@CO is always finding ways to repurpose material that would otherwise be discarded. When she needed a larger watering can, she grabbed an orange juice container from the recycling bin, and kit bashed a spout using some old caps and some hot glue.
Inspired by her cleverness, I set out to design and 3D print a spout of my own. I decided that I would take advantage of the orange juice cap's ability to create a water-tight seal, and design my spout to fit over it. I just took a few key measurements, including how big a hole I could drill in the cap without impacting the gasket, and then made an extremely basic model in SOLIDWORKS for Makers.
Then I turned my attention to the path through which I wanted the water to flow. I separated the opening into two areas. A large one for the water, and a small one for the make-up air. I used a centerline loft to build a column of water that transitioned from a large smile to a small circle.
I paid close attention to the angles in the water column. In the end, this would be negative space in my design, and I didn't want any 3D printer support material to end up in this volume. I find that using the draft analysis tool set to the limit of my printer's capabilities helps me see where I'll need supports. Of course, the 3D Print command also shows you this, but I like that I can design with draft analysis turned on and watch for problem areas as the design matures.
With the negative space sorted out, I could get creative with the design. I played it relatively safe with my first concept and designed a shark fin inspired spout. I'd say it's form is fairly classic.
Then Chinloo and I brainstormed a bit and really embraced the idea that 3D printing allows you to make almost anything. We turned to one of our favorite video game franchises for inspiration and modeled a piranha plant (Super Mario Bros.).
It was really fun and easy to do using xShape. The best part was that I could insert the cap and water volume geometry from SOLIDWORKS into my xShape model and then design around it. I worked with different sub-d primitives in different ordered sets. This is a great alternative to traditional history based modeling. This way, I can see all sub-d bodies at once, no matter which one I'm editing.
As a final step, I merged everything together and then subtracted the water volume.
We 3D printed both designs and painted the piranha plant to match the Super Mario Bros. universe.
I'm happy to report that both designs look and function great, and we now have two more fun watering cans for our plants!
Check out the full video to see how everything came together:
...and feel free to download the CAD files to print your own or to use as a starting point.
(The zip file contains native SOLIDWORKS, native xShape, STEP, and STL files)
