Category: Prusa - iCreate iLearn

April Design Challenge: Makers Empire and Bubble Wands

4/28/2020

So when physical school closed in mid March, it appeared to be the end of Design Thinking and several projects that were just starting. After spending time transitioning to virtual instruction for all of our classrooms, my need to continue to create with our students resurfaced.

My joy is creating with our students and as much as I am passionate about technology, I started to feel lost without the connection to our learners and using technology to create. So a crazy idea surfaced of creating a choice board around a design challenge using one of our powerful design tools - Makers Empire.

In this design challenge, I combined Makers Empire (one of my favorite 3D design tools) and the need for connection (receiving something in the mail). I did not know if it was going to be possible but I wondered if having students design bubble wands, printing them at my home, and sending them through the mail would be a possibility.

I reached out to our principal, Michelle Nummerdor, who has always supported my ideas to reach our learners and promote designing. She confirmed that we could send the bubble wands through the district mail which started the launch of the first virtual Design Challenge using Seesaw. Link to Seesaw Activity

Within the first days of the launch, over 50 designs had been submitted. Today just over 100 designs went out through the mail to our designers.

Bubble Wand Testing with Makers Empire

5/30/2019

This week is the week of testing initial bubble wand designs. Designers have learned about bubbles, bubble wands, 3D design, and 3D printing. Now it is time for them to test what they have learned and to try again. For first time wand designers, I would definitely hire them.

This learning experience has really shown the struggle and resilience of our learners as they create in 3D.

Bubble Wands... Testing and Reiteration Using Makers Empire

5/28/2019

Designers shared their test and final wands. As designers revealed their wands to the class, each designer shared what they had changed and why.

The discussion around designs has been my favorite part besides the joy of blowing bubbles.

Bubble Wands ... Understanding and Creating with Makers Empire

5/24/2019

This week groups are in two different lessons.

Investigation 4 - designers learned about how a 3D printer works and watched a sample wand being printed. They then designed their own test wand to be printed for next week. Each designer created two complete bubble wands and then selected which one to print. Several designers struggled at first but persistence won out (another important part of Design Thinking).

Investigation 5 - designers tested their printed wands and then discussed how to improve their design. The final wand will be debuted next. The joy of testing and realizing that the first time may not work was a valuable part of this investigation.

3D Printing with Ribbon Integration Using Makers Empire

8/28/2018

While looking at tweets, I ran across an idea that inspired me. It was a post about 3D printing and using tulle to create jewelry. It started to make me think about designing bracelets integrating 3D printing and ribbon.

First Iteration

My first iteration was using the braille font in Makers Empire but I started to have printing difficulties. After my first print, the printer went completely down so I had a break of several weeks to replace the extruder.

What I noticed about my first design was that the dots were too tall and not that interesting so I went back to the drawing board.

Second Iteration

My second design was larger in size. I didn't realize until it was printing that the smaller stars were actually floating and not level on the design plate which caused them to print in the air. The more delicate little star is something that I will be deleting in the next iteration because it has a higher rate of failing with the ribbon design.

I printed about 5 layers before adding the ribbon with painters tape so that the print is adhered through the ribbon. I chose specific ribbon with the finished edge and thin interior. Now I need to print it one more time and finish the edges.

Candle Holders, 3D Design, Makers Empire.... Final Prints

3/26/2018

With any learning experience, you learn along the way. 3D printing is always a learning journey between what is designed and what can be successfully printed.

Throughout this project, I was constantly evaluating what students were understanding about the software and how it would translate into a final 3D design. For some students it is a simple transition from the virtual 3D world into the physical print while for others there is a definite learning curve.

As we played with Makers Empire and learned how to manipulate shapes through the snowman challenge and other challenges, I realized that too many of the students really couldn't see what they were creating in the physical environment which is why we used model magic and took a learning session to physically create a candle holder. It was also important that students not accept their first physical design as I planned to require multiple designs in Makers Empire before students would select their final design.

Working with exact dimensions really created a challenge when designers moved beyond the circle shape in their designs. The candle holders needed to have a minimum diameter of 42mm and a height of 60mm.

As final designs are being printed, designers failed to take into account what that would mean when using a star or heart base. Also thin walls with holes and overhangs resulted in several failed prints. Bigger holes also created challenges for the printer.

To make each print unique, I am using a rainbow gradient filament so not only is each design unique in shape but also in color.

Valuable learning pieces that needed to take place still resulted in final pieces that may not all work for candle holders but are beautiful in their design.

understanding the transformation of design into product
the impact of design choices in a specific medium
the use of removal and specific dimensions

Prusa MK3, Makers Empire, and Student Prints

2/6/2018

Students have now selected their final prints that they have designed with Makers Empire and the printers are hard at work.

Our newest Prusa MK3 is printing some beautiful designs. It sits right next to my desk while the other one has to be printing in the other room because it is so loud.

Check out some of the cool prints! The white prints are from the Prusa.

Makers Empire, Prusa .... Happy Dance!

1/23/2018

So the students have been using Makers Empire for several weeks now and the designs that our students have been making far exceed any designs students have created in the past. Today was our last day of exploration and challenges. Next week students will be selecting their final print design and colors.

Our Prusa MK3 just arrived today. What a beautiful, quiet, quality printer!

Prusa 3D Printer Customer Service .... Superb!

1/21/2018

As our students are working with Makers Empire to create amazing 3D designs, our replacement printer is on the way. Prusa has been one of the printers I have been most excited to learn with. Our first go around with the MK2S didn't work as well as I had hoped but it did help me to really understand the mechanics of 3D printing. Realistically any 3D printer has a learning curve but it is truly the company that stands behind the printer that matters even more.

With the Prusa MK3 and Makers Empire software, I feel like I have found the sweet spot for our students to learn and create quality 3D designs and prints.

Prusa MK2 Adventures....

12/30/2017

Last year I purchased for our school the best performing printer on the market.... it prints with such high quality but I learned in the process some really important lessons.
1. Cheap filament comes at a cost - filament diameter varies and can affect the extruder. Erroring on the side of cheap is not always a good plan. I have now started to buy filament from Atomic, a company in Indiana.
2. Learning is essential for anyone who is creating in 3D - I was fortunate to have a friend who steered me to a Facebook group dedicated to the Prusa printer. It was through this group that I was able to learn about new prints as well as find resources when I couldn't solve challenges.
3. Our community is rich with help - When I couldn't get the printer online, I wrote a post on Facebook and another owner in the Fitchburg area, Mark Mayo, took hours of his life to help me fix the printer and understand how to use it more effectively.
4. Prusa has amazing customer support - Yesterday I reached out to Prusa again after Mark and I had spent several hours with the printer. Shane listened to what was happening and after explaining the situation, he offered to replace the printer under the year warranty (AMAZING!).

Filament Jams

Through the process of having multiple filament jams, I was able to understand the pieces that make up the extruder head. Mark explained all of the pieces and what they do. I feel like even though this wasn't a lesson I wanted to learn, I now have a much better understanding of the pieces and their functions.

Wrong Reassembly - Understanding Tension

Tension and not understanding how to reassemble something you take apart is an important lesson. Thank goodness I had a community built around the printer who would watch the videos and tell me what I was doing wrong.

Print Settings

Sometimes the little tweeking that other people understand makes all of the difference. Thanks to the community and Mark Mayo for helping me figure out the printer settings.

Temperature Matters

Leaving a printer in a cold room is not a good plan.

Prusa Customer Service = Amazing!