Milk buddy

Ideation

Anyone who drinks tea regularly can tell you how important it is to allow the tea to brew before adding in milk. In the mornings when I am rushing to class, I don't always have the time to brew my tea; adding in the milk immediately is just out of the question so instead, I go without tea. For this project, I decided to make a sleeve for my thermos that comes with a small container that can hold cold milk. I can add the hot water, tea, and sugar immediately into the thermos and have the milk on the side, by the time I've walked from my house to campus the tea will have had enough time to brew and will be ready for milk. 

Sketches

Below are preliminary and final sketches. Initially, I was trying to decide between a pair of tea bag tongs and my current idea and ultimately decided the latter would be more of a challenge and was a more pressing issue.  All sketches were done with a pencil.

Prototyping/Build

Testing

For the build process, I started off by laser cutting swatches of very simple live hinges. It was my first time experimenting with them and wanted to get a feel for how they move and bend. I was surprised that how well the initial attempt bent and moved, however, it snapped very unexpectedly after being worked a few times. 

Sleeve

When moving on to the sleeve I attempted a patterned live hinge (pictured below). It did not bend nearly as well as the simple live hinge and so the idea was tossed. Because I had used live hinges, forming the sleeve with the heat gun was very easy.

Milk Box

 With the sleeve done I moved onto the box that would actually hold the milk. I cut the pieces for one 1.5"x1.5"x1.5" box and one 1.5"x2.5"x1.5" box, both having the lid connected by a live hinge (pictured below). The boxes were fastened with acrylic, however, did not line up correctly leaving several gaps in the corners. I resolved this issue by using a finger jointed box instead (pictured below) which produced a tighter fit and only needed minimal glue. 

Assembly/Final

For the final product, I went with an acrylic clip heat gunned from a flat rectangular piece. The clip was glued to the actual milk box but sat snugly in the sleeve, allowing the user to quickly remove and put back the milk box. 

Bio

My name is Fatima Basit and I am a 2nd year MechE with a minor in additive manufacturing. Since I was about 13 years old I've always loved to drink tea, specifically black tea. Tea is a big part of my culture as well and has always meant family and good times on top of a warming beverage. When I am not drinking tea I spend my time in CIA Buggy and CMSR and , when the weather is warm enough, riding my penny board around campus.