3D Printing Bambu H2D Vs. Snapmaker

 

We are experimenting with using our new Bambu H2D printer and comparing it to the other machines that we have at our school, which is the Snapmaker.

As a disclaimer straight away the Bambu is brand new where-as the Snapmaker are now four years old.

As shown left the student design recently featured on this blog we made the decision to use this as a test print to compare the two prints and see what they have offered and how they might differ or what we might consider moving forward.

The design was created by a Y4 student, who is eight year old, inspired by the movie Monsters Inc.   She designed this using Tinkercad from scratch using the movie character as the inspiration.   The first significant difference between the two designs is the print time.   The design shown left has a print time of just under seven hours, including the rafting as shown, prior to its removal.

In the Bambu H2D printed example here shown left the print time was three and a half hours.   The rafting shown here is considerable less than its Snapmaker comparison.

While it was not particularly visible from the two photographs when the two prints are compared side by side there is clearly superior finishing shown from the Bambu printer.   There are also some additional features with regards to the Bambu set up and dispensing of the PLA which is superior in terms of the 'fouling' or jamming of the PLA.    The Bambu also has the ability to have remote camera viewing the print in progress.   We have had the Snapmaker housed in our library on a desk for the students and staff to use.    The size of the Bambu means that this location will not work for the printer and we will need to organised a dedicated location.

The biggest apparent difference between the two machines is the print quality but in particular the print time, which at this stage appears to be twice as fast by using the Bambu printer.    Less PLA is used for the Bambu version as the rafting is reduced.

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.

3D Printed Adaptations: Market Day 2025

 

Original Project: Bath Toys - Market Day 2025.    How has this changed? The major changes between the prints and the original (Snapmaker) print was the finish, which looks slightly less blocky, however there are some crucial subtle differences.   Firstly the Snapmaker version has two or three small holes that came in process of printing, once water has entered the print at these locations (remembering of course that 20% of the inside of the print is filled in, the rest of it is hollow).    Originally the group had brainstormed ideas and come up with the plan to use water proofing spray to ensure that the print did not sink - however the Bambu version has slightly superior finishing and it does not appear to be required.

Finally the print times are the massive difference between the two, the Bambu H2D prints in half of the time, in addition multiple prints can easily be loaded on the plate.   The original design for the large size for this print was four hours - the Bambu H2D means that the print time has been reduced in half.

Original Project: Key Rings (Personalised) Market Day 2025

There is little difference between the quality of the prints although there is a better polished version with the Bambu version shown left.

While the rafting is minimal the biggest change between the two print is of course the time to complete the print - the two and a half Snapmaker version when the print is switched to Bambu takes under half this time to complete.

You can see the difference between this print and the original by clicking on the link here.

Original Project: iPad and iPhone Stands (Personalised) Market Day 2025

There is a better finish on the Bambu version shown left.  The biggest design differences would be in the lettering on the back, in the Snapmaker version required a tool to remove the rafting around the lettering, some of which required a high degree of precision to remove successfully.

Again there was minimal rafting with this print however the time difference between the two was stark - as the Bambu version came in at under two hours while the Snapmaker version took around the four hour mark.

It needs to be repeatedly stressed that the Bambu printer that we are using for these projects is brand new (we have had it on site for less than two weeks) and the wonderful Snapmaker printers that we have have been on site and used non-stop since 2021.

3D Printed Ant: Standard Version

 

Challenge: To create an original and correct insect student (nine year old) designed 3D Print.

Background: As per the last few number of prints on this blog this is in preparation for our 2026 Pet Day.

As per the post from yesterday we experimented with using the P1P Bambu Printer and the Bambu H2D.   With the experience yesterday we printed on the Bambu H2D first and then followed up with P1S when the Bambu H2D didn't print the leg at the back.

As we suspected the print needs to be slowed down, by printing on the P1S we printed an identical design, an identical file but this was successful.   If we were using the Bambu H2D we would slow the process down.

Resources used to complete this print: iPad, Tinkercad App, Bambu P1P, Bambu Blue PLA.

Size: The print measures 55mm wide across at the front from the tip of each leg.   The print has a length of 70mm and the print is 55mm high.  The student (who is nine years old) deliberately introduced the legs and antenna to ensure that they survived the printing process and were not too weak, although it did leave them looking decidedly oversized and blocky.

Cost: To produce this print the project used 38g of regular PLA.   This gave the project a price point of $0.38c.

Timeframe: To complete this print the printer was running for one hour and ten minutes.   This is typical for designs in this run of creations with these dimensions.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students: The ant when compared to others in the series does not have the facial definition that the others have.   The legs were increased in dimensions and size to ensure that they survived printed but now look somewhat comical and also are identical.   Finally the colour matching or the decorating, spraying etc of the print could be considered to enhance its presentation.   We still have a week of school before the Pet Day (which is in Term Four, the first week back after another week of holidays) and given the size of the print a reprint is a distinct possibility.

Printer Set Up: First Changes Since 2025

 

We've been detailing how we have our hardware set up for our 3D Printing at our school - and it also formed part of our '3D Printing Lore' series of posts where we were looking at a single printer for the entire school, for the calendar year, our H2D Bambu.

That has changed recently at Auroa Primary School.

We have started the process of upgrading our secondary printers, still using the large Bambu H2D for the larger projects but we have have added to our printing resources two secondary printers a Bambu P1P and a Bambu P1S.   We have started the process of replacing the Snapmaker machines that we have on site and will soon be producing prints on Bambu.

The thinking behind this is based around the reliability of the machines and what meets our needs as a school.  We want to be able to produce material (prints) as seamlessly as possible and while we have been pleased in the past with our group of four to five machines of Ultimakers (and then the various upgrades and reconditioning that we completed to various 'plus' models) of Snapmakers and now Bambu,

We switched because we want to minimise the time spent on engineering the machines, which is essentially been unblocking them when a print has failed due to some technical issue.   

The amount of 'rafting' has also decreased significantly overtime if you consider ten years ago some of the prints that were being produced were encased in support plastic to ensure it was stable.   Recently the newer print process has significantly reduced this although we also do need to note we have been stockpiling all of our PLA and intend to recycle it using Kiwifil,  a New Zealand company we discovered earlier in the year.

The photographs with this print also show another aspect to the printers - the connectivity between them.  In this instance with the P1S the yellow casing that you can see visible is the 'Mario Themed' casing which is available by the Bambu Labs online portal.  

We have used the resource to produce material like the 'waste shoots' for the printers which can then be clipped onto the machines.

These are not items or resources that we are needing to create ourselves but freely available files and resources that come in with the online portal supporting the machines.

Moving forward we will be identifying with future prints which of our machines that we will be using to produce them, noting the difference in time being the most obvious point of difference.

Bambu P1S vs Snapmaker 2026 Comparison

 

This print first appeared as an original challenge on this blog in September of last year before our School Market Day and came out of a physical challenge - that was combining an object (in this case the oversized single eye) with a 3D Print.   You can view this project by clicking on the link here.

While the design was adjusted a number of times by student concerned (who was seven at the time) the details remained relatively constant.   One of the things about this print that stood out, apart from the creativity was that it was an excellent example of junior innovation, particularly when it was modified to include additional storage space - and in an excellent example of working it is a great USB drive storage and sits well on a desk! It also had some variation where we printed a glow-in-the dark or super-glow-in-the-dark versions.

One of the aspects to it that was of question was the print time.   At the time we had a single Bambu H2D for printing and several older Snapmaker machines.   When printed on the Snapmakers the print had a completion time of two hours, it was the intention to try it again on the Bambu H2D or Bambu P1S and compare the times for the same print, and the quality of the print.

With a two hour timeframe in mind we repeated the print again.   Of a small side note we have used Tinkercad interface (classroom) for a number of years now the old profiles, accounts and material is still available for students to use hence we are using for this comparison print the original design.

The repeat print (shown left) completed this week has been printed with a similar quality.   The print cost from the project was $0.72c and the print used 35g of filament including some support/rafting for the parts of the piece that were not part of the main body (the circles on the design to show bumps).

There was clearly an expectation of a time reduction - as the original took two hours to complete and we estimated at the time the (top of the line) Bambu H2D would take about half that.    However using the P1S machine we were unsure of the timescale and how it might affect this print or other pints from the past.

The new version of this print was completed in a total of 57 minutes which included the standard six minute warm up for the machine and fifty one minutes for a total print time - meaning that the smaller Bambu machine was printing twice as efficiently.  This will lead us to revisit some of the students previous work which we either didn't print in larger numbers due to time constraints or issues with rafting or details.

3D Printing: Bambu Vs. Snapmaker: Final Thoughts

 

We have been recently posting about the difference between our new school machine (Bambu H2D) and comparing its prints to the regular Snapmaker Prints that we have been completing over the last few years (since 2021).

We have been printing identical prints as a comparison in terms of print quality and also print time, and further as is relevant to ourselves as a school ensure that we are printing in a way that is reliable and can be monitored.   As a school while we are very lucky to have staff who are able to unblock and fix machines as the need arises it is not something that we want to spend time doing.

The print shown left has been completed using our Snapmaker printers and Cura design software with a gold filament.   The design was sourced online by a student from a freely available website.   In its current format the print 60mm across at the base and 80mm wide at the top.   The print is 75mm tall and 40mm wide.   The print took one and a half hours to complete on regular print settings.

There was rafting 'waste plastic' underneath the arms and underneath the cloak of the figure.   The rafting was removed using a basic pair of pliers.

The print was reliable although we have experienced difficulties at time with the spool fouling then causing the printer to jam.

The Bambu version of the same print was identical in terms of dimensions, although as can be noted from the pictures has a slightly more detailed finish.   

The biggest differences were in the print times, which was under half and the amount of waste which in this case was minimal restricted to a small amount under each arm and the base of the figure.

The other obvious point of difference is the housing for the PLA which in the case of the Bambu is held securely above the printed and unrolls from there.   We have used the Snapmakers extensively but do have to ensure that the printers are unwinding successfully.    Various features of the Bambu ensure that this should not be an issue.

3D Printed Pencil Topper - Exemplar

 

Challenge: To produce an original, unique and functional pencil topper for use with a students stationary.  

Equipment Use: iPad, Tinkercad, Bambu H2D, Bambu PLA

Background: This task was given to students during an afternoon session with an extremely short timeframe to complete.  The students had to independently use their knowledge of Tinkercad and their developed design skills to create something that was functional.   Due to this functionality the size of the print and any potential details with the design were limited but also going to show what could be capable to add detail using the Bambu H2D.

The student in this task was an eight year old student who is in cohort two in that she has had two years of using Tinkercad with her iPad to design.    

We had previously completed designs like this in the past such as 2016 which you can click on the link here to.

In this design the student wanted to put their initials into the print so they sunk them into the design at the top.   The length of the dent was 2mm by 1mm across - the printer was able to replicate the detail and avoid having any filament or PLA on it.

The spiral of the design, which can be seen in the photograph to the left was also another feature.   The printer printed an insert, rafting into the gap which was removed when the print was complete.   

One of the very obvious benefits of this project and challenge is that the finished project is quite small and could be completed with a minimal print time and price point.

Level of Difficulty: Medium - this task is deceptively simple however the students had a range of ideas from the practical to the not so practical and the size of the print was determined by the purpose.

Size: The print was 70mm from top to bottom.  The main body of the design was 30mm high by 40mm by 20mm.   The spiral at the base of the design was 30mm high.   This was designed to work with a regular pencil/pen although the hole that was the insert for the pen worked better with a vivid as it was probably a few millimetres too wide.  The student has stated that this will require an adjustment to work with pencil.

Cost/Price: One of the key elements of this print and others in the series is that the price point, as determined by the Bambu Lab software is using 10g of PLA to complete the print with a corresponding price point of $0.25.

Timeframe: With the dimensions of the print at present the print time to complete the project was fifty minutes from start to finish.

What we would do differently/Next Steps for the student: This student was able to create a comic facial expression by using the basic elements as shown and included their initials.  They could have provided additional features on the other side of the design.  As noted the insert is slightly loose and the student needs to reduce the width of the insert hole in the base of the main body.

There are a range of potential prints coming from the classroom from this project, this is simply the first.   The students will be contributing to a slideshow featuring a range of designs in this format.   In addition to that and the prints noted in this post there is a wealth of material that can be accessed by using the 'search' bar in the top right hand corner of this blog.

A final word of caution we are extremely lucky to have a Bambu H2D and are using it to complete every print this year.  If you have an older machine the time to print and the detail in some smaller objects such as this might be somewhat limited.

Comparing the Bambu H2D to the Bambu P1S

Please note: This is a site which is intended to encourage the use of tech by (primarily) teachers and also students.  It is a not a site to generate revenue or endorse any products (believe us we've been asked, and its always a polite no thank you...)

We've blogged this year about the use of the Bambu H2D which we were able to have purchased as our school thanks to a generous grant from a local organisation.   It was our intention to try and go an entire calendar year with a single printer as the source of every print this year (and also as a side note if you haven't realised its our intention to post an example of our students work or a project every calendar day.   Unfortunately due to repairs the H2D hasn't been the sole machine we've used - we've also opted for the use of the Bambu P1S.   We've been publishing work using 3D Printers for a while - over ten years and used a variety of machines.

In this example shown left both machines had the same print running at the same time.   The H2D is essentially an extremely large machine that costs six times the price of the P1S.    The machines have a difference in print time - which is only five minutes.   Otherwise the finish between the two machines is otherwise identical in all other aspects.

Both machines work off the same (Bambu) PLA but also allow the use of Kiwifil (recycled from New Zealand) and eSum.

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. 

Junior Stationary Cat: Version 2.0

 

Challenge: To produce a unique stationery holder.  Student needs to be creative and not use a third party design or shape.  This task was created by an eight year old student.

Background: As noted yesterday - this was an 'open' challenge with the criteria that the design had to be functional, original and realistic to print.

There were some similarities with some of the geometric shapes chosen by this student to represent some of the cat features.

Resources used to complete this print: iPad, Tinkercad App, Bambu H2D (silver) Bambu P1S (orange), Silver and Orange Bambu PLA (regular brand).

Level of Difficulty: Medium - there are quite a few elements that are working in conjunction with each other with this print.  There is potentially also further development that would be possible from this design (see below).

Size: The print measures 60mm across at the front of the print, has a length of 80mm and a height of 20mm.  The width of the sides was between 20mm and 10mm.

Cost/Price: The unit used 33g of PLA to complete.  Based on the regular price of the PLA the print had a price point of $0.82.

Timeframe:  The print took fifty six minutes to complete using the P1S Bambu printer the H2D Bambu printer completed the print in fifty one minutes.   Both machines had a six minute warm up time.

What we would do differently/next steps for the students: The print could have some further refinement on the sides of the design as there shapes such as the hearts (shown left) .   The face of the design (shown in the first photograph) clearly shows that there is potential further development of the features that the students could work on.  Similarly the feet of the cat are currently blocks and they could have further details.

3D Printed Ant: Advanced Version

 

Challenge: Create a unique and detailed insect using Tinkercad to define and detail the features.

Background: Its been detailed on this blog for several weeks about the insect project which came from a focus on our 20206 Pet Day Art Display.

As part of the art display we've got a small 3D Print to go back and put on display with our art projects.   The challenge is based around shared literacy tasks - last term we researched, investigated and wrote about insects and analysed their characteristics and features.  This design was influenced by some of the earlier ants in the series that had the form and character correct but were lacking somewhat in some of the more detailed features.

When you view the face of the design you can see the student has opted for antenna, eyes and also the mouth has been based around viewing close up and magnification of various ants.   This student also went further making this a 'fire ant' and was able to adapt the colour palette on Tinkercad to do so.

There was a technical error that occurred with the printing of this design, one we are going to investigate further.  The student designed this as per our usual process - and one of the legs, at the back left, did not print successfully on the Bambu H2D - although it did on the P1S.    We believe based on a quick investigation that the speed of the H2D in this instance was too quick for the design, and the shaking and the movement of the printing process caused the fault in the process - this is the potentially the case as the smaller, cheaper machine was able to print the design successfully without any error.

The student who designed this print spent time to ensure the legs were shaped and had segmented detail on them.    There are grooves in the mouth of the ant and additional small details throughout the design.

Resources used to complete this print: iPad, Tinkercad App, Bambu H2D, Bambu Blue PLA

Size: The print at present is 80mm long, is 40mm from the base of the feet to the stop of the segments.   The biggest body segment is 30mm by 30mm and the middle is 20mm by 20mm.

Cost: The print uses 67g of PLA to complete the print which included rafting.   This gave the print a price point of forty one cents to complete.

Timeframe: To complete the print the Bambu H2D was running for one hour and eight minutes.  A switch to a Bambu P1S would not significantly alter the timeframe.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students: It is our clear intention to print this on the slower, smaller printer as we believe the print will be successful (we could also slow down the H2D).  The intention was to print a fire ant with a red base obviously the PLA used was red although potentially we could have made a two coloured print using the dual nozzles of the machines.   The legs also at present have the same pose on both sides the student has the ability and the skill to pose these differently and produce a design that is reflective of a more natural post.   As noted as well the width of both the legs and the antenna reflect the students desire to create a robust print that would survive handling.

This entire project was undertaken and completed (independently) by a nine year old cohort two student.

3D Printed Flexi-Animals Update

 

Challenge: To create a range of original flexi-animals

Background: During the year this challenge has been given to several students to use their design skills and create original flexi-animals or flexible 'fidget' like designs.   While these are available online and the Bambu online portal now has a click and drag tutorial to create these we have used it as an advanced design technique for students to work through to master the process.

We have previously posted about the start of the process in May with previous medium that was created by former students (that is students who were current at the time, but have now left the school)

This was when students went through the process of following ball and hinge creation tutorials to work flexibility into the designs.   The students continue to work on designs and continued to refine what they had made.   By the end of June the first original linking animals had been created and tested, although the linking was requiring further development.   You can view the June update by clicking on the link to the post here.   Recently the students identified for the School 2025 Market Day that a viable business could be run by making original designs and creations for this.    

The version in blue shown left, and above left is the final Snapmaker version of the print.   The finish shown left (on the right) is the latest Bambu version (as we have detailed regularly there is a difference in quality and time from the two printers such as demonstrated here).    As we are looking at flexibility of the print we have determined the Bambu as the most suitable for this project.

The student is now going to apply the flexible linking to the silhouette of an animal as was the intention in the first place.   By using the linking which has shown to be robust and working the student can apply this to a multitude of designs and shapes by following the same format.   This was how we produced a range of original flexi-animals in 2022.

Level of Difficulty: Hard - this has been a long term project and while there are potential short cuts the student has developed the skill to do it, which has taken several months to get to the final design.  The student is eight years old and has been working independently, aided only by previous videos created by a twelve year old student of our school.

Size: As it stands now the design is currently measuring 120mm long 100mm wide at the base of the tree and is 10mm thick.

Cost: According to estimates now available for printing that are clearly there this print cost for regular filament is 80c and 90c for glow-in-the-dark filament.

Timeframe: Two hours and ten minutes (Snapmaker) - as noted the preference is for using the Bambu H2D to produce the final version due to finish and the completion time.

What we would do differently/next steps for the students:  As noted there is develop coming from this linking this project to others and a range of designs, which the student can now easily master.    The finish for the fidget toy is also to be determined.

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 Minecraft Fox Storage

 

Challenge: To produce an original design that would have a purpose - in this case a Minecraft themed Fox that would be used for storage as shown in the photograph.

Background: We have shown over a considerable amount of time on this blog that the students using Tinkercad as a design tool.   You can see a summary of some of our projects here.  We also complied a slideshow of Minecraft and Tinkercad activities which you can view by clicking here.

This student who is responsible for this design while they are an eight year old student has consistently shown that the are aware of a range of concepts and ideas and they have a particular interest in Minecraft and Minecraft themed designs.  If you want to see further examples of their work you can click on the link on the top right hand corner of this blog.

The student designed this independently and presented it to the teacher in its completed form.  There was no additional reworking or direction required.

The student also ensured that it was going to be a viable print by using the AR/VR feature of Tinkercad on the iPad to project it into various locations around our school.  In this example shown left the student deliberately oversized it and projected it onto our school courts.  He was then able to rotate it around to inspect it from different angles.

Resources used to complete this project: Tinkercad, iPad, Tinkercad App, Bambu H2D, regular black PLA.  We switched back to using the Bambu H2D for this project after a number of projects using the Bambu P1S.

Level of Difficulty: Medium/High.  This print, its design and concept works extremely well however it is something of an art to have the recognition factor the purpose etc.   The student also used the colour coding adapting to change the colour of the fox to match with the colour of the original Minecraft.

Size: The prints dimensions at the moment are 130mm wide 90mm deep and 40mm high.  As the purpose of the print is stationary storage the student has considered that these will need to be increased to realistically hold more material such as pens and pencils.  However as it stands at presents each of the six holes is able to do this with stability.

Cost/Price: The unit as it stands at the moment.  The print currently uses 75g of PLA to complete.  There was minimal rafting with this project, only a small amount under of the face.  This had a price point of $1.75 to produce.

Timeframe: To complete using the Bambu H2D print the print took one hour and forty one minutes.  There was a six minute standard warm up time for the printer.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students: This project needs potentially to be resized otherwise the elements of it are completed.

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.

3D Printing in Micro Scale: P1S Bambu

 

Challenge: For a junior student (Y4 seven years old) to create an original design and print.  This print was to be produced on a miniature scale - to test the details of the 'new' school printer.

Background: As noted we have spent nearly a calendar exclusively using the Bambu H2D to print an entire range of prints (with a goal of using the single machine for the entire year) however we recently as a school purchased two additional printers which we have switched to using while the Bambu H2D is currently under repairs.

This print was created by one of our students as an independent project and was presented to the teacher in its completed state - ready to be printed.

Resources To Complete this Project: iPad, Tinkercad App, Bambu P1S, PLA.

Level of Difficulty; Low - this is a basic entry level task that could be completed easily and independently in a brief session - of not here was the size.

Size; This was the focus for this print - the print measured 40mm across was 40mm high and was 10mm wide/thick.

Cost/Price: The print used 4.2g of regular PLA to complete the print and this had a price point of $0.10c.

Timeframe: The printer took six minutes to warm up - had nine minutes of printing time so the entire process from start to finish was fifteen minutes.

What we would do differently/Next Steps for the students:   We would choose carefully the PLA used for the print as we would suspect spraying it could loose its definition otherwise completed as hoped.  The timeframe for this is especially something to consider as it would mean potentially a class could be completed in a relatively short timeframe.

3D Printing with WoolyFil PLA V2

We've been experimenting with a range of PLA over the year but have previously posted about our excitement in discovering the range of WoolyFil filament and in particular the ability to essentially be able to recycle nearly all of 3D Printed material via a New Zealand company KiwiFil.

We have always been extremely careful not to endorse of promote anything to do with this site as we are simply trying to highlight what works for our students and staff however the values of being sustainable and also producing unique and interesting prints to capture the imagination of the students is something that we are very much always looking to achieve.

In the example shown above we have conducted another test print using WoolyFil Filament.   The print has been completed using this and the Bambu H2D.   The machine needed to have the PLA set to 'generic' rather than the automatic selected Bambu PLA that we are predominantly using.

We decided to produce this figure as the eyes were the only part of the print not completed using the combination of recycled PLA and wool blend was the eyes.

The contrast with the Suffolk sheep shown left was that this used a fair degree of regular PLA to complete for the feet and the face (although this was also recycled PLA).

This is a design that was sourced from the Bambu Lab Online portal by using the search phrase 'wool animal' to narrow down the elements.   While there were a very large range of potential designs the Elephant was selected as the print was nearly entirely completed using the WoolyFil Filament.

The print measures 60mm across is 50mm deep and 70mm high.   The print took three hours and thirty minutes to complete using the Bambu H2D.   The print used 24g of filament to complete this had a price point of $0.60.

As we have mentioned in the past while the students aren't designing the print the idea is to get the students familiar with the material, the concepts and the idea of using different PLA to encourage them to think laterally about the designs that they could use.