This is both a decorative and functional sunflower themed hand fan that I designed for the #pdo #summer 3D modeling challenge. Indiana summers can get quite hot, so having a collapsible fan in your bag can be a life-saver!
While I was brainstorming what to model for the challenge, I tried to come up with ideas that I thought would be fun to model, easy to 3D print, and usefully functional on a daily basis. I came up with a few different concepts, some of which were quite elaborate, however I only had one day left until the challenge was over. With this in mind, I narrowed down the list until I settled on a collapsing hand fan. Even with the limited timeframe, I still wanted to push myself and create a hand fan design that was collapsible but was also made with only 3D printed parts. Additionally, as with most of my designs, I wanted all of the parts to be 3D printable without any support material.
I got started on the initial design and as the basic structure of it was coming together, I began thinking about what artistic flair I wanted to add. A number of different summer-y themes came to mind, but as I looked at the form and shape that I had so far, it really looked like a flower to me. I remembered how much my wife loves sunflowers, so I thought that would be the perfect artistic design to incorporate into the model.
This model is designed to be printed as separate parts, and then assembled. The parts that you will need to print to create the full assembly are:
- Cap (x1)
- Top Petal (x1)
- Middle Petal (x6)
- Bottom Petal (x1)
All of the components are designed to be able to be printed using a dual extruder 3D printer so that two different colors can be used, as indicated in the model’s material colors. Each petal is split into two bodies; the base of the petal and the artistic overlay that accompanies it. While the model is designed for dual extrusion, all of the parts can still be printed with a single extruder with a single color, or with a single extruder and a paused color change at the 2mm layer height.
The model is assembled by first pressing each of the six (6) Middle Petals onto the post that is part of the Bottom Petal. Next, the Top Petal can be pressed onto the same post. Lastly, fit the cap onto the top of the post such that the nub inside the cap fits into the notch in the post. Press the cap as far down as it will go and then rotate the cap until it snaps past the locking mechanism. Once the cap is locked onto the post, the slots and pegs on the front and back of each petal will keep the fan from extending too far or opening the wrong direction.
You can take a look at the renders in the “Community Uploads” section to see what the assembly looks like in it’s opened and closed positions.
The STL format of this model can be found here: https://thangs.com/NoahMillerDesign/Sunflower-Hand-Fan-STL-Format--pdo-summer--NoahMillerDesign-25459