Tinker, Teach, Repeat: Bringing Big Ideas to Life in 3D - Hackware August 2026

Yeah, hello everyone. Um, it's my first time here. So, yeah, I'll just try to present whatever I have here. Um, I don't background just um, actually I got to know him through the um, through I think one of the sharing sessions or I think it's design thinking workshop or something, I can't remember. Then after that, uh, he introduced me to him. Oh, yeah. So, thereafter I joined his um, Facebook. Then after that, uh, So, yeah, I also joined him through the Facebook. Then he saw my old things. Then after he thought that it's apt for me to share some of my things over here. But mainly why he approached me to share was because he was quite intrigued by the fact that I always share my field products. Yes. So, recently or last year I bought a 3D printer. So, basically what I did was I filled whatever I want. Yeah. So, some of the things might not appeal to you, but um, I'm just here to share what I learned from the whole journey. Just to let you know. Yeah. So, basically the whole thing is not about the 3D printer by itself, but the learning itself. Yeah. So, this is just a quick check. How many of us actually read manuals before using gadgets? Yeah, I'm not the only one who don't. Thank you. So, anyway, so I bought a 3D printer. My wife nagged at me a lot. Because the first thing I don't do is I don't read the printer. So, I went through a lot of funny issues, but uh, honestly it was quite fun. Yeah, but then my wife said, "Read the manual. This shouldn't have happened." Anyway, it doesn't matter. Yeah, I've spoiled quite a number of ovens as well. So, yeah. Yes. So, anyway, uh, this was my first project. Yeah, or rather, just to let you see. This one is the one I I've myself. So, this one is one that you can download from Makerspace or all those online websites now. So, basically it's a pen holder. So, I'm supposed to ask you which one actually uh made a better job in allowing me to learn more, helping me more, left or right? Uh so, I guess you all gravitate to this. Yeah. Um so, this one, if you look over here, is imperfect. Yeah, and this was actually my first print job, and I I'm still using it because I use it to remind myself of what actually happened. Yes. So, which will bring me to my next thing over here. We often assume that learning looks like this, following instructions, practice, and you will succeed. But unfortunately, it doesn't. Okay, and for my case, it takes even longer because, like I mentioned, I don't read the manual. Yeah, so unfortunately, look like this. I was just curious, so I bought a printer. Then after that, I just try. Then of course, oops, it failed. I find out why. After that, I try again. Sometimes it fails, sometimes it doesn't, but it gives me new ideas. Then after that, oops, I just try again. I get a better idea, and just give me a minute. Let me hide this class point over here. Then again, I repeat the whole process. It's a very long process. I'm still getting there, so I hope I'll get better as well. Yeah. So, anyway, um I just wanted to add to introduce this also because actually I teach in a primary school setting. Yeah, so my slides actually I want to use it again for my own primary school kids. So, that's why it's in this font. Everything is precise. No, they can't read very well. So, anyway, this uh interesting study is about the group of scientists that I'm mistaken. They actually gave some toys to some kids. So, one group, the kids were taught how to use the items. Then the other group, they just received the toy without any instructions. Now, the interesting thing is that all of the research um yeah, they found out that actually in the end, the kid who was shown the function tended to stop exploring, and they just stopped there. Whereas the other group um without instructions, actually they discover more hidden functions. Yeah. So, this is something that I thought it was interesting to me because I just feel that at least in Singapore education-wise I think we are scaffolding the kids a little too much. So much so that at times I feel that it inhibits their creativity as well and they stop learning to try. Yes. >> Question. Like, really this is a surprise. Is that actually in the paper? Like, were the paper's authors surprised by these findings? Like, did they feel like, "Of course this is the outcome. I've been a kid." >> This one is hard to answer because I work in the public sector. There are sometimes where we talk about things like innovation. Then they'll be like, "Based on who? What are the facts? Where do you get evidence from?" So, from my side sometimes innovation doesn't work very well when it comes to implementing policies, for example. In fact, I'm meeting a lot of roadblocks with regards to introducing EdTech and what have you not encouraged to because of the current issue and stuff. Because a few years back they used to say that EdTech is the next future. You know, primary school, everybody, you know, you just buy more iPads iPads iPads and whatever. So, to me it's like, "Wow, so is EdTech equals iPad?" So, I was surprised by that. Then after that, slowly I realized suddenly the news have been realizing that actually there were some problems with using EdTech. In fact, there were a lot of problems. And currently primary school is seeing that they are quite reluctant to use uh EdTech technology at full scale because there are issues with it. And of course, there are also studies where by they show, "Hey, look look at all the tech moguls even their kids are not using iPad. They are using what you call the What's the term for it? There's another kind of education. Suddenly I thought one off. Yeah, the one whereby there is no technology. Or rather I would say no no technology. Low-fi technology. Yeah, they learn math >> They are using paper. >> Yeah. Oh, but this is a fine example. >> Yeah, they they they think the position but it's it's surprising. >> Oh, sorry. I thought I had it. >> Yeah. Yeah, sure. >> How big is your hand? So what the one over there is? >> No, sorry. This is upside down. >> The same >> Yes. Yes, they found a way. >> Oh, I think my laptop hanging is it. >> You said there were problems with the notes? >> Pass me um I plan the lesson so much, but uh normally sometimes technology just fails. And that's what happens. >> Everything >> Okay, now I have a problem. It doesn't work. You know what? I will just go here. Maybe it works better here. This one. Yeah, cool. Or maybe I think it will come it will not come as a surprise love. I will assume. Yeah, because kids being kids when they get to explore, they should learn more things. Yeah. So anyway, um this is the thing love. It doesn't The whole study just showed that there's always a trade-off. Yeah, with instructions of course kids learn better and faster, but you might restrict them. Yeah, just like how we learn mathematics in primary school as well. You will give them one method, you will just use that method. After that, when you ask them to think of other ways to discuss actually honestly, they don't they just stop there. But if that's the way you let the kids explore it freely, sometimes they might even devise their own way. Just that it might not be exactly mathematically correct, but we can actually sort of ease them in. Yeah. So anyway, FDM is powerful when the goal is discovering possibilities. So there's something that maybe we can bear in mind. At least for myself. So like I mentioned again, my whole journey here is just to share about my learning. So often failure reviews what the manual cannot. So like I mentioned again, this one actually this was my first clean job. The main thing is that I didn't realize that I need to introduce uh they call what uh uh supports. So I just oh, it can just magically just print out. Actually it doesn't work that way. So there are two types of support on the bigger the manual you know not the manual so the tree one and then another type I can't remember the name. So after that then I realized oh, I need to add supports. Yes. Hit this. Sorry, that's why uh yeah. The school should get me Microsoft Surface. Not iPads or whatever. But never mind anyway. Yeah, so no supports for hand sagging issues and poor overhangs is what happened now. So like I mentioned again, I just keep this to remind myself of this. Yeah. So second thing after that, once I get that one ready then my hands will itchy. I was thinking oh I should print at school. Yes. Yeah, then people start to ask me why. Then my question is why not? Yeah, why are you stopping me anyway? So anyway, this is my first job. It's not very clear here but you actually see a lot of hanging threads. Then that was when I realized hey, there's a problem. So the problem is after that I try to improve on it. It taught me about like thin structures what you need to do. If it's too weak what do you need to do. So actually the project wasn't important, the learning was. Yeah. So, this is the table itself. Now, after I realized people started asking me, "So, why you put this hole?" Then I started to find some other functions for it, putting pen, putting my handphone and stuff like that. Then I started to wonder, uh can I make it more functional? So, that's the time when I tried to get a little bit um I not sure if creative is the term. Then I tried to pop in a clock. Yeah, then of course my colleagues told me, "Oh, this is useless." I said, "Why?" Because nobody has a clock facing upwards. Then I said, "Who cares?" Yeah. So, this one um I was At first I used a drill to drill a hole in the middle. It doesn't work well. Yeah, so in the end I just used it I was like, "Hey, I got a 3D printer. I might as well just print a hole." Uh then that was when I had a problem because the software when you introduce the hole function or they call it the hole function I can't remember the name. Uh the size isn't exactly what it says it is. So, I learned about wow, so there's this thing called tolerance level. I need to learn about the actual fitting. Then I realized that whatever dimensions I would put for holes, I need to I think introduce a extra 10% roughly to make sure that it fits in. Yeah. So, this one again I learned something about it. This is my voice drawing, so I gave him my first clock. Yeah, so although I wasn't reading about tolerances, actually I didn't need them because my design actually demanded them. So, that one to me is authentic learning lah. If I read from the manual, I don't think I will understand it. So, I actually printed a lot of film materials. Yeah, it's all over my school desk. Yes. So, it's a bit messy. Then of course um this is about personal projects. Um this one of course is a new version. Then I was suddenly reminded of a drawing that I had when I was in primary school because of a story my teacher told me about. So, this story in the end become my own. It's about this boy who found a rubbish bin. Then after that he was curious about it and he decided to build a robot out of it out of scrap materials. So, that's why you'll see the basketball here, the super uh the big water dispensers, and the wheels I couldn't think of anything else to replace them with that is I can find it really unfunctional. So, yeah, I do this. So, yeah. Then in the end, of course, the print wasn't good. Again, um yeah, a lot of failures. Then I realized they're actually intricate parts, right? You cannot just print it as you desire. You have to break them apart, actually. You have to print them um small piece after that we put them together. So, now my next problem is putting them together. I need to find a glue that is more suitable for PLA materials, which I yet to find one because it melts every time I put super glue on it. Yeah, so this is something that I care about, lah. Yeah, so all in all, all these experiences actually in the end provided me with a purpose, so I started to explore more things. Yes. >> Which software do you use? >> Oh, okay. Because I'm in primary school, um I all of this was made using Tinkercad. Yeah, it's quite interesting, but however, Tinkercad doesn't really allow um very organic shapes. That's the problem with it. Yeah, so if one were to use such 3D modeling, I if I were to introduce to primary school kids now, uh I would rather they learn from modeling clay and stuff first because I actually learn more about 3D modeling when I dealt with ceramics rather than the program itself. It's very similar. So, when you deal with ceramics, they would teach you this technique called hollowing. So, it's actually the same. You just introduce a hole inside. Yeah, you want to make new shapes, you just combine them together. So, basically it's just addition and subtraction. That's it. Once you understand this logic, actually this becomes very intuitive to you. Yeah, so instead of introducing 3D modeling to kids first, actually they should play a lot more first. If not, it's very difficult for them to get the special awareness. Yeah. So, anyway, now the project become increasingly useful to me because I realized the printer wasn't just making objects. It's helping to make my life easier and I tried to use it to solve some problems. Yeah. So, some of the things I've been making now is this one. So, this is for my school's clean plate project. So, instead of printing a medal or a trophy for them, so I was telling my school, "Hey, why don't we just create something that is more memorable for them?" So, this was actually from one of the drawings in our school. So, um nowadays you have a lot of those What do you call that 3D modeling AI software? So, so I use Meshroom. I just put in the 2D photo, you'll come out with this for me. Because unfortunately, this is organic in nature. I don't have actual 3D program to do this and it would take a lot of time. Yeah. So, after that then this is the example for medal. Sorry, it's of low resolution. But, I realized my printer the resolution is not good enough. So, that's why the details don't show up very well. Then slowly the more functional ones. I hope Where is it? Yeah. Sorry, this hap- happens very often. Oops, sorry. Okay. Pardon me for that. Oh, yes. And this one This one was the one that actually I collaborated with the students themselves. So, we actually realized that the cables are giving us an issue in school as you can see it's a lot messier than you actually realize. So, they are trying to resolve this by designing a cable management system. So, it's not done by me. This was done by primary school kids. Yeah. And they can use Tinkercad quite easily. So, the other one was this one was for math. So, for math unfortunately, the ministry Okay, never mind. They gave us these manipulatives, but they didn't tell us how to how to store them properly. So, it's in a mess. It's a big ziplock bag. So, it's very cumbersome to use them. Then after that, I tried to resolve it by building a holder for them. So, this is what the holder looks like. This is prototype one and this is prototype two. Yeah, so I've been sharing them with the fraternity then hopefully someone can actually come up with a better solution for it because it takes a lot of time for the kids to take it out and keep it anyway. Yeah, so those are four then I have four more. This one has bookmarks just for fun. This one is for our school's zone of regulation because cannot find a suitable card holder for it. So the school left it to the teachers who will decide how to deal with them. So 3D printer can actually solve the issue. I only printed it for two teachers. Oh this is the one that I like the most because um when I look at my school logo, again I was thinking why is it flat? Can I make it 3D? Then after that why not? So our school's logo from the front it looks like this. So I tried to envision it in 3D. Yeah, but now I have a problem because I am not able to find a way to put them together because the connecting parts are quite weak. Yeah, so I tried the the printer resolution when they printed out it needed a lot of support especially for the pages of the book. So I'm still trying to find better ways to separate them to print that. Yeah. Mhm. Yes, again it's Tinkercad. All this is in Tinkercad. All this is This is all made from scratch. Yeah. Okay. Maybe later I can ask you to help me have a look and that will be yeah, good for me. Okay, then this one is I wanted to print the labels for putting the zone regulation cards for the kids then I realized that actually I again I forgot they are stand they are not stand so style. So all the that's why you see the V looks like this. Anyway it looks special. I asked the kids do you want me to ask kids change they say yes so I I'm going to give it to them. Yeah so that's so much for the mistakes that. So anyway yeah the curiosity never stops there. So my next project again I'm going to do something which my wife said why are you doing this? I said I don't know it just looks fun. So my next project is my nature of clicker here. So nowadays the fidget clicker is all the rage so keyboard clicker yeah I'm going to match it together with because when I look at the keyboard it reminds me of the periodic table so I'm going to match them up. Yeah then again people ask me why am I doing this and I say why not? Yeah I don't have the design here because um it that one really takes a lot of time that for the template and stuff but I did put it into mesh sheet to ask them to try to come up with something for me but um give me a minute ah Yeah but I'm quite um stubborn you know at times I it's possible I just want to make sure that the design belongs to me. Yeah so I try as much as possible not to take it from mesh sheet and stuff as much as possible. Yeah unless it's a school project. So this is my final reflection when I started I thought I was going to use a 3D printer actually I was not that. Yeah instead I was learning a lot of stuff. So this is my reflection. Basically so that's why the title of my story is tinker teach and repeat. Yeah I think I exceeded by a lot. So last thing over here innovation started with expertise it just keep on trying and experimenting that hopefully you'll get enough experience and we can innovate further. Yeah so anyway this one I just printed it recently so I find it at it just means that life is limited that's all. Yeah. Thank you.