Thursday, November 23, 2017

3D Printed Christmas Giftbox

As shown from above with dividing internal wall
Challenge:  To produce a personalised box, that has a working lid and been personalised for a student to give as a gift. 
Background: This student has designed a series of increasingly complicated prints, during the course of the year.   He was looking to push and challenge himself, hence some of the features that were added to the design of this box.
Failed lid
Level of Difficulty: Medium-Hard.   The box itself required considerable reworking and redesign.  It had a series of personally designed features to make the box unique but also allow it to be recognisable.   The lettering that was set into the base of the box, the lid and the drop down nature of it, the internal bar to divide the base into two compartments all required considerable design, testing and reworking.  The lid required a complete reworking, as the initial handle failed as it was not thick enough and shattering as the rafting was removed.
Christmas decorations
Timeframe: This was printed in two seperate pieces.  The first was the base, followed by a seperate lid.  The  base print meant that the lid could be resized (and subsequently was) to ensure that it fitted correctly (as it did not following the first print).  The lid took eight hours, so a combined print time for both pieces was obviously eighteen hours.  Given circumstances little would be changed from the original design to reduce the level of printing required. 
Lid in place on the base.
Size: The dimensions of the box were 12cm long, 8cm wide and 6cm long.  The width of the printed sides varied from 5mm to 1cm depending on the aspect of the design.  The lid had similar dimensions including a drop down.   
What we would do differently: The lettering went right through the wall of the print - this type of design can cause problem with the rafting removal around there.  An example is shown above left, if you view the inside of the 'M' the right hand side has been removed, this was by the teacher taking extreme care to avoid doing so.    The fit with the lid was there - however it would have been better to have a more robust lid with a better fit.
Next Steps for the Students: This design has been repeatedly completed by students including increasing complex additions to the basic design from the Tinkercad Interface.  At time some of the students tend to create designs that are overly elaborate - and this was bordering on the case in this.
 

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