Monday, March 12, 2018

3D Printed Kitchen Utility Holder

Design from the front
Challenge: For student to create, design and print an original utility holder for use in the kitchen.
Background: Once they've completed the basic designs in the classroom the students have been challenged to create original and unique projects that have a meaningful application and use.  This student in question was looking to design something original for various kitchen items.  Student (who is ten years old) is having their second year of classroom opportunity with the 3D Printers in the classroom.
Level of Difficulty: Medium - aspects of this print could have been modified, particularly with its purpose (see below) and there were aspects of this print that could have been altered so that it worked more successfully (particularly the base).
Time frame: Ten hours - aspects of the print could have been changed, however overall the design met the brief, dependant on the size of items that were to be stored in it.  This is an 8mm nozzle, on regular settings with a 20% infill (which are all the standard default settings).
Size: The dimensions of the front of the design is 90mm across by 80mm deep.  The back of the design is 100mm across and a further 150mm high.   The width of the design is 5mm except for the back, which creates a base by being 10mm thick.
Design shown in profile
What we would do differently:  The writing on the front of the design, which is illustrated in the photograph is supposed to read 'Kitchen Bits'.  However the lettering has been minimized in the print and as a consequence is difficult to read clearly.  It can be tidied up by the removal of the filament around the lettering, and in the lettering itself, such as the filament around the 'b'.   This removal typically results in the internal aspects of the printed font being removed as well as the intended filament.  We have experimented with different tools to minimise this accidental removal, typically without success.  The other major
change to be considered is the purpose of a container like this - while the intended purpose was for a kitchen utility holder, one thought was to have perhaps a classroom token box or a classroom container that would hold universal items (such as markers etc).   Depending on that purpose then a way to mount the container on the wall etc. should have been considered.  Furthermore as shown in the illustration the bottom part of the badge design where the angle touches the base is slightly below the base of the design.  This is why the student hasn't removed all of the filament as it would cause the design to be slightly unbalanced. 
Next step for student: To redesign the base to ensure that it wasn't sticking below the floor of the design.  The lettering itself could have been designed differently and made bigger to ensure that it was more detailed with the printing.

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