3D Printing Design Courses: Roundup and Contest Winners

We’ve just wrapped the Spring session of our Beginner and Advanced Design for 3D Printing course, an interactive online workshop which takes 3D printing design skills to the next level through a combination of keynote speeches, small group work, and personalized mentorship. The course culminates in a Design Challenge and we are extremely impressed by the submissions we received this session!

Our contestants were asked to build 3D printed solutions to common problems around their homes and offices. What we received were ideas that ran the gamut from practical kitchen solutions to industrial design solutions. Here’s a peek into the wide-ranging and creative designs, judged by esteemed 3D designer Jordan Pelovitz:

Carolyn Yu’s simple and practical design for corner guards for tables features an adjustable height setting so that they can conform to whatever table they’re applied to. We loved the simplicity and thoughtfulness of her design. 

Carolyn Yu’s design

Theo Cotton cleverly used Rhino and Grasshopper to develop a solution to the problem of his business cards getting bent in his pockets. He used Rhino to create a wall thickness around his cards, which we loved. His design is as aesthetically beautiful as it is practical! 

Corey Franzo developed a solution to a common household problem: pooling water underneath countertop dish drying racks. His ambitious design was a great application of design thinking, despite the fact that the model needs to be split up to fit in the print bed. 

Our runner-up for the design challenge is Fredrick DelRusso, whose exciting design for a 3D printable component for an EDM (Electronic Discharge Machining) he uses in his work in medical manufacturing was inspired. Not only is his design a great application of 3D printing in the workplace, and a great way of solving an office problem, it’s also a fantastic example of a functional print in the real world. Bravo, Fredrick! 

Fredrick DelRusso’s design

But the entry that had us most excited was the iPhone Flex Sleeve, a design to keep power cables and headphones organized and damage-free. Challenge winner James Thompson used multiple software packages to achieve his thoughtful and concise design. 

His design for an iPhone case features a strain relief tab made of flexible resin to protect wires from fray, a foldable stand, and space for headphone storage. 

His impeccable research resulted in a simple and easily reproducible design which is as practical as it gets, and we were extremely impressed by his exemplary work. 

Special thanks to our Design Contest Challenge judge, Jordan Pelovitz, a 3D designer and the customer success expert at Formlabs, who provided 3D prints for participants of the course.

If you’re excited about design for 3D printing but need that extra jolt of motivation and inspiration, join our two new summer sessions! Enroll by May 24 for special early-bird discounts on both Beginner Design for 3D Printing and Advanced Design for 3D Printing.

What do you think of these designs? Will you be participating in the next online training session? Share your thoughts in the Design Challenge forum at 3DPB.com.