This is probably the coolest, most useful Thing I've created from scratch so far.
Now, I know what you're thinking: "But, dude, your series of coffee stencils was pretty cool..." but honestly, if you have one of these Kleen Kanteen water bottles, you'll agree, this beats most of my designs hands-down!
See, I bought this all-metal water bottle, and it's fantastic. 20 oz of water, in a stainless steel, vacuum insulated container. I used it all the time. And then I dropped it, and dented the bottom. I was upset, but thought it was mainly cosmetic. I loved dropping it so much, I did it again and, of course, dented it again in a different place. But both times, on the bottom.
Months later, I took it with me to jury duty. I got called up for a case, I was empaneled, and they allowed us to bring water into the courtroom. Whew! Refreshment!
In the middle of some extremely solemn testimony by an expert witness, my full water bottle fell over, due to the dents in the bottom, and everyone looked at me. My heart raced. (Well, my heart was already racing, because courtrooms are scary.) I picked up the water bottle, said I was sorry into the courtroom microphone hanging right over my head, and the proceedings continued.
It was two months later that I realized: "Hey, I'll bet I could fix this, rather than just tossing the damned thing into the recycling pile and buying a new one!"
So after a few hours of thinking about it, and a few minutes with my digital calipers, I was able to come up with this design in Fusion 360. It fits...PERFECTLY.
I mean, at first, I was worried that maybe it was going to be too tight (like, not be able to fit on the bottom), or too loose (and I'd need to use tape to get it to stay). Or perhaps I measured incorrectly, and there would be a little gap between the blue of the bottle, and the plastic bottom, where the silver bottom showed through. Nope. Nothing. PERFECT.
So, if you have one of these best-in-class Kleen Kanteen bottles, and you want to fix a broken, dented bottom, just download this Thing. If you have the same type, it should work great! The bottom outside-diameter of this container is 72mm, and the height from the bottom of the bottle to the top of the bottom is 23mm.
Do you have a bottle like this, that has different measurements, and you'd like me to work up a special one just for you? All you need to do is give me the dimensions you need, down to the mm please, for the height of the bottle bottom, and the bottle's outside-diameter, and we should be good. It'll be fairly precise, but if you find it needs to be taller, shorter, wider, thinner, just let me know by how much, and we can iterate until it's perfect. I'd also like the name of the bottle (with specifications), and a picture or two of the bottle itself. And, if you want to be known as the person who supplied the request, I can even attach your username to the STL and also mention you here in the comments, if you'd like.
So, whether you're trying to make a courtroom less scary, or simply don't want your water bottle falling over at random times, this water bottle bottom is for you!
Printer Brand:
FlashForge
Printer:
Creator Pro
Rafts:
No
Supports:
Yes
Resolution:
Medium
Infill:
30%
Notes:
In order to save time and filament, I printed this bottom-down, with supports auto-generated. In this case, the supports were minimal, and I was able to cleanly remove them from the print by-hand. I've found that the latest version of Simplify 3D does an even better job of creating these supports, such that their use is optimized, and they're easier to remove cleanly. YMMV.
If you print this bottom-up, you'll probably need a lot of support material on the inside, and that'll take precious time and material. I think it doubled the time from two hours to four.
Easy Cleanup
If you print this bottom-down, it gives you a nice, clean, flat bottom, and the inside is relatively clean as well. Layer lines are nice, providing a little friction. With my bottle, it's a perfect, snug fit. The bottom stays on, but is removed with a moderate amount of force. No tape required for my specific bottle but, again, YMMV. Please let me know if you have any specific needs (bigger, smaller, taller, shorter).
Fusion 360 and Simplify3D
I love using Fusion 360!
Parametric design is somewhat of a pain to learn, but once you've got the basics mastered, you can use parameters to make different versions of a design, and fiddle around with various numbers to get things just right.
This is basically just a disk-bottom, with fillets. I've raised a wall to the appropriate height, and then placed 90 divots into the side in a circular pattern. Fusion 360 allowed me to place a single divot (a half-cylinder cut-out), along a tangent plane, which makes a little half-moon cut-out. I then performed a fillet to soften the edges out. After creating that single cut-out, I performed a circular pattern with 90 members, and it came out looking like this. When I first started out, this type of pattern was daunting; scary to create. Had no idea. Now, it's not too bad. Fusion 360 is so powerful, though, and well worth learning.
Simplify 3D is my favorite (and only) slicer that I use. I know I have more to learn with it, but it gets the job done, and slices objects up nicely.
After creating the final print code, I send that off to my printer via Wi-Fi using the Toshiba AirPrint card. It's pretty fantastic. Saves the SDCard reader and contacts in my FFCP, because I don't have to keep taking it in and out to transfer files. I do hope, some day, Toshiba makes it so you can rename, move and delete files remotely through the web interface, but for now, it just works. I can manage files later. Oh, and it has a 8.3 filename limitation over the air, which is a pain, but not too bad if you keep track of the files.
Happy printing!
