<![CDATA[CAD FOR KIDS - Blog]]>Mon, 11 Nov 2024 11:56:04 +0000Weebly<![CDATA[A journey through the digestive system!]]>Wed, 12 Apr 2023 16:34:07 GMThttps://www.cadforkids.co.uk/blog/a-journey-through-the-digestive-systemIn English, my Year 5 & 6 class wrote accounts of an imaginary journey through the human digestive system, written from the point of a scientist shrunk down to a tiny size. Using Tinkercad, I had the children design the pod / submarine the scientist would travel inside. We then 3D printed their tiny vehicles.  
]]><![CDATA[Moon / Mars Bases]]>Wed, 12 Apr 2023 15:20:12 GMThttps://www.cadforkids.co.uk/blog/moon-mars-basesHere are a selection of space bases designed by my Year 4 - Year 6 students this year. 
]]><![CDATA[Military Medals]]>Sat, 26 Nov 2022 21:27:03 GMThttps://www.cadforkids.co.uk/blog/military-medalsHere's a project I undertook with a Year 6 Class, linking to their WW1 and WW2 topic. Children designed their own medals using Vectr.com and Tinkercad and printed them using bronze fillament.  
]]><![CDATA[Young Architects Club]]>Thu, 14 Apr 2022 22:21:38 GMThttps://www.cadforkids.co.uk/blog/young-architects-clubIn the Spring Term of 2022 I ran an afterschool 'Young Architects' club for Year 4-6 pupils at a local primary school. Here is a selection of the children's CAD work. 
]]><![CDATA[Ladybank Lodge - a more complicated 3D-printed LED candle house.]]>Mon, 04 Jan 2021 21:35:04 GMThttps://www.cadforkids.co.uk/blog/ladybank-lodge-a-more-complicated-3d-printed-led-candle-houseThis was a Christmas gift for my mother who often used to pass this unique house when she lived near Ladybank, Fife, in Scotland.  The model was designed in Tinkercad (it took me around 3-4 hours due to a fair bit of trial and error!). Printing took 4hrs 20 minutes. 
]]><![CDATA[Year 5 Candle Houses]]>Sun, 13 Dec 2020 13:00:01 GMThttps://www.cadforkids.co.uk/blog/year-5-candle-housesThis was the final project of a term-long 3D-printing club I ran with five Year-5 pupils. The children began learning Tinkercad with me in September 2020. The houses were modeled during three 45-minute sessions. Each one took around four hours to print.  
Picture
]]><![CDATA[Mr N's Impossible Table]]>Thu, 09 Apr 2020 15:03:10 GMThttps://www.cadforkids.co.uk/blog/mr-ns-impossible-table
Tensegrity (also known as floating compression) is a structural method where the rigid parts do not touch each other, but are instead supported by tensioned cables. 
The concept was invented by a Latvian-Soviet artist called Kārlis Johansons, who was born in 1890 and made an exhibition of his "self-tensile constructions" in 1921. 
In the 1960’s, architect Buckminster Fuller coined the term “Tensegrity”, and built upon the work of his student, the artist Kenneth Snelson. 
Picture
Above: Kārlis Johansons' 1921 'Spatial Constructions' exhibition. 
I based my ‘Impossible Table’ on existing models; however I wanted to make my model as simple to print as possible so used simple geometric shapes and added notches so that elastic bands could be used instead of string (which would have been more fiddly to cut to the correct length). 

The model consists of four separate parts. Unlike existing models, my one doesn’t require glue; the holes for the leg bases are just 0.25mm wider than the bases themselves so are held in by friction (it was necessary to use a craft knife to shave off a very small amount of material on the base of the legs for them to fit, but as a result they fit very tightly.). Ask an adult to help you with this (unless you are an adult!).

In terms of printing, it was necessary to use the ‘brim’ method of adhesion to the print bed. I’d tried using the usual ‘skirt’ method, but found one of the small areas of material at the end of the elastic band notches kept coming unstuck, which would have resulted in a failed print. I also ticked the ‘generate support’ box for the inverted arches of the elastic band notches, but it would have printed fine without support.  

Here are the .stl files of my model:
impossible_table_base.stl
File Size: 34 kb
File Type: stl
Download File
impossible_table_legs.stl
File Size: 12 kb
File Type: stl
Download File
]]><![CDATA[Useful 3D printing links for beginners]]>Tue, 07 Apr 2020 15:33:51 GMThttps://www.cadforkids.co.uk/blog/useful-3d-printing-links-for-beginnersHere are some useful 3D printing articles that offer detailed explanations of the terms in the Glossary section of the homepage. 

Overhangs: 
https://all3dp.com/2/3d-printing-overhang-how-to-master-overhangs-exceeding-45/

Supports / Overhangs: 
https://all3dp.com/1/3d-printing-support-structures/  
https://www.hubs.com/knowledge-base/supports-3d-printing-technology-overview/

Filament: 
https://all3dp.com/1/3d-printer-filament-types-3d-printing-3d-filament/ 

Infill: 
https://all3dp.com/2/infill-3d-printing-what-it-means-and-how-to-use-it/  

3D models: 
https://www.thingiverse.com/  Here you will find thousands of free-to-download 3D models. However, not all of them will print correctly as anyone can upload models to the site and they aren’t checked thoroughly for quality. Look out for photos of printed models to be sure they will work. ]]><![CDATA[Da Vinci Bridges]]>Sun, 22 Mar 2020 13:58:19 GMThttps://www.cadforkids.co.uk/blog/da-vinci-bridgesFor Science Week 2020, pupils from Year 5 and 6 explored Da Vinci Bridges. These ingenious bridges are self supporting, requiring no fixings of any kind. Leonardo Da Vinci's original bridge was designed to be used by soldiers, who would each carry one part of the bridge, assembling it when necessary.  The children first learned how to assemble model bridges, before designing their own versions in Tinkercad. Children were left to decide the lengths of each bridge beam, so consequently their bridges all had different heights and spans. 
A small group of of children then made a scale version of our proposed full-sized bridge, which was designed to span a trench that had mysteriously appeared in the school field!
After experimenting with different notch depths, children began preparing the beams of the full size version (with a little help from Mr North!). 
The finished bridge was surprisingly long and worked well, though we decided that using shorter beams would result in a slightly taller and stronger bridge. All in all the project was a great success! 
]]>