Cupholders

Developing A Cupholder Based On Customer Specifications:

A customer who owned a whale watch company engaged me and asked if I could make him some kind of cupholder that would screw to the back of his benches on the boat. He needed them to be particularly strong, could stand salty moist air, looked professional, needed 15 of them, but also as soon as possible. Starting with the design portion, based on the specifications I quickly whipped up a few together as prototypes. The design directly below was the first version or prototype of the many cupholders to come.

Here is a few of the different cupholder designs I swiftly threw together to quickly present to the customer.

After looking at several different designs and prototypes, I was able to work with the customer to find something that would work for him. He essentially picked one of the above cupholders, then proceeded to offer critiques on how to improve them for his specific application.

Final product:

Based on the customer specifications mentioned above, (particularly strong, could stand salty moist air, looked professional, needed 15 of them, but also as soon as possible) through several design iterations, and some practical design considerations, as well as material research, I ended with the design below.

For the strength requirements, it mainly involved adjusting the infill for the print, and the overall size of different parts of the cupholders. The material chosen also had a part in making sure it was strong and slightly flexible. We determined the right material, cupholder thickness, etc., by doing research and testing it. For example, I screwed them to a stout wooden post and then proceeded to test their durability by hanging weights on them, even to the point of smashing them with a hammer to see where their points of failure were.

For the material, I chose PETG. This kind of filament is known for its UV, and moisture resistance, and is commonly used in outdoor and/or marine applications. Thus it is a suitable substance to resist the elements out on the boat. It is also a reasonably easy material to work with, and, as mentioned above, is reasonably strong and semi-flexible.

It was designed to be efficiently and quickly fabricated using 3D printing, to meet the time requirements of the customer.

Installed on the boat:

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