Using Tinkercad to design everyday objects

Will Fastiggi — Sun, 10 Jul 2016 22:25:51 +0000

As part of a Geometry & Art ICT unit, we use the free online 3D design application, Tinkercad. This is particularly useful for helping students to understand that all objects they see on a daily basis are made up of geometric shapes. Tinkercad enables students to resize and merge various geometric shapes to design both familiar and new objects alike.

The Anchor Design Activity

The activity below, which gets students designing an anchor, is a good introduction to Tinkercad.

There are six main parts to designing this anchor in Tinkercad.

Part 1.

Select and drag the shape of “thin tube” onto the workplane. Scale the sides to the following dimensions: x = 27 mm, y = 32 mm, z = 3 mm.

Click on the ‘box hole’ shape from the tab section named ‘holes’. Then, drag a new box hole halfway over the thin tube. Adjust the dimensions of the box hole as shown in the picture: x = 35 mm, y = 20 mm, z = 3 mm.

Select both shapes, ‘thin tube’ and ‘box-hole’. (To do this, hold down the shift button whilst clicking on both shapes with the cursor.) While both shapes are selected, click on the ‘group’ icon at the top of the page. As soon as you do this, the part of the tube that is hidden by the box hole will be erased.

Part 2.

Next, add a ‘box’ shape to the workplane. The sizes should be defined as: x = 35 mm, y = 25 mm, z = 3 mm. Place the box in the middle of the tube (part 1).

Part 3.

Add another box with different dimensions: x = 15 mm, y = 3 mm, z = 3 mm. Place the new box (part 3) to the edge of the previous one.

Part 4.

Add a ‘roof’ shape (part 4).

Place the roof as it is merged into the tube. The sharp edge of the roof should be kept out of the tube.

Part 5.

Copy and paste the roof shape twice. Drag the new copies of the roof to each of the edges of the tube, rotating them both slightly as shown below:

Part 6.

Add a new thin tube (part 6) to the workplane. Resize the tube and merge with part 3 as pictured.

Finally, press Ctrl + A to select all shapes, and then click ‘Group’.

As an extension, ask the students if they can redesign the anchor to include four legs instead of just two.

3D Printing…

If you have access to a 3D Printer, the designs created in Tinkercad can be 3D printed. To do this, first click the design menu, then select ‘Download for 3D printing’. A warning window will then appear on the screen. Click the option ‘.SLT’. This is the 3D file type that most 3D printer brands recognise. Once downloaded, you can open the 3D file on your 3D printer’s software.

3D Printer Pen for the Classroom

Will Fastiggi — Mon, 23 May 2016 19:52:46 +0000

As part of our Computing & ICT curriculum, I run several projects in which students use a 3D Printer Pen. These pens rapidly melt and then cool plastic filament. The activities are perfect for any unit related to design, and the pen provides students with the opportunity to literally draw in 3D. Because of the relatively low cost, I bought 24 GooDee 3D Printer Pens for my school. Each pen already came with a 20 metre roll of plastic filament to get started. This is enough print plastic for a few small 3D models (I have since had to buy more, but the rolls of plastic are relatively inexpensive).
Using a template in which to trace, a good warm up for the students is to create “hipster” glasses. The best method that we have found to make these glasses is to draw with a zigzag motion along the outline of the template, building the plastic up in several layers. The speed at which the plastic filament is melted and comes through the pen can be adjusted, the slower setting allowing students more control over their drawing.

This activity of learning how to use the 3D Printer Pen and then creating the hipster glasses takes up to an hour. For the following lesson, I ask my students to then design their own template for a computer game character or object using Google Drawing. With their custom made templates ready, the skills that the students develop in terms of pen control from having created the hipster glasses beforehand really come in handy for this second activity. I filmed this short video clip below, which shows how one student began creating her model cactus using a template that she had designed with Google Drawing:

I’ve included a collection of examples of students’ work in this slideshow below:

[pjc_slideshow slide_type=”3d-printer-pen”]

Concluding thoughts…

The 3D Printer Pens are fun for students to use and gives them an opportunity to see how a design created on paper can materialise into a physical object. Although I introduced these activities as part of a unit on design, there is no reason why 3D pens could not be used just as well for other topics (e.g. Shapes in maths.) Having to use the tool meticulously in order to get the desired results is also a good exercise in concentration, patience and tenacity! Based on my experience, getting the students to first create the hipster glasses is a good activity to start with because it teaches them the necessary skills to create even more customised objects later on.

Design – Technology for Learners

Using Tinkercad to design everyday objects

3D Printer Pen for the Classroom