Manufacturing

With a plan in mind coming out of the prototype, I cut all the pieces out of acrylic using the Makerspace laser cutters. This was a quick and easy process because I used the same .dxf as before.

I had never bent acrylic before, but knew going into the project that heat spreading through the acrylic could be a problem. I found some aluminum U-channel from the machine shop and used that to sink excess heat from the non-bend zones. It also served as a straight edge to follow for the actual bend. This went super well and I had very clean bends without any melted zones in the final part.

For the floss box, I assembled it used small amounts of acrylic glue. Then I glued in to my bent blue acrylic. 

I did have to make the ship and submarine slightly taller because my box was a taller than modeled. This was because my first bend was centered a little higher than the bend line, leading to a taller final product. This was a very easy fix, and the new parts fit perfectly. I glued the base tabs to the blue acrylic, but opted not to glue the top areas. The organizer didn't have any significant deflection when the cup was placed so the struts weren't necessary for function. I could go back and glue them in the future if needed.