Educate to Eradicate (Mosquito Model)

grabcad

This 3D printed mosquito is designed to be a hands-on activity for students to learn about malaria.The body (head, thorax, abdomen) and wings are designed to be 3D printed without a raft to save material, while the legs, antennae, and proboscis are made from 1.75mm filament.When the model is 3D printed at 1/2 scale, material extruded from the nozzle (often found as scrap at the bottom of the printer) replaces the filament. After removing support material, the model can be placed back onto the warm print bed to soften the wings and reshaped. The legs can easily be bent by hand, but if the filament is too brittle, a cigarette lighter can be used to soften the filament.For one prototype I used translucent red PLA for the abdomen to make it look like it was filled with blood.The abdomen is hollow for use in an advanced activity. For this lesson, the model would be 3D printed from dissolvable PVA material and the abdomen filled with either oil or bacteria known to kill mosquito larva. Students would learn to find sources of standing water and toss their creation in, releasing the bacteria or oil to kill larvae.