The design of a chess set

Kim Tech is working on designing a chess set for Digital Design. He discovered the screw modifier in Blender and used it to make spirals around a test piece. He encountered a few problems, such as that the ends of the spirals were open (he solved that by adding spheres at either end) and the 3D printing program had problems with reading the exported file (he recalculated the normals).

Finally he got a piece that the printer could print, but Ms. Chelsea put a cylinder in the center to prevent the need for supports during the printing process. Now Kim Tech wants to find a way to make the center hollow without needing supports. The printer can only print up to a 45% angle without supports.

Here it is printed! 

I can't wait to see Kim Tech's next design! And maybe have a game of chess with custom designed chess pieces...

Lifelong Learning: the star stamp

ISPP is truly a community of lifelong learners. Ms. Tay is taking a course on 3D design using Autodesk Fusion 360 and she has designed a star stamp, which can be used for stamping wax. We are also thinking the stamp would be fun for stamping play dough or cookies. Maybe we will print some extra copies for our EY and KG creators. Or maybe we should make some play dough to test it out...

I wonder what Ms. Tay will design next! Are YOU planning something? Stop by the KC or the PD lab to get help or ideas. We'd love to print for you!

Ms. Tay, Wattai, and the Star Stamp

A robot with a monkey head

Rishi made a 3D model in Blender with a monkey head and we printed it with our UP Mini 3D printer! He suggested using it for a foosball table. Hmmm...

It is a simple model to make, so I've made a movie that shows you how to do it. Give it a try and see what you can create!

Hanae's Camera

Hanae designed a camera in Blender for her Digital Design class last year. This is a great example of the contrast between what we can do with 3D printing, and what we can do with 3D images.

Here are digital images of the camera in Blender:

Here is an image of the 3D printed version of the camera:

Congratulations, Hanae!

TEDxISPP Speaker 2016 -possible gift

I had a few moments yesterday between print jobs to experiment with a possible gift for 2016 TEDxISPP speakers. What would you design for them?

Snorlax: first print of the 2016-17 school year!

Vardaan designed this Snorlax with Blender in his Digital Design class last year, but the holidays started before we were able to print his design. With the arrival of Pokemon Go in July 2016, it is fitting that this print was next on the print list. We might not have Pokemon Go in Cambodia, but we have a Snorlax! Nice work, Vardaan!

I wonder what his CP is? Can we wake him by playing the pokeflute song?

How will we feed him 900 pounds of food?

What would you like to design? Check out our Blender Tutorials Page to get ideas!

A jet, a shoe, a soccer ball, and a logo

Kim Son designed a jet in Blender for Digital Design Class. The first .stl file did not print the top section of the design, so Kim Son re-created his jet. It's got a fine design and we just wish we could print it BIGGER. How would you design a space ship?

Socheata designed a shoe in Blender for Digital Design class. We ran into a few challenges. First, she designed the shoe with planes, but planes are two-dimensional, so even though the shoe was 3 dimensional, the printer couldn't print it because the planes were not 3-dimensional. So, she solved the problem by closing off the top of the shoe. This is called making the object 'manifold.' Second, she wanted spiked fine point tips on the heels, but the printer wasn't stabilizing the points with supports, so they came out in a mess of strings. Finally she decided to print her shoe on a platform to give the heels stability in the print, and it worked! I hope we will see many more shoe designs coming through our printer!

Selma printed a soccer ball in Blender for Digital Design class. The tutorial she used to design it was created for making an eye catching digital soccer ball, not for printing. When she went to print, she wanted to have two pentagon cut out so that she could put a string through the ball. The problem was that the ball was made with planes, which are not 3D. She tried adding a ring to the shape, but was unable to get a seal around the open pentagons so she couldn't make it manifold. When she tried to create faces in the open pentagons, there were problems with lines and vertices that did not form a complete loop. Finally after much trial and error, she was able to seal the ball and make it manifold. Here's some video of the ball printing:

Emil designed the League of Legends logo in Google Sketch up for fun. Because that's how he rolls. He had some problems with the normals. We're not quite sure what normals are, but we were able to solve the problem with the help of Meng from Liger, who showed us how to go into edit mode in Blender and under shading and UVs with all selected click recalculate. 

Want to be a 3D designer and print your work? 3D Printing is FREE* for ISPP community members. Send us your projects! Ask us for help!

*time permitting with priority given to print jobs for class work.

3D Printed Blender Designed Thresher Shark

Melissa made a thresher shark in Digital Design class using the sculpting tool in Blender! 

We printed a small version (17 minutes, 2.3 grams) to test it and then a larger version (1 hour 6 minutes, 10.5 grams). There was a small problem with the larger model and our thresher lost the bottom of its tail fin. We will try again soon. Stop by the Knowledge center to check them out! 

We'd love to hear your design ideas!

An Upright iPad Stand

Our Elementary students use iPads to film with the green screen. They have been using various methods to hold the iPads upright for filming, because their covers hold them at an angle.

We designed a simple upright iPad stand in Blender, added "Learning Together" by adding text, extruding it, converting it to mesh, and then using it to do a boolean difference modifier on our stand.

It's not perfect: the section of the model that was at the front of the build plate by the door buckled up slightly. Out theory is that the plate is losing heat during the print process, so in the future we will use a cover on the printer to keep the heat in.

The stand works, and a little bit of blue tac makes it as stable as it needs to be.

What are your design ideas? We'd love to print them!

We've printed our first student design!

When Emil heard that we have a 3D printer and students can print, he immediately opened Google Sketch Up and made a design. He made the sign of the Deathly Hallows from Harry Potter. Then he followed the instructions here to send his file for printing.

What will you design for printing?

Emil and the Sign of the Deathly Hallows

How to create a 3D design for printing

There are lots of different programs that enable you to create or download 3D designs.

My favourite 3D design program is Blender. I like it because it's free, you can also create 3D scenes for photography, and you can create 3D animations. This program feels overwhelming at first, but there is no limit to what you can achieve. There are loads of tutorials online and I can also help you!

AutoDesk has various program for different ability levels:

• AutoCAD is also free, very popular, and an industry standard for architects. Mr. McCallum is a skilled user of this software.
• TinkerCAD is easier than AutoCAD. :) Mr. Matt in Elementary can help you with it.
• 123D Catch is an app that lets you take a 3D scan of an object or person by taking a series of photographs.

You can download designs from Thingiverse, and for many designs there are modification and remixing options. You can also create an account and upload / share your designs. You can see my designs here.  I'm a beginner :)

What programs do you use? Share them in the comments!

Have Printer, Will Print: How to make a 3D printing request

We now have a 3D printer and we are ready to accept print jobs! It's time for you to get designing.

Our printer is an UP Mini. Maximum print size is 12cm x 12cm x 12cm. Files must be in .stl format.

These are the colours we currently have available. 

If you have something you would like to print, you need to complete this form and upload your file in .stl format to this folder. Your file should be named with your name and the name of your print job.

All print jobs must have a good and clear purpose. We cannot guarantee that all jobs will be printed. Priority will be given to print jobs in the following order:

1. designs made for a class and connected to the ISPP curriculum
2. designs made by learners for personal learning
3. designs downloaded and customized by learners
4. designs downloaded by learners

All prints will be featured in our blog.