Phone Holder jychang1

Intention

The goal of this project was to create a stand for a phone that would rest on my desk. The stand would allow for easier viewing of the phone and look visually appealing. It would also allow you to charge the phone while it is on the stand.

Context

The idea for this project mainly came from myself thinking about daily pain points. I thought about my daily routine and what parts of it bothered me. I found that my phone was a crucial part of my daily life so I thought it would be a good idea to make a stand on my desk for it so not only is my desk more organized, but I can also view my phone messages easily. The design for my stand is heavily influenced by similar stands that I had found online. 

Process + Procedure

The first step I took to create this project was to do some basic sketches to help myself envision what I wanted to create. In my original sketch, I wanted to the stand to look somewhat like an art easel, however, I could not think of good ways of 3d printing such a design in a sturdy way. The final design was very much like the design in the photograph above, it is a triangular shape with a hole in the back. With the design finalized, I used Autodesk Fusion360 to generate a model for the project. I sized the model based on the phone that I currently use (an iPhone 5) so the dimensions of the model were created with that in mind. Some changes from the reference model and my own are that my base stretches out a bit further and that mine has little legs connecting the overhanging bit to the base. This is because I was not sure of the strength of the material that I would be working with so I did not want to risk having to reprint the model because of time constraints. 

The model was printed using the NVBot 3D printer in the fabrication lab and PLA for the material. After printing, there were some supports made by the printer over some of the holes in my model so I did my best to sand those down. There were no other problems with the printed design.

Product

The final product is a phone stand that specifically holds an iPhone 5 and allows for charging through the holes in the structure. The technologies used were Autodesk Fusion360 and the NVBot printer.

Reflection

Through the process of this project, I became more familiar with using the different tools in Fusion360 used for creating 3D structures. I was pretty satisfied with the outcome of the project so there is nothing that I would really change about the project besides starting earlier so that multiple iterations could be made if the original had problems. If I were to repeat this project, I would try to create a more elegant and original design using what I have learned. 

Collaboration or Attribution

Thanks to Louise for being helpful in general and answering questions quickly.

Thanks to Kendrick Tse for contributing to the idea and letting me takes pictures using his phone while mine was on the stand.