DIANA LI
Engineering, Design, Medical Devices & DIY
COFFEE CUP CONUNDRUM
In this project, I was restricted to acrylic material to create a cup holder. I wanted my design to be minimalistic, functional yet aesthetic. This resulted in the Loop cup holder shown in the flyer below.
Sketches and Paper Prototypes
Initially, I didn't have a clear direction on where to start. Therefore, I created a lot of design sketches and then later evaluated whether it was feasible with acrylic. Since I didn't want to be limited to 2D pieces, I decided to explore options where I could bend acrylic.
I chose 5 designs and made paper prototypes for each.
Design 1
Design 2
Design 3
Design 4
Design 5
2D representation of designs
Finalizing Design and Fabrication
I ended up chosing Design 4 because it seemed most aesthetically appealing and the structure held to my surprise.
To explore with this design's stability, I prototyped it with cardboard and played around with an angled and non-angled configuration. Because this design is very simple, I decided to add an engraving to the handle of the cup holder.
2D cardboard design
Design 4
Design 4 angled
Top view
View of engraving
With the cardboard prototype, I saw that tilting and angle did not increase stability of the cup in the holder. Therefore, I went with my original design using acrylic. Acrylic bending was achieved through a heat gun.
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Final Design
Overall, I was really satisfied with the final result. If I were to do i again, I would definitely use clear acrylic so the engraving would be more apparent.
