Over recent days we have been hard at work on a project for our client The Cat Butler.
With the client looking for some small gift items to be placed into the ‘goody bags’ for their potential new franchisees we looked at the logo and strapline to see what we could come up with.
First out the box we took and separated the cat from the logo looking to create a small but colourful fridge magnet.
The client decided at that point that they would prefer additional text to highlight the description for Cat Butler by way of a QR code.
This prototype was delivered to the customer but on seeing the prototype the client felt that the QR code would still be unclear to anyone looking at the fridge magnet as to what the fridge magnet was advertising unless they used their phone to scan the QR code. And so we embarked on a redesign to include the full logo and strapline.
As a general rule of thumb when 3d printing the size of the nozzle on the printer determines how small you can print an object, especially when it comes to printing text.
Here at 3D Joy we use 0.4mm nozzles as standard across our fleet of printers which means that depending on the font used the minimum text size is roughly 10mm (1cm) in height. Refining various of the settings on the printer we were able to get this down to a 7mm height. The 0.4mm nozzle is a good trade off between print speed and level of detail that can be achieved on our fleet of Prusa 3D printers.
We produced several protoypes to find the best settings for the size required by the customer.
After a lot of head scratching, failed prints and copious amounts of coffee we finally arrived at a print size and clean print that would satisfy the client.
In addition, to ensure a clean look for the fridge magnets our designers also engineered the model so that the magnets are within the model and hidden from view to avoid that ugly black strip of magnetic tape that is sometimes used.
The final prototype was delivered to the client and once reviewed and we had the go ahead, within a few hours the final and finished 3D fridge magnets for The Cat Butler fridge magnets were rolling off the printers.
55 3D models and versions, 14 physical printed models, 2 physical prototypes delivered to customer, far more coffee consumed than we do on a normal day and 7 days of elapsed time from starting the work to delivering the final product – job done!
The client was pleased with the finished products and has used them in goody bags for new franchisees joining The Cat Butler franchise.
Thank you to The Cat Butler for trusting us with their business