Modular Pencil Construction Kit

thingiverse

This is an easy-to-build kit designed for beginners on a budget who want to quickly construct structures like bridges without hassle. Held together by pencils and supplied clips, these simple prints will help you assemble a miniature bridge in no time at all. They can also be used to teach students about building sturdy structures that don't easily collapse. Print Settings Printer Brand: Printrbot Printer: Simple Black Resolution: Unknown Infill: 15% Notes: The clip for the cardboard needs to be rotated 90 degrees so it looks like an H in bird's-eye view. For the main arms, rafts may not be necessary; I only use them because of my frequent adhesion problems. For the clips, however, a raft or brim is highly recommended due to their small base contact when oriented correctly. Post-Printing Just break off the raft/brim if you used any, and you're done! How I Designed This I designed this in a program called Onshape. The length of the arm was set to be compatible with a Pythagorean triangle at 100 mm, center point to center point. The hole size was set so that it would snugly accept an average wooden pencil, allowing pencils to be used as connectors. Note: Wooden, hexagonal pencils work best. The slots in the main arm were added mainly for aesthetics. The clip was designed to fit into the recess of the arm and serve as a universal clip. The longer, thicker jaws are designed to accommodate common cardboard well and serve as a perpendicular connector for attaching cardboard as facing. Custom Section Objectives The objective of this project is to produce a supporting structure similar to that of a side of a bridge to demonstrate the inherent strength of certain patterns of rigid bars. This lesson can be proven by the students' construction of a long structure that would not otherwise be feasible without the supporting structure. Audiences This project is targeted mainly to students in middle school and high school. The larger the group working, the better, as the process can become time-consuming. Of course, there's no reason someone outside these generalizations can't have fun with this kit! Preparation Students need to know the inherent advantages of triangles, which is quickly taught without difficulty. However, a significant amount of time needs to be set aside ahead of time to print all of the arms. Remember that each arm is only 100 mm from center point to center point. The larger the structure, the more arms that are going to be needed. Fortunately, they can be printed en masse. The clips, though still numerous, are required far less often and no more than 20 should be needed for most small basic frameworks. Steps The project is meant to teach students how to think constructively and show them the advantages of certain designs and methods. The teacher should give a brief overview of the structural advantages of triangles and then give the students an objective of creating a structure that can support a set amount of weight that also bridges a gap of a certain distance. Pencils should be provided by the dozens to the students as the arms tend to accumulate many connectors. For the students to become more invested, have a small competition to see who can get the most weight-per-arm ratio supported in their design. Results The students should have acquired some sense of weight distribution, constructive thinking, and the skill to build a basic supporting structure. Assessment is difficult to judge; this is more a pass/fail lesson than anything else. For more projects that can be done with the pieces, try building a structure reminiscent of one found nearby or off of a Google search or two.