Date: April 29, 2017
This is a Kickstarter project. I bought this for USD$299. It is made by Chinese.
Why I bought it? Because it is very kid friendly. The one bought by my wife is not so kid friendly where you need to use Cura to figure out how to configure the 3D printer and load the model and print and it does not have any casing. This one simply copy the modelling gcode file onto the SD card and use the iPad to print.
It looks like microwave oven. And it enclosed the 3D printer inside a casing.
It is colourful (yellow & blue). It is very kiddish too.
But this project launch is not that smooth.
Because of the wrong instruction printed on the printer that make the user inserted the SD card into the SD card slot wrongly (i.e. upside down), the SD card is easily spoiled if you inserted the SD card wrongly.
As a result, you will need to open up the 3D printer, and then, replace the SD card component. And this required some soldering work too.
Luckily I am trained to do this.
Yeap, it looks complicated. But it is easy for an electrician.
I told you, right. It is cute right?
After I replaced the SD card, the 3D printer (a.k.a Minitoy) seems to work
Let’s try it out.
To print, you can use the MiniToy App from iTunes.
These are the simple instructions. Connect the iPad Wifi to the Minitoy 3D printer Wifi.
simply go to the settings and select the MiniToy Wifi Access point.
Then, load the filament.
The Minitoy now will heat up the temperature. And we wait.
Then, choose the model and print.
The app is not so pretty, but it does the work.
This is a great tool to introduce to kids what is 3D printing.
This is the first print. A heart shape. And it takes 26 minutes to print.
Here are some of the specs of this Minitoy 3D Printer. The speed is kind of similar to the previous one (the one my wife bought for Jay’s birthday).
OK. It is done! The 3D heart shape.
Let’s take a look at how easy we can get the plate out for the kids. It is just like Microwave. Once it is done, you can open the door, and take the plate out.
Now, here comes the problem of every 3D printer. If you print shape like this, it is harder to twist it. Or it is impossible to twist the shape out. So, you need to use all kind of spatula or metal tools to cut it out. Actually, I can just simply tear the paper but I wanted to try to see how to get it out without tearing the paper. That blue paper stick on the plate.
The 3D heart shape.
Next, let’s print a sophisticated things… A bulldog may be. Wah… 108 minutes…
I printed before the kids wakes up. When the kids wakes up, they just sit there and watch it get printed.
It’s printing.
After a long wait. It is done.
That is the bull dog. The printer is so intelligent even print a supporting frame to support the head when it get printed.
That is the original print.
Notice that I have remove that piece of blue paper. So, I am printing it directly onto the printing plate. So, it is quite simple, simply twist and snap it out.
Let’s peel off all the extra printing.
Might need to use the polisher.
And there, it is done. A 3D printed bull dog.
The kids likes it.
So, this June Holidays, you can expect the kids to learn how to google a piece of 3D printing, and load it using Cura and then, save it under Minitoy printing specs settings, and then, save it onto SD card as a GCode file. and use the Minitoy App to load it.
Next, if they are quite adventurous, then, they can start learning simple designing using Cura, and then, create the model.
The objectives is to teach them, you can replicate or design and print out a prototype, or model to help you do your job next time. hahahaha
