3D Printed Mothers Day Stand - Exemplar

 

Challenge: To produce a unique print themed for the upcoming celebration of Mothers Day in New Zealand.

Resources Used: Tinkercad, iPad, regular white PLA, Bambu H2D.

Background: As we approach Mothers Day a number of students have made creations and designs for this upcoming day.   The brief to the students has been for the designs to be created in the students own time and independently.   The teachers role in this is merely to check the designs at the last stage and print ones that meet the brief.

Obviously while there is a huge volume of material that is available from online sites and portals we are looking to encourage the students design skills and have them work independently to create.  We have encouraged students of course to share their ideas and designs with each other and we also have a range of designs that are available via online sources like this blog.   We also have a group of students who started the process last month which featured here.

The process for this project and the students design can be traced directly back to this post from the same student in March.   Basing their design on an existing print they were able to create their own hybrid book or iPad stand.

This design had its basis in that although the scale was significantly reduced - however the goal of it working (ie it is able to hold the weight of a standard phone).   and by reducing the size the student also significantly reduced obviously the printing time and cost.

Level of Difficulty: Medium.  This is a eight year old from the cohort one students who is work independently - the design has a number of subtle features on it and works well.  It has balance and is not overcrowded or have elements that look like they are out of place.   There is very little 'unused space' and the design is extremely efficient.

Size: The print measures 70mm across at the front, is 110mm deep or long and is 5mm thick at the base.   The triangle for the support for the phone is 70mm high.   These dimensions work well to support a regular phone and obviously they would be adapted for a larger phone or device (such as a Kindle).

Cost/Price: The print uses 55g of PLA to be completed.  This was determined by using the Bambu Lab software.  It also allows us to calculate the price of the print which was $1.36 NZD.

Timeframe: To complete this print on regulation settings the time was two hours and ten minutes.   There would be no need as such to increase the size so this was an excellent use of the time.

What we would do differently/Next Steps for the student: the obvious next step for this project is for their to be spray painting completed (this is not something that a student will do this is passed onto an adult to complete).   Otherwise the project is essentially complete and has been delivered prior to the event.

Roland Versa Sign Maker + iPhone Stands

 

We have detailed in depth the iPad and iPhone stands being developed by one of the groups of students who are seven and eight for our 2025 Market Day.

When we have been looking at finishing we have the products that we have left as there were removed from the printer, but we also have been experimenting with adding details or depths to prints.

In these examples here we have started looking at how we can add or enhance the presentation.   This question arose because with the Market Day we have several businesses that have asked for  themed iPhone or iPad stands.

Some of the logos and the details for the business have proven to be challenging to accurately recreate using the design features of Tinkercad.   The solution for the students was to switch to using the Roland Versa Sign Maker.   

This machine has its own tab on the blog feature some of the ways that we have used it with the students.   Essentially one of the functions of it is to create quality vinyl stickers which can then be applied to a surface, in this case the PLA which has been made via the 3D Printer.   The sticker is able to be printed via a .PNG file or a .JPEG.

In the examples shown we have used the logo of a local school and an online business.    For an additional feature we used QRMonkey.com to create a unique QR code which was also applied to the stand, which is shown on the front on the wedge and also at the back at the bottom of the print.

The stickers applied to the designs need no additional finishing and expected to remain on the stand long term.   They have been previously applied to a variety of surfaces such as laptops, metal water bottles etc and they have maintained their integrity despite being placed on a high use device.

3D Printed iPhone Stand - Market Day Exemplar

 

Challenge: To produce a unique, personalised object for the upcoming School Market Day 2025.

Background: This is from the same group as the previous post on this blog, the iPad stand.   As detailed previously is a market day business from a group of students who have been using Tinkercad to create a product, that is personalised and printed using our Bambu H2D printer.

The dimensions for the print are similar, with the exception of the targeting a phone.   The same base design was used from the previous design.   Again as noted we were able to AR/VR this design show it to the person who had ordered it via the students, have them discuss ideas for the phone stand, create the AR version (using the Tinkercad App).   The design was completed independently by seven and eight year old students the classroom.  They brought it completed to the teacher who was then able to print the design.    Again as we have noted previously the Bambu H2D allows us to produce a print with an extremely detailed finish.

An example of this is shown left - the 'Silver Fern' emblem design, which is situated above the words, has exactly no rafting or waste plastic associated with it, in the print shown left and above it is exactly how it was removed from the printer with only some minor rafting around the base of the design, which was easily removed.

Level of Difficulty: Medium - for a seven year old, the students have been using Tinkercad for this year in the classroom and that has been enough for them to create this independently using the skillset that they have developed.

Size: The dimensions of the print are as follows.  The print measures 120mm across is 90mm long and was primarily 10mm wide in most places.   The backing part of print which contains the name/logo was 90mm high.  These dimensions were appropriate to complete the task successfully.

Cost: The Bambu print design details identified that 32m of filament was used, the print used 98g of filament and the cost associated with this was $2.25.   To recoup the price of the filament for the group the price set by the students would reflect this, with anything additional to be considered profit.

Timeframe: The printing on the Bambu H2D took just under three hours - as noted repeatedly if we were using our wonderful (but slightly older) Snapmaker machines we would expect this to take twice the time. 

What we would do differently/next steps for the students: The wedge shape for the base was the same as it was on the original design (for the iPad example it was changed from a wedge to a 'Willy Wonka' style hat).     We also had additional space on the design where additional information or details could have been added.   Once again a discussion was had about changing the colour of the base print by using a Bambu multi nozzle printer to do the job. 

Auroa School Kickstarters: Part One

Group: The 4 iPads

Innovation: Students have used Tinkercad to  make adjustments to the iPads holder that is created using the main interface.

While this was the creation process the students were able to use the designs and their Tinkercad experience to adapt them by altering the size to fit either iPads or iPhone stands.    The next  stage was for the students to consider how to add additional features to the stands so they were not run of the mill basic stands.

Personalisation: The designs were made with examples where a message was sunk into the base of the stand.   The name of the person was also included as a major feature on the front of the stand.

You can view further details of the print by clicking on the link here or you can view all of our school Kickstarter projects by clicking on the link here.

Group: Auroa All Blacks

Innovation: Students used Tinkercad to create unique key rings for a range of individuals.   The student are able to make unique key rings that are not available elsewhere.  As an additional feature the students made the decision to look at producing these using glow-in-the dark filament.    The students were able to use Tinkercad independently.  There were numerous examples of these available online that the students were able to use for a design.

Personalisation: The very nature of these prints meant that they were individualised with the name featuring on the key ring,   

You can view further details of the print and examples by clicking on the link here or you can visit our school page here which contains links to every Kickstarter group in our senior school.

3D Printed Stands: iPads and iPhones

 

Challenge: To show innovation and creation to produce a unique suitable for a student market day.

Background: This is the focus for our big school event this year a school market day showing innovation and creativity.

We have put our students into business groups and each of these groups has been tasked with some key questions - how can they use technology and innovation to produce something that is creative, unique and personalised.

One of our groups is focussed on having iPhone stands and iPad stands for various devices.   This group has used the Tinkercad design template and then altered it to meet their design needs (which in this instance was to adapt it for the different devices).   The personalisation of the stands has come in the form of lettering at the front, sunk into the sides and also a design feature on the back.

The student was also challenged with design task of making something that was unique and creative.   In this instance the student who created the project, who is a Y3 student, so a student who is seven years old, wanted to have the hand reaching out from the back of the design.

The 'iPads are the best' slogan at the back was intended to be more of a example of what could be done rather than something that needed to feature for the design (and a point of difference for the selling process will be the personalisation of this and other text).

We previously had created numerous iPad stands including this one with built in storage from 2018.   Another version of this was completed in 2019 with a slightly different design.

A secondary project and potential product came from the same process, however the base design was adapted by the student for an iPhone stand.  We have produced a number of iPhone stands in the past, which you can locate via the search bar on the right hand side of this blog.

In this example the phone stand has had a similar process undertaken to ensure that it is completed successfully.   This means as well as the basic stand shape there is a persons name built into the base of the design, where the phone sits, the back as a personalised message and the addition of some basic graphics and details.

Size: There are two seperate prints in this project.  The iPhone is of course the smaller one measuring 80mm wide and 80mm deep.   It was also 80mm high and the wedge extended out 20mm and the lettering and illustrations raised 5mm from the back of the design.  It took two and a half hours to print.

The iPad stand measures 120mm across is 90mm long and 90mm high.    The wedge was 20mm high and the graphic at the back of the stand measures 10mm out.   

The iPad stand took four hours to complete.   Given the dimensions of the prints, the purpose of the print these are able to function as required.

3D Printing - Junior Classroom Challenge Part 2

Challenge: For student to create a personalised iPhone/Phone stand. 

Background: This was part of the challenge that was presented to the students at the start of term three in New Zealand.   They had come back and to get them creative, to get them designing, their first task was to create a unique pair of earrings - this worked well and was very much a short term print.

The next challenge in this series was to make a phone stand.   The criteria for this was that the stand needed to be personalised somehow, had a shape that was also on the design and we encouraged the students to come up with some unique or interesting design aspects.   The print is a medium level print (see below) so the print is a challenge for a classroom to print with one printer, however we are doing this over the next few weeks as time allows.

The personalisation details can be seen on the left of this photo.  The student wanted to gift it to a family member (hence the 'P') they wanted to include a star on the top of the main base and also a heart.

An interesting aspect of this design was that the student opted to introduce storage to the base of the design, as shown in the first photograph.   This storage did not compromise the ability of the stand to work.   

The student responsible for the completed project started working on 3D Printing and design this year having no prior experience to design and creation, but has picked up the process quickly.   

Level of Difficulty: Medium.   The base for the design is one of the many templates available via Tinkercad.    The students design process was around sizing and then thinking what additional features that she might be able to add to the design, storage on the inside worked really well as did the overall design.

Timeframe: The print took five hours to complete which was reflective of the size and the purpose of the print.   There was limited potential to make this any smaller as it would then not have been able to complete it purpose.

Size: The stand measures 80mm long was 60mm wide and at top of the back of the design was 80mm hight.   Again like the timeframe given the specific purpose of the print this dimension was the minimum required for it to be successful.

Not only was the stand able to easily fit a variety of regular size phones we also discovered that it could also balance an iPad, although we did need to be careful to ensure that the iPad was not knocked as it would then tip over.

What we would do differently/next steps for students: 

We have printed a variety of stands previously that have included personalisation, an example of which from 2023 is shown here.  In these examples storage became an active and challenging aspect so in this case the student could have looked to expand their storage so perhaps look at a hinge or a small door or lock - however this would substantially increase the difficulty and make this a more challenging project.   As it was the student concerned was extremely happy with the outcome.

We have also a number of examples of projects that you can view relating to these on our blog, as always your can use the search bar and type in the name of the project or example and look for a variety projects completed by students on this topic over the years that this blog has been running.

3D Printing: Beginning Steps and Refining Projects

 

As we're currently in the first term of a new school year in New Zealand we have a group of new students, who are Y3-4 currently working on their very first 3D Prints and 3D Projects. 

As we have detailed this process in considerable detail already on this blog, we won't repeat too much of the process etc.   but suffice to say that the seven and eight year old students tend to start with the basics and complete the basics well - in this example the student was thrilled with their effort (so much so that they didn't want to repeat the print, despite the obvious printing error.   This print was the first print by a student who used the 'flipped' instructional video which is the step by step guide to producing a basic Tinkercad print and design.  This print took just over two hours to print was 120mm across, 90mm high and the base was 10mm thick.  The lettering for the names of the people in the students family were designed to be different heights and the student was really pleased with the result.

At the more advanced level we have a student who had a major roll in the School Market Day which took place at the end of last year.  This student was responsible for sourcing SVG files (that were public domain, freely available) and converted these for 3D Printing, originally adapting a cow design into a number of other designs.  These were able to be produced quickly and once the design was sorted mass produced using the 3D Printer.   It was ideally suited for this process as it was able to produce robust ear rings that could be produced in twenty minutes or so.   The student is going to be running a small scale innovation business this year along these lines - and the Dolphins are the first design that she has worked on at this stage.   They are currently taking twenty minutes each to print measuring 90mm high, 30mm to 45mm across and are currently 5mm thick.   

Finally as can be seen, also from the same photo, the student who opted to laser cut the iPhone holder has started to revise the design by using the 3D Printer to produce something with more strength to it.  Her first design will need refinement for while it looks to be a successful fit to the base, which she still intends using the laser cut base for testing has shown that she needs to check again to develop it further.

3D Printed Phone Stand 2023

 Challenge: For a student to independently design and create a phone stand suitable of different devices.

Background: At the end of last year looking to extend a student one of the design ideas and challenges that they were interested in creating was a stand that could be personalised for a stand.  Previously we have student work on this type of project.   There have been basic versions very similar to what the student had in mind, which is detailed here on this blog in 2018 and a more complicated version with a similar idea but also included a draw for storage was developed in 2019 and can be located here.

In this instance because the student was looking at creating something original we didn't take the opportunity to show them the previous designs as we felt that it might influence them and the student was looking forward to the challenge of creating something original themselves.   

For this particular student the challenge was for them to create, design, measure and build an original stand.  They had worked on projects with other students previously however this was their first independent project.  The teacher had the guiding only but wanted the student to develop their skills and work ideas.   As usual the students used Tinkercad for the design (again we have pointed out repeatedly on this site the interface, the student management systems for classrooms and the design functionality of Tinkercad is exceptional - its also free).      The student was able to create measurements based on the size of the phone that the gift was intended for.

Aspects of the design fell out of the process - obviously the personalisation of the holder is something that has been a feature of these kinds of designs.  The student knew from experience to sink the lettering for the name into the base of the design, instead of having it to the outside of the print, which as well as producing considerable rafting also 

The student also put a subtle hole into the base of the design, as can be viewed in the photograph on the left.   This allowed a charging cord to be linked to the print and have the phone on the stand, displaying or playing media while charging at the same time.  

Size: This print ended up being 80mm wide 120mm high and 50mm deep.   In addition there was a heart that reduced the amount of plastic for the base, the stand was hollow underneath - these were all based around the size of the photo and being able to have the phone on the stand.

Level of Difficulty: Medium - the student was extremely pleased and could have added additional features to the design.  This was extremely successful from the students perspective, however they were successfully able to print the design at their first attempt.

Next Steps for the student/What we would do differently:

As an independent project this worked extremely well.  The student concerned was very happy with the finished project. As an aside a miniature screwdriver is ideal to remove the inlay rafting that is present in the name that has been sunk into the base of the design.   Sandpaper is required to tidy the design up and then the intention is to spray paint it a different colour.

Overall another successful project.

As we have mentioned it is currently the school holidays in New Zealand we are returning shortly with a new classroom for 2023 and will begin the process of printing out new classroom work at this point.

3D Printed Mini iPad/Phone Stand with storage draw

Challenge: Student wanted to create a stand for their iPad/iPhone and include storage in the base of the stand as a feature.   The student wanted to personalize the stand with their name.

Above: Design in profile prior to rafting removal

Background: While this student had not designed this sort of project before, a sibling of theirs had and as a consequence the student was able to call upon them for guidance with the design and the dimensions of the project.   This student had completed a number of projects in the classroom this year and was one of the chief designers for things related to the sound lure project boxing.

The student also needed to consider number of factors that were challenging in this project - getting the balance right was significant between producing a functional stand and having a long term print.

Degree of Difficulty: High - to get everything working in conjunction with the other features is something of an art.   This project will require considerable reworking to be considered successful.  All of the elements need to work together - for instance introducing a draw into the base of the design increases the storage significantly but the trade off is the fact that the base becomings considerably weaker when empty which can cause the base itself to tip with the weight of an iPad.

Above: The internal draw.

Size: The front of the design measured 80mm across, the print was 70mm long/deep and the print was 55mm high at the the top of the backing of the design.   The internal draw measured 70mm by 60mm and was able to sit into the base of the design.   The size of the sides of the draw need to be noted as they were 3mm across.  This would be the minimum size required to produce a stand, and in retrospect these dimensions would probably be increased to be successful.
Time frame: The base of the stand took four and a half hours and the draw took an hour.  This contrasts with some of the larger iPad stands and holders which have been up to twenty hours with the default print settings.  What we would do differently/Next Steps for Students: There were a few things to consider with this design - the weight of the print would hold a basic iPhone or iPad if it was regular dimensions (ie without a case).   However if you knocked the iPad then the stand would fall, so more weight would be required (although this could be addressed by filling up the storage

draw.   The student choose to include thier name and sink it into the front facing side of the stand.   this significantly weakened the strength of the design.   The student would have been bettered served to have printed their name in a separate print run, ideally either in another colour or one that could be spray painted, and then super glue it into place.   When the lettering around the students name was removed a significant amount of detail around the lettering also came out.   This was despite a teacher removing the rafting and taking all the care possible - a student would face particularly more challenge in doing so - with a straight basic print, and the name in a second colour this would be easily achievable.

Given the knowledge and the skill set that the ten year old student has managed to achieve I would consider it to be an easy fix for the student to successfully adapt their design to include these features and re-print the project which the student will do early next year.   

3D Printed iPad Stand - Drone

Design shown from above featuring name plate

Challenge: For student to create a personalised stand to hold his iPhone.  Student who created this print is ten years old and has a shown a talent for 3D Printed design and creation.
Background: Student is able to produce a range of prints and designs and has been increasingly complex and innovative.  In this example he had a desire to create a stand for his iPhone so that he could locate it easily have it promently displayed in his room.
Level of Difficulty: Low-Medium.  The design itself is realatively straight forward.  He took an available template (the drone template) and decided to convert it to personalise it for his use.   He included a name, sunken into the top of the base, added additional backing plate and sunk a design to catch the iPhone. 

Design to hold the iPhone clearly shown by the depression

Time Frame: Twelve hours.   There was a change required to this print, which were the feet on the base of the design.  These were too thin and came away when the rafting at the base of the design was removed.   Taking these out of the design did not alter the design and therefore should have been removed from the plan.  This would have had a significant improvement in the printing time.   As previous prints, 20% infill (internal printing of the printer), Tinkercad used to create the design (including having a design featured from the main Tinkercad interface) followed by being converted to CURA for printing by the Ultimaker 2+. 
Size: The front of the design measures 160mm across and is 180mm long.   The base plate is 100mm by 100mm.   The block that supports the iPhone and has the name of the student on top is 65mm high, 25mm thick and 10mm long.   The depression to base the iPad is 85mm by 35mm and 10mm deep.  Relative to the size of the phone these dimensions would be the minimum that would be required for this particular print to be successful. 
What we would do differently: The issue that needs to be addressed is the legs.  This design needs to potentially be lifted up off the ground, from a display perspective and the student has twice attempted to use legs that have been too thin and removed either partially or fully when the rafting has been taken off.  The student is currently designing additional legs and a base for this design to compliment its creation.
Next Step for students: As above.   The design itself was created by a ten year old student so some conferencing has resulted in more discussion about its shape and production.  The student could have printed parts with seperate PLA filament and then assembled with superglue or other connectors to produce a layered affect with the colours.