Assembly

Applying what I learned from the previous iteration, I was able to create a better cup holder using the second iteration design. In order to heat form the cup holder, I first started with the flat acrylic cut out and smaller diameter circle cut out. I heat the acrylic close to the center area and wrapped the bottom of the sleeve closely around the circle cut out. After letting it cool a bit, I then focused on each side of the center and wrapped the bottom around the circle cutout until the snap fits were close together. I then heated up the snap fit edges and and connected the two. I then tried to heat the top edges of the cup holder and used the larger cutout disk to shape the top edge of the cup holder. The last step in shaping the cup holder was to heat all surfaces on the cylindrical surfaces. Then the sleeve is slid up on a Red Solo Cup in order to fully shape it. After cooling a bit the sleeve is removed from the cup.

The next step in manufacturing the sleeve is to shape the handle. First the handle was heated at the base and bent until it was horizontal. After cooling, the mid section of the handle (where the second bend is made) is heated. The bottom half of the handle is then bent until the edge of the handle touches the bottom edge of the cup sleeve. Once the handle was bent into place, a little bit of epoxy was applied between the edge of the handle and the cup sleeve to hold it fully in place. 

Pictures of the process and final product can be seen below.