Dolls House 2025 Project: Culmination

 

The full scale Dolls House, which started as a 3D Printing project in the classroom for our junior students has now been fully completed, designed, laser cut and had all of the finishing touches added.

You can view the project as it started as a 3D Printing task with the slideshow on the guides/special projects tabs.  It is also mentioned numerous times on our laser cutter exemplars tab which you can click on with the link here.

The dimensions of the print we would describe as extremely significant in that the design and build measures 850mm across is 450mm deep and 750mm high.    It has the numerous rooms that were previously described in the process of making it.

The entire project has been laser cut with the exception of the hinges that support the opening and closing of the roof (as shown left) which has been created by using the Bambu H2D to create the hinges.

The final project has shifted from being a gift to the junior classrooms into a object that is being put into the school auction for our major fundraising event for the year which is taking place on October 31st for our School Market Day 2025.

3D Printed Octopus: Small

This is the 'small' size Octopus which is a companion print to a previous print series that was detailed on this blog.   As it is another design in the series the print information has already been published here and the design journey from the students etc is already documented.

The larger octopus shown was a three hour print (on the Bambu H2D) in this instance the smaller version was a one hour print.   

The large print had a 50mm body that was 50mm high and wide and the tentacles were 60mm long.  The small octopus (shown left) was 25mm wide and high and the tentacles were 30mm long.    The print used 12g of filament and had a cost of $0.28 (USD).   For a entire roll we could print 83 of these designs and it would cost $0.35 (NZD) for each unit.

Know the prints can be printed, assembled and put together by the students for a cost of $0.35c will all the students to set a price point that reflects this with the difference being the profit per unit.

We are realistically looking at printing these in significant numbers with up to six on a single print run.   

#Tinkecadhunt - Inside the Classroom

 

We started this activity previously with our use of Tinkercad working in conjunction with the iPad app and using its AR/VR function.

The objective for the students was to use the program to create an object that could be there in the circumstances and was 'normal'.   In the example shown left the iMac laptop is not there - it has been projected in.

In this example the student considered the placement of the objects that were around the projected image.   A scene was created using the objects that the student would usually use in the classroom on her desk.

The object that is projected into the scene is in front of the pencil case on the right hand side of the scene.  It is  in itself a 3D print that the student has used and has on display on her desk.

We have another slideshow of examples of this activity that will be published later this week.

3D Printed Exemplars: Bringing Up Standards 2

 

This is the companion post to a post on this blog on October 6th.  In this post we spoke about iPad stands that needed to have some finishing where the top of the designs had to be replaced or reworked.

In this example (left) we had a motorbike design which needed to be replaced due to its lack of finishing.   The student who designed this iPad decided to replace it with a font from a game that the student liked.  

The print was located online and had been created and made available on a site that allows material to be 

The font/heading was 90mm across, 30mm wide and 30mm high for the main point of the lettering.   The print was completed on the Bambu H2D Printer and took one hour to complete.  It was decided for the purpose of contrast to complete the print in gold, although there is a question of the spray painting of the design.

A common adhesive glue was used to bind the extra font to the top of the print.

In the second example we had a series of flowers across the top of the iPad stand.  Three of the four flowers didn't survive the removal of the small amount of rafting on the top.

The replacement piece was the bird shown left which was designed in Tinkercad.   The student wanted to create a duck and the dimensions of the design reflected that.   The bird was 70mm long, 40mm across and 20mm high (the body) the head was another 20mm high.

The duck took thirty minutes to print on the Bambu H2D.

The student should have considered the based of the duck which would have been easier to attach to the top of the iPad stand.    

3D Printing Projects: Expanding Prints with Bambu H2D

 

Challenge: Use the Bambu H2Ds ability to combine PLA into a single print, with a 'Christmas Theme'.

Background: In August 2025 Auroa Primary School purchased a new Bambu H2D Printer.   One of the aspects of the machine is that is has four nozzles and has the opportunity to combine colour within the confines of a single print - as shown on the prints when we compared dragons previously on this blog.

We have mentioned that we have started identifying potential examples for our 2025 Market Day which can be used as additional material for sale at the event (as most of the preorders have already been sold which would mean if nothing was added nothing would be available on the evening for sale).   

Level of Difficulty: Medium, something new for the students is the use of multi colours and the Bambu Studio software used to create it.   This design is an original from Tinkercad, the student has then imported the design into Bambu studio and used this program to identify the sections for alternative colours of PLA.

Size: The print is essentially 100mm wide and 100 high and is obviously a bauble shape.   As a decoration intended to hang from a tree these are the expected dimensions for this, conceivably it could have been smaller if the entire class was to complete the project however in this case the intention was for it to be a test of the colour options with the Bambu H2D.

Cost: The print used just slightly under a 100g of filament, which would equate to using a roll to produce ten of these items.  As the regular PLA is currently tracking at $30.00 a roll this means the print would cost $3.00 at a break even point.

Timeframe: Four hours on the Bambu H2D.  We would not attempt this on the Snapmaker as the colour combination would mean that the design would need to be stopped and started to complete the process - as it was with the machine it was completed automatically in a single print.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students:   The Bambu H2D produces a purge when the colours are combined.   That is the waste plastic is produced in a column - as shown left.   While this is much more compact and tidy than a regular printer it is still significant.  If the printer had been printing in a single colour it would have been minimal.

The student had wanted the belt and the buttons to be white however when they were allocating the patterns on the design they did not select the correct colour combination from the printer and as a result they were printed black.

We have previously published a significant volume of material with a Christmas theme - we will update the slideshow for 2025 and publish it again soon.  In the meantime you can click on the link here to locate it.

Market Day 2025 - General Stock Items 2

Challenge: To produce a unique and original decoration suitable for Christmas.

Background: As mentioned previously we are looking for examples for items that can be used to allow purchasing during our 2025 School Market Day.  We have previously showed examples of the generic key rings that are specific to our locality.   

One of the items that we have produced in quantity in the past has been 'Christmas Themed' decorations suitable for hanging from a tree.  We have produced entire slideshows of examples of this kind of work that has been featured here on this blog during the past ten years.  You can view that slideshow here.

This new design shown left is a new example.   This was designed by a student using a combination of resources, Tinkercad was used for the design of the shape.   The image of the deer was downloaded and imported from Thingiverse.   The additional images were created using the main Tinkercad interface.

Level of Difficulty: Medium - all the elements are relatively easy to put into place and this could be completed independently within a short space of time without any input from the teacher.

Size: The print measures 100mm across and is 110mm high.  The design is only 4mm wide - however this is reflected in the purpose of the design which is to be a static print on display.

Cost: The print used 11g of filament.    Based on this we could produce 90 units with a single roll.   The cost per unit that we would need to break even with this print is $0.43c (NZD).    This could therefore determine the cost point for students.

Timeframe: 1 hour - this is completed on the Snapmaker printer.

3D Printed Market Day: Final Product Octopus

 

This design has undergone a series of developments and refinements and is now being completed ready for the 2025 School Market Day.

We have previously spent time explaining the design process - the refinement process and how this project has evolved with the students Tinkercad designs.

The design is being designed into three sizes and all of these will have small variations in the details that are added to the design.  In this instance figure has a top hot on its head.  

One of the excellent aspects of using the Bambu Lab software to process the .stl file is that it clearly shows the details that the students need to make decisions about their business and recently we have started discussing profit and loss.

The print time for the this print on the Bambu H2D is just over two and a half hours.   42g of PLA filament was used to create this print.   For a regular roll of PLA we could complete 23 of these prints.  We would need to make a recoup of $1.70 NZD from each of these prints to meet the students printing costs (the listed price from Bambu is 0.96).    For the purpose of the profit and loss for the students the price point that they need to set for the large Octopus.

As printed on the Bambu H2D there is absolutely minimum rafting that is associated with this print - the linking between the tentacles as shown is how it was removed from the plate, without the need for removal of any waste plastic.

The dimensions of this print has the individual tentacles at 60mm.   The base of the main body is 50mm across and 50mm high.   

The final decision that the students need to consider is the different PLA that the prints are completed with.   As the students are targeting a design that they want to float the design in water.