Snaptronics – Solder-free electric circuit construction kit

Working with an operational Snaptronics kit can be done easily with first grade students. Students should be at least 10 years old to be able to assemble their own kit.

• No specific skills needed to work with an assembled Snaptronics kit.
• Assembling the printed kits requires some fine-motor skills (can be practiced on the way).
• Designing additional elements needs some basic 3d modeling skills like binding, dimensioning, aligning (could be teached in a Snaptronic themed 3d design course).

Understanding the modern technical world can’t be imagined without the knowledge of electric circuits. An easy to use and encouraging enviroment that allows for a sustainable learning process where students can make their first steps into the world of electricity are of great importance. This is what Snaptronics aims to do.

• Provide students with an electronic building block system that is easy, clutter free and encouraging to use
• Keep the costs at a managable level (each block costs significantly less than 1€)
• No problems with breaking or missing parts, since everything can be printed again
• Assembly proccess itself leads to the acquistion of skills, both electrical and mechanical 
• Possibility to add more building blocks with additional electronic components to extend the usability to even older students (something I very much intend to do once the basic system is done).
• Enable students to build their very own set of blocks which they can take home and keep using in different contexts throughout their school career
• Option to increase the personal bond to your very own set by adding additional decorative elements to the kit. Maybe you just use a special filament color of your choice, but why not design a Batarang cover for your switch?

• 3d printer, ideally with multi-material option. The MMU is used for the last layer of the bricks with the circuit diagramm symbols. If you don't have one, don't worry, just skip the last file for each brick, the cover will have only engraved diagramm symbols. 
• Dimensional accuracy of your 3d printer is most important!
• Conductive and self-adhesive copper foil tape, 0.25 inch width. I used this one, but any other manufacter should do as well. It doesn’t have to be conductive on both sides, there’s a workaround for this problem in the assembly process.
• A rather huge number of neodym magnets, spherical, 5mm diameter (at least two needed for each brick).
• Some basic electronic components. The currently available base set simply needs a 9V battery or a 12V power unit and E10 lamps. 

• Printing time for a whole set of course depends on the number of bricks, calcuate about 15h for a starter set of 15 bricks that can build a simple series and parallel circuit. 
• Assembly time of this set depends on the crafting skill level of the students, about 2 hours should be fine for most students.
• Working with the assembled set can take as long as you like!

• Print a bunch of bricks
• Assemble the bricks - on your own or with the help of your students
• Use the bricks in your next basic course “Electronic Circuits”

Detailed instructions and information can be found in the file “Assembly_Instructions”, that comes in both an english and a german version!

To get an idea of the project, take a look at the Snap Demo and the Switch Demo.