Project: creation process

3D printing

I have 3D printed a planet to start testing a basic structure. I will now now think about laser cutting a structure to hold it!

The printing took over 9 hours and this is the result:

Source model: thinginverse

Other models found on thinginverse:

3D Design

I have used tinkercad to skecth the current idea of the solar system. I am thinking to make a base with CNC or laser cutter, create sticks to hold the planets (which are 3D printed) and than have the planets hold with nylon thread. I still have to figure out how to connect the sticks to the main structure in a way that allows planets to rotate and also I need to think about a box or something that keeps everything together and hides the sticks. I am imagining that the students only see the nylon threads and planets moving.

2D Design

This week I have learnt how to use inkscape and done a first drawing of a solar system. Very basic still…

Some ideas

My final project will be about the Teens4Kids project I am running in Sicily. The project is about supporting students to become digital creators and it leverages on a learning-by-doing approach (in each course students learn by making something with digital fabrication) and a peer-to-peer approach (courses are designed to be thaught by teenagers to kids).

My idea is to create a new workshop that teenagers can teach to kids and that support learning in the traditional school curriculum. This would add up to other workshops we are already offering (which I will all list in the T4K page) in which both teenagers and kids would learn how about digital fabrication: coding, 3D printing, laser cutting, CNC, …

The workshop will be about creating a solar system! I am not sure yet how the whole thing would work, but I was thinking that perhaps the planets could be 3D printer, the structure could be laser cutted (or milled) and then I can think about some way to make the planets move (arduino, magnets, gears..)

In parallel with the work on this project, I will set up the Teens4Kids and list there all sources which might be useful for schools that wanna start promoting creative digital education.