HCDE 451 A4: 3D Printed Object

Designing and printing a 3D model of a plant label

The design brief for this assignment was vague, with main requirements being that the 3D object needed to use 3 specific 3D modeling techniques: extrusion, revolution, and boolean. The item also needed to be “useful in your everyday life.”

As someone with close to 100 plants, I immediately began thinking about possible items that would help me manage them.

Design

My intention was to create an item that could be used to label plants. It is useful to know the scientific name of a plant for many reasons, but primarily because it allows for quick referencing of care resources for them via online search engines (e.g., how often does this specific species need to be watered).

I kept my design simple. It’s essentially just a rectangular prism, a cylinder, and a cone stacked on top of each other. My design allows the user to use a sticky note as the canvas for writing the plant name, which is why the rectangular face of the design is exactly 1.5 x 2 in (the size of a cheap sticky note type).

The sketches I made to help guide my design process

The process took some time, but eventually I had a 3D rendered model that was ready to be printed. It was at this stage that I played with the proportions of the shapes, eventually arriving at the following models.

Left: the design rendered as an STL file; Right: 3D model inside SolidWorks

The printing process was challenging. I needed to restart my print 3 times before the first layer printed properly. Things like the amount of glue used to secure the model, filament loading, and file corruption were all issues that I encountered. Afterwards, however, the print completed without any further complications.

My final prototype successfully printed!

Analysis

My classmates provided me with excellent feedback regarding my final model. First, the strong points:

1. The design is functional; it serves it’s intended purpose
2. The design is easy to use and understand
3. The final prototype feels sturdy and well built

And, perhaps more importantly, the areas where the design could be improved:

1. The design does not need to be so wide to serve its function; reducing the width of the design to approximately that of a pencil (0.25 in) would reduce printing time and amount of filament used while still serving its primary function
2. The design relies heavily on the sticky note; if the plant is watered, for example, the sticky note might get wet and fall off. An alternative might be to make a slit to hold a more sturdy form of paper, like card stock

The final prototype in use, i.e., sitting in a pot alongside a plant

Reflection

This project was difficult because I had no prior experience with 3D modeling or printing. It was a frustrating trial and error process that ultimately has made me a stronger prototyper. There were many little errors that I needed to commit to learn from. Overall, however, I am very satisfied with my design.