Design for Additive Manufacturing, Human-Centered Design, and 3D Printing
One-Handed Book Holder
A comfortable gadget so that users may hold the pages of a book open using only one hand. Leverages the multi-material assembly capabilities of additive manufacturing.
Objective
To design a product that utilizes a multi-material 3D printed assembly. The product must use at least two materials with unique properties, and leverage those properties to achieve a function.
Outcome
A comfortable and intuitive device to allow users to hold the pages of a book open with one hand, keeping the pages from flopping over even when the book is held upside down.
Material Selection
Three 3D printing materials were selected to maximize function and comfort.
FEA
The TPU-95A rhombus is designed to buckle under the force of the user. FEA provided initial guidance for which thicknesses are optimal for low-force buckling.
Prototyping
Prototyping the rhombus and entire form revealed failure modes that were not discovered during FEA, revealing the importance of supporting virtual modeling with physical testing.
Final Form
Skills & Takeaways
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Rapid prototyping is great for building design intuition and helping to quickly iterate and refine the design
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Design for the limitations of your available manufacturing method