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Week 7: 3D Printing

Assignments

This week you would need to fabricate a 3D object with a 3D printer. The 3D object should provide some support for your class or some of your teaching lessons. E.g. a box to store materials, a tool to help with a specific activity, a model to explain a concept, etc. 1. Design it from scratch or modify an existing 3D object. 2. 3D print the object. You should do the slicing and set up the printer on your own with the support of your instructor. For advanced users: If you already are familiar with the 3D printer try to build an object that is composed by at least 2 different parts. In this case you should consider different ways of creating connecting joints and interlocking parts (opens new window)such as interlocking joints (opens new window), snap fit joints (opens new window)(including ball joints (opens new window)) or hinges (opens new window). Instead, you can also try to have articulated objects printed as one piece (opens new window), for instance an articulated snake as a pencil holder(opens new window) 3. Answer the following reflection questions: * Are you planning to use the fabricated object in your classroom? If so, how? * Consider a learning activity involving 3D printing. How could it be aligned with your curriculum / standard? What are the challenges? * Explain one successful educational activity in which you collaborated with other educators. What are the advantages and disadvantages of working with other educators? What are the main aspects to take into account to prepare an education activity among 2 or more educators?

Process

This week, I decided to complete two tasks with one effort by designing the mould that I intend to use for next week’s biomaterials casting. Instead of a tool for class, I am designing something that I hope to use in my Dungeons & Dragons Club co-curricular. Many students in the club do not have dice of their own and have to borrow from others. It is my hope that I can construct a mould with which students can create their own twenty-sided dice (known as a ‘d20’).

While I do not have the geometric understanding of the angles required to build a regular icosahedron, many existing models exist already online, on websites such as Thingiverse. After finding a model I liked, I downloaded it to my computer. As the model I found was hollow, it would not be possible to use it to design a mould, so I used AutoDesk MeshMixer to fill the hollow interior, and saved the result as a new STL.

While I printed a copy of the original downloaded model on our Bambu Lab printer to use as a reference (0% infill, 0.05mm layer height, 4 wall loops), it was time to set up the mould in Shapr3D. I sketched a circle, then extruded a cylinder that was capable of fully encapsulating the size of the d20, leaving space on either side for support walls. Using the Separate function, I divided the d20 and the cylinder into two halves, then used the Subtract function to remove the solid mesh of the d20 from the cylinder’s interior. Finally, I extruded another smaller cylinder as a hole through the top side of the mould to act as an intake funnel.

As additional precautions, to ensure that the mold would stay together without leaking the bioplastic solution, I designed a cap for the mould’s intake funnel, and added flaps to three sides of the cylinder halves using the Union function. These can be clamped together to keep the two halves of the mould connected when filled.

Finally, I exported to STL and uploaded the file to the Bambu Lab printer to print.

Reflection

  • As stated, I do not plan to use the object in my classroom, but I do hope to use it in one of my Co-Curriculars to allow students to mould their own dice.
  • 3D printing could be very useful for creating three-dimensional models of curriculum elements that are difficult for students to visualise in two-dimensions, though the difficulty with this use is in the creation of the models. The more complex and detailed the object, the more difficult and time-consuming it will be to design it and the more time it will take in printing. The benefit, though, is that once a 3D model file exists, it will continue to do so and can be upgraded or used to print more copies of the model.
  • I admit, I have not done much collaboration in the design of learning activities with other educators. The majority of my lessons in class are either wholly designed by myself or were handed to me by other teachers at the school. I find that collaboration is very difficult, slowing down the process of getting things done, particularly in regard to working around multiple schedules, but also in that it requires task allocation and management, and often certain tasks are dependent upon other tasks, which may or may not have been completed. I find these inconveniences often outweigh the benefits of being able to see problems from multiple angles. However, when it comes to brainstorming and bouncing ideas off of a wall, that is a task that is much better suited for a collaborative environment!

Tools

  • Shapr3D
  • AutoDesk MeshMixer
  • 3DPrinterOS
  • Bambu Lab P2S 3D Printer