3D Printing in Room Three: Cookie Cutters

Technology at Auroa Primary School.

At Auroa Primary School Y7/8 students have the opportunity to participate in DPE - Design Production Education (in some Schools this is known as Technology). Students have four different learning cycles that they can participate in Robotics, E Textiles, Woodwork and 3D Printing. You can learn more about the program here. This video below shows the program in action and details what some of our senior students here at Auroa Primary School has been up too recently: The amazing video was produced by Mr Bloor who is one of the wonderful staff members that we have here at Auroa Primary School. The students have been working on producing a speaker that is controlled by an Apple device. You can see examples of the speaker in this slideshow:

3D Printing: BBQ Ignition Handles

Thank you so much for your visit.  Students at Auroa Primary School, and across New Zealand are currently nearing the end of their 2014/5 holiday.  Most classrooms and students will be returning to school on the last week of February or the first week of January 2015.  Auroa Primary School will be back on Thursday 29th January and we will be happy to be back in contact with you then.

During the final week of school for 2015 we were approached by one of the parents from the local community with a problem solving issue: the BBQ used by the local Cricket Club was needing some replacement parts made for it.   The problem was one that we didn't have a lot of time to involve ourselves in, Logan, Michael and Tom worked to create replacement parts within a twenty four hour time frame - but they did it.   It was also successful so that when the Y8 students from Auroa Primary School had their farewell BBQ we were able to cook the food and test run the new parts!

Our students have many exciting processes and plans for 2015 and we can't wait to share them with you all shortly.  

3D Printing at Auroa Primary School

We've had some amazing feedback about some of our recent efforts with our new 3D Printers.  We've had our second most popular video of the year, Michael and Alyssa's Tilt Invention for the 3D Printer - this is second only to 'Barefeet in New Zealand'.  Tahana's portfolio of 3D Printing work is the first in a series and we have other students working to complete before the end of our school year.

We've also had some queries about how a 3D Printer works.  Today Michael and Lucas put together this video from our classroom which shows the 'layering' that the 3D Printer uses to create the build.  You can also see the filament and the spool at the end of this video.  Filmed at Auroa Priamry School, Taranaki, New Zealand on Friday 5th December 2014.
3d printing' from Myles Webb on Vimeo.

Tahana's 3D Printing Portfolio

The students in Room One have been working on a variety of tasks as we approach the end of the year. One of the projects that students are completing are part of our schools Academic Keys program, and as part of that looking at our digital projects. One of the new devices at our school is the Ultimaker 2, 3D Printer. Students need to design a series of projects related to the use of the 3D Printer. Today in class Tahana finished the first attempt at his digital 3D printing program. He's completed four out of five prints and explained the reasoning behind each. You can read his fantastic work here:

Alyssa and Michael's iPad Tilter: 3D Printer Design

We're very excited that this week in class we've had our two new Ultimaker 2 Printers working nearly full speed so our students can complete their 3D design projects.   Today in class we had a special project worked on by a group of students.    Alyssa and her brother Michael have worked on a 3D Print design for a tilter that will allow Alyssa to use the iPad with more ease.  Currently she finds it difficult to tilt the iPad and needs assistance.  Michaels and her design addresses this as it allows her to use it with more freedom and independence.   Filmed and created by Michael and Alyssa from Room One, Auroa Primary School, Taranaki, New Zealand.

Ipad Tilter from Myles Webb on Vimeo.

We're going to discuss the video tomorrow thinking about things like, should we show the making process, can Alyssa demonstrate how it works and have her speaking about it.

3D Printing Into the End of the Year.

We're very excited in Room One to have Auroa Primary School purchase two new Ultimaker 2 3D Printers. These have been printing out our 3D Design Projects that students have been working on over the past term or so. The students from Room One are busy working on their official Google Presentations, in the meantime here's a sneak peak of what some of our students have been up to.

 Mr Chittenden, our Principal, set a challenge of having the students design and engineer a holder for a whiteboard duster suitable for the classroom wall. This design was created by Tahana from Room One. This is the original design that he planned with the measurements. This is his prototype print - which is in Glow in the Dark Filament!

Auroa Primary Schools 3d Printing Project

Thank you for your visit to our class page. Students in New Zealand are currently on their term two holiday breaks and will return to school on the week starting Monday 21st July. Our students have continued publishing in the meantime and you can see examples of these from the students blogs on the right hand side of our page. One of our most popular posts that occurred from last terms work was our 3d Printing Project. We've had a group of students working independently on a problem solving project. The students have identified the problem and moved through the problem solving process. The slideshow about the project has been updated and reflects the students progress. The project has undergone twelve or so prints that have detailed the significant changes in the project as the students have continued to adapt their production. The best part has been the students who are the ones driving the project. They are also responsible for creating this video detailing the progress: Where to next? On the first week of the term the students from Room One are going to mount the hinge on the door and ensure its completed and works. This will involve further testing and checking, and possibly more production. Our students will continue to document this process and post it online. Stay tuned and see you from 21st July.

3d Printer Design Classroom Project

During the past several weeks a group of Auroa Primary School students have been working on a design project with our 3d Printer.   As mentioned in the original post it centred around a broken latch for a classroom cupboard in Room One.

Today was an exciting day in class as the students believe that they have solved the problem.  The latch has taken many designs and many forms from its original incarnation to the version that has been printed in the last day.   You can see details of this in the video created by the students.  Michael and Logan, with the assistance of James, who is currently overseas have driven a project from the start.

They have identified the problem, created the design on paper (in their own time), designed it virtually (using Tinkercad), printed versions of the latch, re-designed the latch several times (currently in its eleventh version) and continued to re-model and redesign the latch.  They are at the point were they have created a 'ball and joint' mechanism, modelled on a socket design, that fits perfectly and will tomorrow be attached to the cupboard to solve the problem.


3D printer project: cuboard clips from Myles Webb on Vimeo.


A student solution to a problem with a great process and we couldn't be more proud of them.   This video below was created by the students and detailed the entire process.   The students are currently re-working a Google Presentation about the process which will be posted shortly.  This video created by Michael and Logan on Thursday 3rd July, 2014.

Classroom 3d Printer Project

Now that we have our 3d Printer up and running in class, we've had some students working on projects in their own time. The first project, which started last term, consists of a group of boys who have been looking to replace a broken hinge in the sink cupboard of the Room One classroom. This has been completely student driven and has meant that the boys involved have spent considerable amounts of their own time working on the project, but they have a done a fantastic job. Next week we are going to begin the final testing and evaluation of the project and we will be posting the results and details on the students blogs and on our class page.

3d Printer Classroom Project @ Auroa Primary School

On Friday we managed to successfully make a print run of the boys hinge for our three dimensional printer.   We were able to print off our first drafts of the composition.  It needs some refining at present from our students and they will be working on the project during a week that also features two days dedicated to our school robotics program, with the Wanganui Regionals for the Robocup fast approaching.  

This is the process at present:

The boys have been through the entire process by themselves. They have identified the problem, they've drawn plans up about what they want to create, this is Michaels original diagram. The next step for the students was to use Tinkercad to create prototypes

for the hinge.

You can see from the diagrams that there are three distinct versions, thats because Michael, James and Logan have all had differing ideas about whats going to work best. James has three entirely separate designs, so there are five in total. This week were going to 3D print all five and see which of the designs works best and which need to be refined. If none of the designs work, its back to the drawing board until we can get a solution. You can click on all of the links to the individual blogs of the students involved in the process.

Auroa Primary's 3d Printer!

We're very excited in Room One that this week our School took delivery of our new 3d Printer.  We've spent the last two or three days organising the printer, running test prints and preparing to problem solve with it.  If you are unsure about a 3d printer and what it is capable of you can view this new item here or have a look at the Room 8 class page, as their students posted about it this morning.

Auroa Schools 3D Printer from Myles Webb on Vimeo.

This video is the test print of a balloon car, which didn't work perfectly, but was pretty close.  We are continuing to refine our printer and our students are confident that we can get it working completely early next week.   This video was filmed, time lapsed and put together by Lucas from Room One on Friday 28th February 2014.

Does your school have a 3d printer? What can you make using a 3d printer? What school application should we have with it? What can we consider using it for?