Pineapple Pencil Cup

Problem Statement:

Recent analysis by the Staples finance department has concluded that sales for desktop organization products have declined in recent years.  The company would like to ramp up their profits in this area by enhancing the aesthetic nature of these products.  

Your group of two has been hired to design a set of theme-based organizational products.  Your team will design a set of office supplies that are tied together with a common theme. You must be able to justify the theme that connects the products together.  The idea is that the customer will not want to buy just one; they will want to buy the whole set.

        OPTIONS:  
 

• Pen/Pencil holder that can securely hold at least 5 pencils. Cups’ designs must be complex.
• Expo marker holder than can securely hold at least 4 markers
• Tape dispenser that will hold AND cut a roll of scotch tape 
• Utility Box/Dish (paper clips/rubber bands/etc. )
• Phone docking station
• USB Stick/SD card holder
• Anything you can get approved by your project manager!
   

Constraints:

• You will be constructing an actual size model of your product in Solidworks
• Your items must be interesting to look at and unique - a conversation starter.  An individual walking by would do a double take to more closely examine the amazingly artistic item you’ve created.
• Your items must contain examples of ALL FOUR main Features:  Extrusion, Revolve, Sweep, Loft 
  • All Features DO NOT need to be present in each piece, just amongst the set
• Your items must take advantage of at least one of: Circular Pattern, Linear Pattern, Sketch-Driven Pattern, Mirror 
  • All Features DO NOT  need to be present in each piece, just amongst the set
• ALL of your items must take advantage of Filleting and maybe Chamfering
• Each piece you design should fit within a 10cm x 10cm x 10cm cube, or 1000cm3 volume equivalent.
  • Each item can be multiple pieces to be assembled for easier printing
  • Maximum length in any direction is limited to 20cm (slightly negotiable, MAYBE 27cm max)
• Should be 3D printable with limited/no supports, (each item can be multiple assemblable pieces to help this)

Summary:

Have you ever had a bunch of pencils laying around with nowhere to put them? Or do you have a boring old pencil cup? Fear no more! Here is a 15x7x7 cm pineapple that can hold all of your pencils! With easy assembly, you will find that this pineapple is an awesome addition to any office setup. This is one part of a set of office supplies on which I worked together with @Samantha_Hum_2508051. You can find the other two parts of the set on her page, along with a Watermelon USB holder on mine.

Assembly:

To attach the leaves to the body, simply apply glue to the flat end of the leaves and attach them to the top of the pineapple.

Design Choices

Shaping of the body:

Originally, in the first revolution to create the body of the pineapple, we did not have a flat surface on both the top and bottom.

This caused an error while using the circular pattern tool later on to create the pineapple pattern due to the intersections of the helix pattern. To solve this problem, I used the trim tool, as well as the line tool to create a flat surface on the bottom.

Flattening the bottom:

Originally, The helix pattern on the outside of the pineapple created an uneven surface on the bottom of the pineapple.

This caused the pineapple to not have an even surface to print on. To solve this problem, we added an extruded cut on the bottom to flatten the entire surface.