Devlog 1: Tricking a PEI Plate into holding Coffee

The Idea

All right, so this is the start of my new project, fieldPlate. fieldPlate is a funny little idea I had when sitting down to read a book. What if you attached a table onto a tripod?The premise is really very simple. I was thinking of ways that you could make a tripod more comfortable to rest your hand on for an armrest, as one does on a perfectly normal Saturday night. However, I realized that a PEI plate that you find on most common 3D printers is made out of metal, is magnetic, and is roughly the size of a table, which makes it quite portable. Thus I had the wonderful idea to try and create a project that could take a 3D printer printing plate, which is normally made out of metal, and convert that into a table which you can attach onto a tripod. And that’s basically what this project is going to be like.

Prototyping

In this session, all we did was jump into a notes app and spend about an hour prototyping by drawing a couple of ideas and designs.The final product will be about maybe 40 to 50 millimeters tall. It’ll be around 42 by 42 and 43 by 43 millimeters on both ends, respectively. The top end will be magnetic with a little bit of a dock or puck, which you can screw in. So if you have a different kind of magnet, you can remove the existing design and replace it with a remix of your own. (pls remix) There will also be four arms which connect to the corners of the field to prevent slipping or sheering. Finally, the arms can be screwed into place via three screws per side.

Practicality

Now, I will admit that this idea is not exactly the most practical, as most people don’t exactly go running around with extra PEI plates on their person. But I have a solution for that. I will also be releasing a plastic version of the plate so that you can simply screw it in and use it. Again, this idea is still not practical because there are more useful prototypes and products out there.But I think this is a funny idea, and it’s a good design challenge for me to try and apply some skills that I’ve been learning in Fusion 360 to this. I’ve never really worked with so many components before, and since this is a very hardware-focused product, and I already have a 3D printer, I think this will be a very interesting challenge for me.
Comment any ideas pls. Maybe gridfinity?