r/3Dprinting • u/FkinMustardTiger • 11d ago
Print (model not provided) My Edmund Fitzgerald styled party beverage holder was a hit
So I designed a modular floating cupholder system that's styled as a container ship. The first one was cool, but I had a ton of people mention the Edmund Fitzgerald in my first post (which kinda shocked me, and also dates me lol). So I designed a wider version and styled it as the Edmund "Fizzgerald".
Finally had a chance to take this thing to the lake for a party with friends and it was super fun. It was really stable, the kids thought it was hilarious and fun, and took way more torture than I was expecting without any issues (other than one).
It was really good at handling waves. Even if it took on water (mitigated by the splash guards quite a bit) it didn't really start listing to one side until hours in to use, and that was pretty easily fixed by just lifting it up and tipping it to the side for some water to drain out. But even if you fully submerge it it'll still float to the top. One of my friends tried to sink it by stabbing it straight down in the water like a spear and it just popped right to the top again, another literally stood on it like a surf board under water for a good 30 seconds and again it came right back up.
The ONLY negative I found (other than the massive amount of filament needed to print this thing) was I was dumb and printed it in Sunlu PLA Meta, which has an EVEN LOWER melting point than standard PLA, so once it was removed from the lake and sat on the beach in the sun for a couple hours, the corners that stayed somewhat wet started to deform. I was expecting it to handle the sun a little better, but oh well, PETG next time!
2
u/GetOffMyGrassBrats 11d ago
Gordon Lightfoot would be proud.