Sketches and Predesign
Before beginning to model my project I needed to come up with a few potential designs and pick one. I wanted to have a headphone holder that could hold not only my own headphones but also other models. I therefore needed a spot for the earbuds and a spot to wrap the cord.
I made a few concepts and picked one that had folding pieces that would cover the earbuds to prevent them getting dirty of damaged.
I made a few concepts and picked one that had folding pieces that would cover the earbuds to prevent them getting dirty of damaged.
Creating The Model
To create my design I needed to make three pieces, the main frame and two sides. I figured that I could just mirror the side pieces and make two easily so I didn't make two documents. To make the frame I needed to create a shape that would not damage the cord of my earbuds, which meant the fillet tool was used a lot. I wanted the holes where the sides would fit onto to be large enough at the edge to put the side pieces in but not so large that the sides would fall off easily. I used the assembly tool in inventor to get a good feel for how these holes would work. After getting the hole size I wanted I began to move away from the base and begin to make the chamber where the cord would be wrapped. I used the cut feature on the extruder to make a rectangle into a more complex shape to hold the cord. After finishing this I simply made a slot for the cord to travel through into the hole in the top where the ear pieces would rest and extruded the inside to make it hollow.
I did run into a problem with extruding the top because I wanted the maximum amount of space but as seen in the first picture, it sometimes created slits, so I lessened the extrude by 2 mm.
I did run into a problem with extruding the top because I wanted the maximum amount of space but as seen in the first picture, it sometimes created slits, so I lessened the extrude by 2 mm.
MakerBot Setup
3D Printing
Final Product
As you can see, it was a tight fit for the earbuds and the volume rocker on the cable was hard to fit, but it worked.
What I learned
I went into this project having a lot of inventor experience, but I had to do a lot more work to get this project to work. I began with an example with dimensions I wanted to refer to make sure the case was a normal size, but these dimensions were not for the same earbuds so I had to start from scratch, something I wasn't sure if I could do. I learned to go completely away from any ones previous design and prototype and develop my own. I also got better at using the sketch feature in inventor because I needed such precise extrusions that the sketch tool was vital to my project. I am now more comfortable with complex sketches and lots of extrusions, even ones that have to be very precise, such as the ones where my headphones sit.