hull from here as the main basis for the twin hulls.  He then made a third copy of the hull which he flipped/inverted, shorted and hollowed out which is the shape that he used to make the cabin.  Having located various Catamaran photographs he then added additional details such as the sides, the sails and then used various shapes to build a steering wheel.

The student from start to finish was able to complete the design within a thirty minute period of time.

Level of Difficulty: Hard - this students is a Y4 student however he was able to use Tinkercad to manipulate and make a Catamaran in a short period of time, this is by far the most complex and detailed project from the class as a whole, for this task, and also that this student has attempted.

Timeframe: Eight Hours.   There was considerable rafting that was present with this print, as the base of the boat, between the two hulls and the floor, needed to be printed with support which had to be removed.

Size: This is a large print, 140mm long, 120mm across and the base (the cabin area was 60mm high).

What we would do differently/next steps for the students: There were some issues with the print that were not apparent when this design was completed.  There was a very small hole that was at the base of the boat where the hull joined the floor.  Although this was only 1mm or less it allowed a small amount of water in, which overtime caused the boat to list.  This was an awesome teaching experience as the student tried to work out ways to plug the leak.  He applied blu tack the first time, without success and then started to look at water proofing - he was also concerned that part of his print was not water-proof, and has begun the process of taking the boat, placing it in a container and then checking on it to see if it has taken on any water.   He has already discovered that the boat itself isn't going to sink, as the cabin ensure it remains afloat.   Again the learning experience from this is rewarding and the student will be looking at several aspects of this.   The steering wheel which is clearly visible in the AR/VR version of the print (photograph shown above) did not survive being robust enough.   The student is also looking at what he can add to the overall design to improve its presentation.

3D Printed: Swimming Pool Toys

3D Printed Swimming Toys has come about as a complete accident, however its potentially moved our design into another area that we hadn't considered.

The design and creation of this print took place as part of a series, created by a student, where she was using a template to create unique 3D Printed animals, full details of which can be located here.

During a swimming lesson this week we took one of the prints, in this case the butterfly to the school pool and placed it in the water.  We had already experienced this in our classroom where we realised that due to the print being set on a 20% infill the print would essentially float.

However what we didn't anticipate is that with the articulation designed by the student, the motion of students in the water caused a slight ripple which then caused the articulation to give the illusion that the butterfly was moving its wings.

We still have a couple of weeks of swimming remaining here in New Zealand and we will look to test this further, however potentially it would seem obvious that you could custom make a series of prints that would be used to motivate students by floating on the surface of the water.   In our instance a student who is reluctant to engage when swimming, and not keen to pick up items from a shallow pool was happy to play with the butterfly that was floating on top of the water.