For this project I really aimed to make a product that was visually pleasing and functional in nature so that I could charge and hold my Apple Watch and my iPhone at the same time in one combined station. I wanted to make sure that this product was going to be just the size I needed--nothing more and nothing less.
My ideas came from thinking about the types of products I use regularly and how I could improve them. I use technology regularly, as most individuals do nowadays, but I have always been frustrated at the disorganization that comes with charging my products. When I was thinking about parts of my day that frustrate me, this is what came up. My charger would be used next to my bed.
A lot of my inspiration had curvature and various smooth points, but I really liked something that was sharp and clean cut.
I used Autodesk Fusion 360 to model my project. I did my sketching by hand ompletely digitally and began by modeling a raised phone stand that fit the specifications of my phone and charger (I hand measured the dimensions) and estimated how much wire I was willing to bend in my design. I then modeled the watch portion and tried to match the general aesthetic of the phone portion.
I tried to minimize the amount of material, which is why I made the design hollow and with thin supports. Keeping in mind that PLA was going to be generally light, I made a support on the back of the phone portion.
I used an NVBot 3D printer to print my product and used PLA as a material. After printing, I realized that the hole for the wire was a little too small, so I tried to sand it to make it a little bigger, but that proved to be really difficult. I then used a heated exacto knife to try and cut it bigger, which worked, but I accidentally melted other parts of the material (without compromising functionality). Since I had used a lot of material to begin with, I didn't want to reprint and use even more. Honestly, since functionality was of primary importance to me, I didn't mind a cosmetic flaw.
The final product is a a functional iPhone/Apple Watch charging station. It successfully holds and charges both products at the same time, and has room for the wires to seamlessly move to the outlets. It is a nice color gray and printed generally very nicely.
See below for a time-lapse of the print and photos of the final product.
Reflecting back, I would provide more than the 0.4 mm margin that was recommended. I would consider what needs to fit very closely together and what can be afforded some wiggle room. I think it would be a lot of fun to consider different designs! At the time of printing, I really loved this design, but as of writing this, I feel like I could have made the entire product shorter to save material, perhaps made the two elements closer. I just didn't want the watch band to not be able to fit next to the phone.
Thank you to E. Louise Larson for teaching Digitools this semester and for being a great instructor, teaching me all about fabrication, additive manufacturing, and design thinking!
Thank you to Noah Alexandroff for helping me come up with the idea to make a combination phone/watch holder.
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