Description

In this assignment, we were tasked to build a sturdy stand for either a laptop and or a tablet using laser cutting. There were two conditions:

1) The design must use no glue or tape

2) The design must be modular (easy to take apart and re-assemble)

I decided to create an ipad stand for my roomate to use while she cooked!

Design

Initial Ideation:

Final Prototype:

Initial hand cut physical prototype out of cardboard

Sketch for laser cut design

Final design (modeled on cuttle.xyz website)

Prototyping

Prototype 1: Physical Prototype

I used this prototype to understand the dimensions of the design that I wanted to create.

Prototype 2: Laser Cut 1

This issue with this prototype was that the slots were too narrow and too close to the edge causing the cardboard to break when assembling the design.

Prototype 3: Laser Cut 2

I was pretty pleased with my final product!

Analysis

I conducted brief user testing with two people and this is the feedback that I got:

Likes:

  • Sturdiness of the design

  • Simplistic design (described as “clean”)

Areas for improvement:

  • Connection wings are too long

  • Taking the design apart is difficult

  • Back of the stand does not exactly fit with the slanted portion

Overall, I believe that I successfully created a design that matched my initial design criteria!