For my final project I decided to create a cat-shaped coin bank because I always have so much change and i needed another container to hold all my change! I am making my final project in Tinkercad because i felt like it’s a program that I was really good at creating abstract objects in as well as I feel like with Tinkercad it’s easier for me to create a cat shape as well as make it hollow with different hole shapes so that it is able to hold objects, such as coins.
My first couple of prints were okay and I was really just focusing on the utility of the product rather than small details.
My very first print had a hole on the side of the body, the collar on the cat was loose, and the plug that goes on the bottom of the cat was slightly small so it was a snug fit and difficult to retrieve out. Also with this print, the hole on the top of the head was too short to fit in any change other than a dime, so I had to extend that so it is capable of all coins. This print also took about 3 1/2 hours to fully print.
My second print I extended the top coin hole, I made the bottom plug longer and slightly more narrow, and I also made the collar fit more snug. However, my second print still printed with a hole on the side of the body. I figured out that this is because the sphere hole inside the cavity was too wide and was just touching the body enough to cause a hole to appear on the side when it printed. This print took about 4 1/2 hours to fully print and the bottom plug was now too big to even fit into the bottom hole.
My third print I fixed the sphere hole problem so that the side of the body would remain in tact. I also designed a new bottom plug that had a slightly smaller size on top of an exact sized plug for an easier removal. It does work but the object wobbles too much which is something that I do not want. This print also printed with support on the inside and I expected it to be harder to remove, but on the contrary it was actually fairly easy with some pliers. This print took about 5 hours to print and had a higher infill on the body. So far this is my best print out of the three.
My fourth print was still smaller than I was wanting it to be, but at this point I was still adjusting the utility of the coin bank. I created a new design for the part that would plug the bottom of the cat. I created a base bigger than the bottom of the cat with the same size plug on top so that the cat would just sit on top of the base. For the fourth print, the base/plug was too large and the neck of the cat was too small so coins would fit in the slot, but couldn’t go down into the body of the cat.
This print together took about 8-9 hours to print.
My fifth print I decided to make it larger so that coins could essentially go down into the base, and I also decided to create a detailed cat face to print. With this print the coins could go down, but the eyes I designed did not print as well as a hole was on the side of the body. The base/plug for this design was too loose for the bottom.
My sixth and final print. I printed the base and cat separately to save some printing time essentially. The final print can have coins go all the way through. It is larger. It has the face i designed and the base fits nicely. It’s not too tight or loose. The cat took about 6 hours to print while the base took about 1 1/2 hours. Overall, I am happy with this whole process and the end results! This is something I will be using and the design is perfect to me.
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