After I printed the part shown above, I realized I needed to make decisions about the entire project before I printed another part. The printer was about 3/4 into the print before I realized I did not bring the hole all the way through. I could have stopped the print there to save some filament, but I thought it would be best to complete it; I may realize something I had missed. As it turned out, I decreased the center height and moved the dowel holder closer to the edges of the model for the next print. When I ordered more filament, I was reminded of how much it cost. It was definitely time to finalize the design and make it as accurate as I possibly could. That is what I did today. The render of the model is below.

The model shows casters, a hinge, dowels. and a top. I plan to use a 17″ x 12″ piece of pine and the 2″ diameter x 18″ long dowels I have leftover from a previous project. I bought a hinge from Home Depot and screws to attach the casings. I will get the casters and additional screws later.

I hope to have the bottom and top completed within two weeks. After that, I will print the casings. The casings go completely around the hamper. I was thinking of putting a flat board on the back, but then I thought I could put all of the same color spiral inserts there and turn the hamper around to suit my mood. When I started this project, I couldn’t decide whether to make all the same color or multi-colors. Now it is no longer a dilemma.

The photograph above shows the first iteration of part 1. As it was printing, I said to myself that it was too tall. I don’t need that much material for the bottom. After it was finished printing, I realized that it was a good size for a table top, but not for my current printing purpose. Plus, I wondered why I did not open the top and bottom for the wood dowel. That was my original intention. I confused myself by coming up with plans for a table top and hamper around the same time. I will do a table top after I finish this hamper. My goodness!

I am using PLA/PHA for this project and for all my future projects involving wood. I ordered brackets through Shapeways before I bought a 3D printer and before PLA was available to Shapeways creators. The brackets were made with strong and flexible plastic. I made the same brackets with PLA later and have been using them on a simple table I put together. The PLA material has proven to be too stiff for wood. The strong and flexible material has worked well. PLA/PHA is non-toxic and comparable to Shapeways strong and flexible material. I stood on my misprints and found them to be quite strong. The misprints are 9mm or roughly 3/8″ thick. I think I should be okay with reducing thickness of the bottom’s top layer to 1/2 inch. That means I will need to drop the dowel size to 3/8″.

The polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) mixed with polylactic acid (PLA) natural filament is a little too yellow for the exterior of this project. I will order a spool of white. As I think of the exterior more, I am feeling more inclined to stay with my original plan, so perhaps I should get a couple of different colored PLA filaments too….Naw. I will wait on those.

The files that are currently on thingiverse for this project will change. I have decided that I don’t want to have bolts on the top. I will put them on the sides. Also, I will make the parts larger; 6″ x 6″ and 5″ x 6″.

I have wanted a hamper stool for quite some time now. I failed to find one I wanted to buy, so I designed one for myself. The render above shows how I imagined it will look. However, today I changed my mind.

I was 3 hours into a 10 hour print on my Prusa clone when the filament became lodged in the throat between the extruder motor and aluminum block leading to the hot end. After I removed the jammed filament, I took the filament spool off the reel and put it in a box to return it along with the another spool I purchased. I was planning to use the other spool as one of the colors for the hamper. Now I think I will change the front to something similar to what inspired the hamper design.

When I saw the art piece on the left, it expanded my thoughts on what could be done with PLA filament. I use PLA only for printing in my space because it is non-toxic. There are so many items in my living area that are toxic, I just don’t like the idea of creating things that contribute to poor air quality.

My original design involved placing narrow, colored, spiral vase printed canisters inside holders that are connected together with bolts. I think now that I may use the idea for another project. It will take a while to print sections for the bottom of the hamper; about a week or so. That gives me plenty of time to think of something else.

Part 1 is now on Tinkercad. I will post about the other parts as I make them. The diagram to the right shows the positions of the parts I will be printing. I will connect the 4 wood dowels at the top with .25 x 1.5 Poplar boards to which I will attach a hinge and a 12″ by 17″ pine board I have leftover from a past project. The parts will be connected with .5″ wood dowels and 3d printed braces. It sounds a little odd mostly because it is a little odd. I think it will work (fingers crossed).