A cost-effective printer, with a minimal footprint, that is not “just another thing taking up space on your desk” and has a secondary purpose when not in use.
The project was to research, design, and construct a printer based on a customer persona and market of choice. Taking apart pre-existing printers allowed me to better understand what components were required and enabled my printer to be small and compact.
To minimize design changes in production, all plastic components were designed with injection molding in mind. I learned some of the design techniques needed for designing plastic parts from working with an engineer during an internship. Some of the features that were considered for manufacturability were uniform wall thickness, draft, and ribbing in areas in lieu of heavy wall thicknesses. Although these details are often overlooked, it is a key stage in product development that helps maintain the original design language through manufacture and production.
Project Sophomore Studio II Project Pushed Further
Date of Launch (Round 1) May 5, 2021
Date of Launch (Round 2) January 15, 2023
Development Time (Round 1) 3.5 Months
Development Time (Round 2) 1 Month
Ideation
Prototyping
I created my model out of laser-cut acrylic that consisted of the internal and external components of the printer. Once that was completed and I was able to see how well both the internal and external components worked, I began to design my final printer in SolidWorks.
Using acrylic made it much easier to identify any issues, such as interferences, on the inside of the printer due to the transparency of the material. I was then able to determine how efficiently I could package the internal components of the printer without compromising its function.
CAD Model
I was able to create my CAD models in SolidWorks with the appropriate draft and features required for injection molding!
Final Render
I used KeyShot to render my printer showing multiple views including an internal components view and exploded view.