3D Printed Spinning Top: Follow Up

 

This is a follow up post about an activity that we have mentioned several times in the last week, and one that is working really well with students in terms of being practical and also achievable.

Credit where credit is due - Tinkercad the browser based software which our students do nearly all of their 3D designing on, in conjunction with their iPads.

One of the really interesting things that has come out of this challenge in terms of making physical spinners is that the larger spinners have not proved so far to be the most effective which has caused the students to consider the engineering aspect of what they have been making.

We are holding a competition this week where we are wanting students to spin against each other in competition aiming to last the longest with the best original design.   We will be adding this to our blog in due course in the meantime this is another video explaining this process and providing some demonstration of the students work:

3D Printing with Five Year Olds

 

Challenge: For a Y1 student (a five year old) to be introduced to CAD design and construct their first print, as tutored by a Y4 student.

Background: As a teacher one of the most reluctant aspects that I personally had when shifting levels was the prospect of using Tinkercad with junior students here at Auroa Primary School, this was proven a very long time ago to be a non-starter not only have the students constantly come up with great ideas and engagement with their iPads and technology.

In this instance a pair of students from the core classroom which is seven and eight year olds went back to a junior (five year old classroom).  We have worked with five year olds already this year on a couple of collaborative projects - which you can see by clicking on the link here.

While there are a series of prints featured in this post they have all followed the same design and creation format, so we will treat them as a single example.

The basis for all of them is the students name, then projected around the classroom as a object (using the AR/VR function of the Tinkercad App and the students iPad).   This was shown to the student (the Y1) and the student was encouraged to continue the process.   

The Y4 tutor also was clever in her design of putting two capital letters into the design the first was to exclude the possibility of the 'i' being unlinked in the result of printing (as can be seen with 'Abbie').  In the second instance the Y was made a capital so it would sit above the line and not be reduced to handing  underneath.

As can be seen once the students had projected the image inside the classroom they then moved outside and projected it to be bigger than the single storey classroom the student is from, and allowed her to manipulate it further.

The final manipulated image was taken on the school field where the image was made as large as was feasibly possible and then a photo was taken using the students iPad.

From the start of the process to taking the photos was approximately ten minutes.

Once this had been completed the students then again looked at the 3D Print design and thought about how it might look.  The first version of which was printed.  This print measured 80mm in length was 15mm high and was 20mm wide.   This took only thirty minutes to print on the Bambu H2D (included in this was essentially fifteen minutes of printer preparation time and 15 minutes of actual printing).

The students realised that while this had some appeal as a practical print it was small, so a second version was created.   This was then doubled in size.   Even on the smaller version the precision of the Bambu came to the fore as the printer was able to print the lettering with minimal rafting or waste plastic/PLA.

As can be shown by this print (in yellow) the print itself would benefit from an increase in size to allow it to have a touch more stability.

In this second version (shown immediately to the left) the print time has increased to just over one hour.  The new dimensions for the print are essentially double of the previous print - that is 140mm long however 40mm high and 25mm wide.  The provided more stability 

3D Printed Key: 2025 Junior Exemplar

 

Challenge: To produce an original piece of work as a gift suitable for another school to use in some way.

Background: We have been wanting to look at working with another school on collaborative projects and including design that could be unique and something special for another school.

As we noted previously we looked at working with another ADS (Apple Distinguished School) from Auckland, New Zealand, The Gardens School.

We had the students create a range of ideas based around the logo of the school - the challenge for the students was to create something featuring the Gardens School logo.   As detailed our students worked in various dimensions of Tinkercad to produce the logo.    We stressed to the students the importance of accurately depicting the logo as closely to the original.  Various versions of the design were attempted by the students and then we used AR/VR to project the ideas around the school at different locations.   This tested the viability of the design.

The colour matching that was available for the project came in the form of the main interface of Tinkercad.  The student relied on scribble from Tinkercad to provide the koru detail.

Level of Difficulty: High - the detail in this project need to be particularly careful and respectful of the logo and its importance to another school, creating something that was not considered close was something that we steered the students away from creation.  This was always intended to be a project where we would have a narrow number of final products eventually 3D Printed.  While this student is a Y4 student (eight year old) they have been constantly creating a high degree of designs throughout the year.

Size: This is something of an oversized keyring as the project currently measures 100mm by 100mm.   The print has an outer rim which is 10mm high on the outside, and 5mm on the inside - this creates a layering affect with the design which is eye catching.   The font is faithful to the original being two regular fonts with the 'Gardens' part of the logo again relying on the student using scribble to create.  This is designed as an oversized keyring for teachers with teachers specifically in mind.  For it to be more practical the project would need to have been reduced in size as it is not intended to be put into a regular pocket.

Cost/Price: Using the reliable feature on the Bambu H2D with regular prices for PLA which we are currently experiencing at $30.00 NZD for a 1kg spool of filament this print requires 36g of filament to complete and this would have an associated cost of $0.90c to complete.   For a full regular roll we would be able to produce 27 units on regular settings and infill.  There is no waste PLA with this print - that is it prints as shown directly onto the plate without the need for any waste plastic support.

Timeframe: Using the Bambu H2D this print takes just over sixty minutes.  Given the detail with the lettering this would be the best potential result for the machine to complete successfully.

What we would do differently/Next Steps for the students: This is not a project for our own students it is very much intended to be something for the students to do for someone else, and therefore judging its success is very much dependant on others opinions of the final product.

If you use the search bar top right and use the tag 'Keyring' you will see a multitude of projects with this theme.

3D Printed Spinning Top Exemplar

 

Challenge: To produce a unique and personalised '3D Printed Spinner' that is able to be spun and last the longest in the class.

Background: This came from the Tinkercad challenges. The template came from this page as the idea was not something that the students had considered prior to that.

Level of Difficulty: Low-Medium.   With the template available for the students to build onto everyone can essentially complete the task - the detial comes in the personalisation and once all the students have started testing the spinning tops we want the students to focus on the variables that will make a difference to the different tops ability to spin for as long as possible.

Size: The idea of printing an entire unique class set of anything can be daunting but this design measures 60mm high and is 40mm wide at the main base part.  That leads in nicely to the....

Cost/Price: This print took 10g of plastic to make and the cost suggested via Bambu Lab (which tends to be very accurate) was 40c (NZD).  There was a small amount of rafting associated with the bottom of the top.  

Timeframe: Forty minutes to complete the task using the Bambu H2D Printer.   

What we would do differently/next steps for the students: As we have mentioned the intention with this is to run a series of class competitions around the students ability to spin the tops for the longest time.   We want to lead a discussion about balance and weight, relative to this print and allow the students the opportunity to develop their ideas.  Also as part of the process we want to look at time and recording the length of the spinning, using our iPads to do so and considering how we might record this information.   We also want to look at technique etc. so this project is going to potentially make a nice finish to the year for the students.

Tinkercad/scribble + Pic Collage Filter

We have a range of students in the classroom a group who have been working in the class time provided (which is usually once or twice a week for forty five minutes or so) and also in their own time to use their iPads to develop their design skills.

During that time in class over the course of the year we get students who develop their ideas and skills and we build into them the ideas, encourage creativity and look for ways to have moments of excitement and magic with them.  Sometimes in the time frame they work this creativity in ways that is great to share.  As we posted recently our creative 'festive' designs have started taking shape for the year.   

Another example is the original design shown left.  This was created by an eight year old student whose been designing in the first year of using Tinkercad as an app.   The student tends to be a little reserved with some of their ideas.   They opted to use the Tinkercad scribble tool which we have used in the past and created an elf like figure, which is shown in the photograph above.   They then used their iPad and the Tinkercad apps AR/VR function to start projecting their image in different locations around the classroom.   In the photo above it is 'standing' on the floor of the classroom.   The student has used one of the 2025 Market Day Christmas trees to include in this projected image as she intended to use the Pic Collage filter for the next step.

The image shown left is the Tinkercad image, which has then been VR/AR projected onto the floor and then screen shot, which has then had the Pic Collage Silent Night 2 filter (which is currently free for anyone who has the app) applied to it.

The filter has taken the design added additional features, taken the tree at the front, coloured the entire photo and then added the additional colour and stars to the picture.
 

There are currently a range of filters with the app that are available for use (and free) and the student used a range of them with her Tinkercad image.  She settled on this final design as she is going to create a Christmas Card using this image as the front of the card, with additional lettering and a message on the inside.

As noted the entire process took under one hour.   Other students also created a range of designs using Tinkercad for this project, searched through their Tinkercad accounts and looked for other designs that they could import and then 'filter'.   Some students opted for figures but we also had others building entire scenes such as the typical 'Santas Grotto' with a range of buildings and other features.    This task (using scribble) could easily be completed (successfully) by younger students.

3D Printed Christmas Design

 

Challenge: To produce an original, unique Christmas themed festive design.

Background: We tend to start this process each year at this time building on what students have completed in the past as it tends to be a universal activity and as we usually like to print at least one print for each student we want to be able to complete it in a realistic timeframe.

As we previously mentioned we started the activity with an open challenge to students and this design came out as a result of it.  The student wanted to shape a face themselves and came up with this idea intending to modify it later but it was pointed out to them several times that the design of the face was very similar to a lego-man face, which the student was happy with.   The student who created this project is a seven year old working independently in Tinkercad with just the app and an iPad.

He was especially keen to work with the colour palette and while that wasn't available with the 3D Print at this stage did use the colours available to detail what he wanted it to look like.   The image shown left is the design, created using an iPad by the student who has then used the Tinkercad App and has AR/VR the design into different locations so he could see its composition and to check it.

Once the student felt that it met these guidelines the final stage was to opt for printing, which was completed using the Bambu H2D.

As this has now been completed the student is looking at developing this idea further as questions were posed to him about further detail that he could add.

The design was also put through a filter, in this case the Pic Collage, Magic Camera, Silent Night 2 Filter.  The results of this can be seen left.  

The entire process from creation, design to AR/VR and then filtering took a single block of school time (which was forty minutes).

Level of Difficulty: Medium - This student has shown several times during the year that they have creativity and excellent awareness.  They have used their iPad and Tinkercad to produce a number of outstanding projects such as the 'cyclops' series of prints.  They were also a key designer who has been responsible for a series of iPad and iPhone stands.

Size: The print in its original form measures 40mm across is 50mm long and the main part of the shape is 50mm high.  As a whimsical design to amuse and be hung from a tree these dimensions are correct.  

Cost/Price: The unit cost essentially $0.80c to make based on the now standard $30.00 NZD per 1kg roll of PLA filament.

Timeframe: This print took seventy minutes to print and was completed using the schools Bambu H2D printer for precision and speed to complete the project.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the student: The colour matching with a four nozzle H2D meant that the student could potentially have four different colours on the print and that is something that they could look into.   The design was amusing but could have had additional features, either for the student to go compltely lego themed or move in a different direction.  

Tinkercad Design Challenge: Spinning Top

 

We have spoken at length on this blog on the technology that the students use (iPads as we are a 1:1 iPad School and an Apple Distinguished School) and that on our iPads we primarily use Tinkercad for creation of 3D designs.

We also enjoy looking at the resourcing that is available on Tinkercad and one particular challenge at the moment has the attention and the imagination of the students.     

Under the resources tab on the Tinkercad website there is a range of challenges and activities for creation.   The 'spinning top' challenge is currently live, and will be until next month.  The template is available online which allows the students to build a design extremely effectively.   

Our students have spent time using the prototype and experimenting with different designs - the initial print is extremely reasonable timeframe which has meant that prototyping has been relatively easy.

The latest version designed by our students shown left took just over forty minutes to print.   It was completed using the Bambu H2D printer.   It measures 60mm in total length and is 30mm across.  The handle for the spinning is 20mm from the top.  

This design has taken an idea that the students like using motion to something practical that they are enjoying playing with as they discuss engineering ideas and we have tried to start conversations about the concepts of force, balance and personalisation and how this might affect how it works.   We are already talking about having some kind of competition to see how long the best designed and engineered spinning top is going to spin for (which of course will lead to discussions based around time and recording this accurately).

All things being equal during the coming week we will be able to print either a full set or very close to a full set of the student creations of these before we begin a testing process.