Iterating on side-hanging desktop tray

Iterating on side-hanging desktop tray

Still working on the bed-desk for my daughter. Her regular desk is always full of stuff. I made a rule that this new one should always be clean. Having said that, it seems to make sense to keep some things like pens close to it. So I'm working on a side-hanging tray.

With my first iteration, I made some mistakes that start to become familiar. My focus is on the utility and then once I try to print it, it ends up too complicated and super hard to print.
Screenshot 2024-03-19 at 21.16.37.pngI tried printing it, but the 'organic support' failed, leaving no real chance of supporting the upper edge with the holes. So I stopped the print.

The 2nd iteration my focus was on printability. It consists of two parts. Each part has a nice flat surface to print with no support required. Although there is a small overhang for a ridge I thought that might help with 'hugging' the desk. I guess it's just a left-over from the previous design.

Screenshot 2024-03-19 at 21.27.56.pngThe picture of the top of the post is from this version.

A nice thing about this design is that it's easy to swap out the basket. The replaced basket can then still be used by itself on a regular desk.

For unknown reasons I made the outer edge super thin. Also the basket is missing segments and I forgot to round out the outer corners. While it looks decent and works, it didn't feel robust enough.

I really love that 3D printing allows for this quick iterative process. Print, test, learn, update and print again. So here is the third iteration.

Screenshot 2024-03-19 at 21.32.36.pngScreenshot 2024-03-19 at 21.33.53.pngIt should be much stronger and better suited at holding pens and things like that for drawing. And here is the real thing:

IMG_20240320_124353.jpg

IMG_20240320_124708.jpg

IMG_2910.jpgYou can print it yourself over here.



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