Magnetic Chopstick Holder- Engineering in the Kitchen

What is presented here is a fully functioning magnetic chosptick holder. Instead of the orginal chosptick rests that are specifically designed for placing the chopsticks down on its sides, we have a magnetic choptick holder that consists of holes in which you can fit your own chopsticks through. And, yes you heard that right. It is a magnetic chopstick holder, so this can be easily mounted onto your very own refrigerator.

For the execution of this project, we had to gather a fresh set of chopticks, two circular magnets (smaller than the design for the holder), autodesk fusion 360, as well as a replicator + 3d printer with working filament.

In this step, we have taken our idea and have sketched out what it would look like as a 3d model. As you can see, there are no holes for the magnets yet, which was an idea we were able to come up with a little later down the road.

In this step, we had to alter the sizes of the holes in which the chopsticks would fit through. Moreover, the top diameter had to be slightly larger than the bottom diameter since it mirrors the general coned shape of any set of chopsticks.

In this stage of the project, we have 3d printed our first working prototype by using a Replicator + 3d printer. On top of having to refine the design due to the chopstick holes not being large or small enough, we had to go back and include the magnet holes in which our design was primarily built for.

In this step, we have now extruded holes into our design, so that we have spaces to insert our magnets into. Obviously, our magnets will be tiny, and have to be circular shaped.

Now, we have successfully 3d printed the design with magnet holes, and have kindly asked our Manufacturing instructor for the magnets to go in the holes. Luckily, he had some in hand, and fortunately for us, they fit perfectly well.

And ta da! Here is our refined prototype mounted onto a refrigerator. Pretty neat, right? As you can see, it may require a few steps, and most especially that 3d printer, but with proper patience and a creative mindset, this design can be executed under a convenient time span (can range from about 1 to 2 weeks).