Travel Desk Organizer

Simon Marinelli

March 14, 2022 (Spring 2022)

Introduction

Problem Statement

The overall design problem for this project was to use our imagination and come up with an idea for a travel desk organizer.  This travel desk organizer is an object that is created in solidworks and 3D printed that can be used to organize specified desk materials.  The design can be tailored towards anyone, however the client in mind for this project was myself.

Background Information

This project was designed specifically for the reason of using CAD software to create a functional object.  The design process included optimizing a 3D design in SolidWorks which would be exported to be 3D printed.  The understanding of SolidWorks part creation, assembly, and engineering drawings were used to simulate how CAD is used in the industry.

Constraints/Objectives

The project allowed for very free thinking, however it was confined to some constraints by myself and per project requirements.  The overall project requirements were three different parts fitting in the organizer so that they were not loose or permanently fixed, maximum size of 4”x4”x4”, include a symbol of choosing, no modifications to 3D print, no deformation, and no more than three prints.  These overall objectives were reasonable and easy, however in order to get a better understanding of how my final product should look, I made some constraints for myself.  My constraints included complete functionality with or without all objects in the organizer, a single part, and being able to balance on the desk when printed.

Objectives for how the part should function is also an important part of the process as well, so I had various design objectives as well.  I wanted to ensure that my product was ergonomic, had a simple yet useful design, had a way of clamping my parts into the final design, and was done printing before week 10.

Design Evolution

Rough Design Process

For my part, I wanted it to hold the three most used objects on my desk: my BIC mechanical pencil, BIC pen, and a dry erase maker which were measured using a dial caliper.  Following my objective of staying simple, I thought about using three holes in a solid block in order for the objects to slide into.  Because a simple hole wouldn’t hold them in place, I thought about using a “clamping” mechanism within the hole to all the parts to press into the sides to stay snug, similar to how cup holders from fast food restaurants flex to allow different sized cups to fit in the hole.  I knew I wanted my part to also be ergonomic and aesthetically pleasing, so I wanted to have large rounded corners.  As for my logo, I wanted a bit of my personal passion to come out so I used my initials in a Marvel superhero font.

Design One

The first SolidWorks model of my product was definitely the most intensive process as it involved making my ideas a reality.  As you can see from Fig. 1, I was successfully able to make all of my ideas come to life, however I did realize that my design was imperfect.

I liked the overall look of my part because it did have a lot of curves and it was simple enough, yet not elementary.  The challenges involved with this first design was designing the logo and clamps.  I had imported a photo of my logo and sketched the lines to match the picture which took a bit of time.  The clamps were difficult because they were to be set on all of the holes (which had different diameters) and there were four per hole at an angle.

Design Two

I had learned through various processes that my first design was not going to work as I had intended it to.  For one, after modeling the objects that would go inside of the organizer, I realized that the part was much too short, as there was not enough room for the objects to fit deep enough.  Another problem was that because I did not have much experience with 3D printing, my idea of the clips would not work due to the plastic being too fragile and the complexity of the printing process.  It had also been brought to my attention that the pencil’s angled end could possibly result in some slipping.  Luckily these problems were not too hard to change, as I had already envisioned other possible solutions.  Changing the height (and length and width to keep a similar structure to design one) was an easy solution to the problem involving room for the parts to fit in the holes.  Changing the holes with clamps to slightly tapered holes at the top was my solution to the clip problem.  Redesigning the whole pencil holder to a key mechanism was my way of fixing the pencil problem.  My final design  two with an angle perspective can be seen in Fig. 2.

As can be noticed from this redesign, I also have small thu holes at the very bottom of every object hole cutout.  The idea was that if the pen and marker holes were a tight enough tolerance, I didn’t want a buildup of air in the bottom.  The holes then acted as an escape if the objects were to require it.  This part was the first part I had printed to test to see if it would work.  The reasoning for the hole in the pencil slot is for symmetry.  Receiving the part and testing it, I realized that there were some problems.  Although I had taken into consideration the 3D printer printing holes smaller than desired, I hadn’t accounted for how much smaller they would print.  Therefore my pen and marker would get the very end of the tip in, however it would not push all the way down as desired.  The pencil hole was also slightly too small, however the bigger problem was the cutout for the clip on the pencil, as I had measured it incorrectly and was much too small.  With this knowledge, I was then able to make necessary adjustments and quickly reprint my part.

Design Three

Design three was very similar to the previous one, however there were a couple more changes made in this design.  As you can see from Fig. 3, the overall idea is the same, however I made necessary dimension changes to my holes and clip cutout.  Another thing I had noticed was that my holes that acted for an escape of possible built up air in the hole were much too small and the 3D printer wasn’t able to print them correctly, so sizing up those holes provided better airflow.  I also was not a big fan of the tapered part of the hole at the very top, so I adjusted it so that it was at the bottom instead, not only making it more visually pleasing, but also making it easier to print.  

Upon receiving my print, I realized that I had overdone the holes and now made them too large, but my cutout for the pencil clip was still too small.  Because I was still unable to verify if my middle chamber of the pencil cutout worked and because the 3D printer offset some layers, I was able to deconstruct the part to check if the clip fit in the chamber and allowed for rotation.  Luckily it did fit, so now that was needed was fixing up the holes and clip cutout one last time.

Design Four

Once again, this design was very similar to the past two, however this was my final opportunity to get the fits right.  Fig. 4 displays the miniscule changes that would eventually lead to my final design.

This print was successfully able to fit all three parts in.  The marker had a super snug fit, in which case the hole at the bottom may be beneficial.  The pen had a bit of a loose fit, but still had an interference with the tapered edge at the bottom.  The pencil slid perfectly into the hole and can be twisted within the middle chamber to lock into place or also act as a possible desk fidget.  This final design works exactly as intended and requires no more modifications.

Conclusion

Summary

The overall creative freedom involved with creating our own part and going through various design steps was a great way to learn more about CAD overall.  My part was able to come to life and be successful in its requirements.

Constraint/Objective Check

All of the project and personal constraints were met, as many of them were very simple overall.  My objectives were mostly met with the exception of the clip design.  Because of the complexity I did end up having to change my design and stray away from the idea of the clips, however I am glad I went with the new design direction.  Not only does the part look much more clean, I didn’t have to worry about issues with the clips when printing.

Improvements

Given more time, I feel like my design would stay fairly similar to the final result because I’m happy with the look, feel, material and cheap option.  Some changes I may have made would be making the pen hole as tight of a fit as the marker hole, cleaning some of the rough edges out of the pencil chamber, and possibly adding a true “locked” state for the pencil so that it could reduce the option to spin.

Lessons Learned

This project was a valuable learning opportunity as I had gotten the chance to think more creatively with CAD modeling and design.  I also was able to get a much better understanding of how 3D printing works because I knew what it was, but not some of the intricacies such as support structures and how the process works.  Finally I learned how to use different features within CAD such as importing an image and using it as a reference to sketch.