Heart-Shaped Telescoping Print-In-Place Fidget

SUMMARY

This beautiful fidget is sure to amaze you and help you focus for hours on end. It can grow and shrink, and when not in use, can even be used as decoration! I worked on this project step-by-step with Joshua, and his design can be found on his page: @FestiveAxis5_3775769

LESSON PLAN AND ACTIVITY

This project aimed to create a Print-in-place telescoping fidget by utilizing repeated sketch offsets and drafted extrusions and cuts in Solidworks. Work step-by-step with a partner to insure accuracy and an identical final product, as well as redesign if any errors arise.

CONSTRAINTS

• The sketch must begin with a constraint box, a center-rectangle created from the origin
• You will either create a large-scale handled version or a nested array (Tesselation).
• Your outermost outline must fit within an 18cm x 18cm box or equivalent area (324cm2)
• Dimensions/Relations should be efficient. 
• It is not required to fully define your entire sketch, but it will help.
• The sketch must contain zero error messages.
• Demonstrate efficient use of “Offset Entities”

ASSEMBLY/CONSTRUCTION INSTRUCTIONS

Make sure you have an image of the shape you want to mimic for this project ready to go!

Constraint Box and Tracing

1. Start a new sketch on the front plane. Select the center rectangle tool and start a rectangle at the origin.
2. Mark the box for construction, and use smart dimensions to set it to be 18x18 cm.
3. Trace the inspiration image: We were initially going to trace an image of a heart, but this resulted in errors (described in the design choices) since the edges were too sharp. We ultimately drew the shape ourselves

Drawing the shape

1. Draw an ellipse inside the constraint box diagonally leaning towards the left edge. 
2. Select the Mirror tool. Use the y-axis to reflect over and the ellipse to be reflected.

1. Once done, you may adjust the original ellipse to make more of a heart-like shape, and drag it more towards the center of the box.

1. Curve the sharp concave point at the top of the heart by connecting the edges with an arc. Select the trimming tool and drag your cursor over excess lines inside the shape.

Offsetting and Extruding

1. Offset inwards by 0.3 cm to have a thicker outer piece.
2. Use the Offset tool to then offset inwards from the inner edge of the first piece by alternating values of 0.08 and 0.24 cm. Use the following table to get as far as you can, because they all must be offset from the same line since this shape is too complex for Solidworks to process smaller pieces.

3. Select the top face of the piece you have just created. Select the Boss Extrude tool. Use a height of 1 cm, a draft angle of 32.37 degrees, and a direction of Up to Surface, or Through All if that does not work(Solidworks does not like working with this shape).

4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 of this section until Solidworks stops you with errors. 

Center Platform: Since Solidworks stops you from offsetting far inwards, you may fill in the middle! Once you meet an error that prevents further cutting or offsetting, undo any previous edits to make it so you have an uncut piece in the center.

1. Boss Extrude the center piece to have a height of 1 cm and a draft angle of 32.37 degrees as you would any other piece.

2. Use the Dome tool in the Features tab. Select the top face of your center piece and set a curve of 0.2 cm, making sure that the direction is concave, cutting into the existing piece.

Mirroring

1. Select the mirroring tool. Select the Front Plane to reflect over and the drag to select the entire shape you have created to be reflected. Set the tool to mirror bodies and then click the green check to mirror.

DESIGN CHOICES

1. Bean: We initially started with an abstract shape, but quickly ditched this design because the curves seemed to be too complex for Solidworks to render, as they quickly intersecting after offsetting inwards.

2. At one point we began offsetting outwards because we couldn’t make it too far in without running into errors. This caused our design to fall slightly out of the box, but this error should not be met if the above revised instructions are followed.

 3. Coloring: I chose to use horizontal stripes of PLA Silk Pink and Cream to mimic a donut!

 4. We scaled down the final version while slicing on Orca Slicer to 0.2 mm because some parts appeared fine in the rendering but were too miniscule to print, such as the bottom point of the outer piece.