Knate makes stuff

Display Stand

The challenge

Niles needed a display that shows off his products at markets and looks good doing it. It had to hold ten bottle openers, but still pack down small enough to fit in a small box for storage and shipping. He also wanted a cutout that would fit a 4x8 printed image. So with that in mind my father started brainstorming some ideas and began making some early versions. After a few early drafts he handed me a drawing and asked for my help.

The design

I designed the stand in Fusion 360. It's a tiered riser with ten cups seated in round holes: three on each side of the lower tier and two on each side of the upper tier. This leaves space so the openers don't block the 4x8 cutout on the panel. An arched back panel and a laser engraved front plate. The stand is in four parts, with the lower tiers able to slide and lock into the upper tiers.

Holds 10 bottle openers in two stepped tiers.

Collapses flat, for easy shipping and storage.

Engraved branding on a removable pine wood panel.

After a few iterations I felt good about the design and locking mechanism. So I handed the design over to my father who began 3D printing out 20 full stand sets. We packed it all up and he drove the 20 displays in person to deliver to Niles.

Disaster strikes

Niles brought the 20 stands to an event in Texas. Little did we know that when exposed to the hot texas weather, every stand would end up warping and becoming unusable. Nooooooooo

Redemption

My father did a little research and found a new 3D printing filament that resists much higher heat. I added a few modifications to the model to grant it even more support. We also decided to laser-cut the panels (oh yeah, the first version had printed panels instead of wood). This saved us tons of time, added a better asthetic, and let us give the printers a break splitting the workload between more machines.

I also figured out I can animate my fusion models! So I decided to throw this little showcase video for the design. Fusion is so much fun. Check out the final product! And turn up the resolution to 1080p if it's not.

Head on over to Niles Bottle Stoppers to check it out!

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