Explaining Volumes With Strawbees

At our FabLab (Breda, The Netherlands) we are having a hard time explaining people that making the model you want to 3D print 2x bigger, will mean a volume of 8x bigger (hence 8x print time, hence 8x print cost).

To help people understand the idea of a bigger volume, we created this cube. It consists of 2 cubes: 1 small and 1 big. The big one is twice as big. Hopefully people will now better understand that twice as big is eight as expensive!

To see how we made this cube using Strawbees, please continue reading.

Start making the small cube. Corners that don't need any extensions can easily be made with a 3-armed strawbee, the extended corners can be made with a 2-armed and 2 single armed Strawbees.

One corner will need 2 2-armed and 1 single armed Strawbee.

Extend 3 sides of the small cube. Add 3-armed Strawbees to their ends.

Make the long sides of the big cube by connecting 2 straws with each other by using a 2-armed Strawbee.

Connect the enlarged straws to 3-armed strawbees to create your big cube.

When all the sides are connected you're done!

I hope this cube will help you as well? :)