Portable Handrail Wallet and Card Holder

Description

• "Handlets" is an accessory designed for commuters for daily commuting. By having this accessory, the daily experiences of the commuters can be a bit more comfortable or easier. It's a prototype that tries to combine different items that commuters need to bring every day.

Problem

• Hassles of Commuting
• Hygiene - Infections can easily be transmitted through surfaces. By touching surfaces inside a public transportation vehicle, you are prone to infections if proper washing is not done. The accessory solves this problem by avoiding contact with surfaces using your portable handrail.
• Rush hours - There may be too many people inside the train or the vehicle that it may be impossible to hold on to something to keep balance. A readily available handrail may ensure the commuters have something to hold on to.
• Too many objects to carry - It may be hard to always open your purse to get some coins to pay for a trip. The design solves this issue by having an accessory that can be used as a wallet, coin container, cardholder, and handrail simultaneously.

Tools

• 3D Printer
• Laser Cutter
• Glue gun (or any thing to connect the parts)

Materials

• Thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) filament
• Acrylic sheet
• Lace
• Magnets
• Hinge
• Adhesive clay

Use a 3D modeling application to make the 3D models and other applications for the laser cut models. For this project. I used TinkerCAD and Inkscape for 3D printing and laser cutting respectively.

Parts

Wallet Body

• Make sure that there is space for paper bills
• Add a curve to make it fit into the arm
• Add the cover to the model file

Coin Container

• Make sure that the cylinder can fit the largest coin
• Add the cover to the model file

Handle

• Make the dimension fit four fingers
• Include a part that can be clipped where the clip can be attached to

Clip

• Make the clip's circumference a bit smaller than the reference bar that it will be attached to
• Include some spaces or holes where the adhesive glue or magnets can be attached
• Punch three holes where the lace or a string can be inserted

Flexible Connector

• Make a design that has strong sides where the other parts can be connected to
• Add floating thin bars (using the 3D printing application i.e Ultimaker Cura, make sure that the supports are parallel to the bars)
• The supports will act as the flexible portions

Upper Connector

• The upper connector is curved and slanted
• Add a hole where the lace can be inserted to connect it to the clip

Card Holder

• Using Inkscape, create a model that can cut the sheets into parts that can be connected to create compartments for the cards.
• Ensure that there is a hole in at least one

3D Printing

• Turn on the 3D printer and load TPU filament
• Import the STL files from TinkerCAD and use an application (Ultimaker Cura for me) to convert it into a .gcode
• Make sure to use TPU or other flexible filaments

Laser Cutting

• Open the laser cutter and exhaust. Load the acrylic sheet.
• Import into pdf and load the file into the laser cutter

This part is mostly personal. The color theme I picked was my own decision and the technique I used was also my technique. There may be other ways to paint or design the handrail.

Sanding

• Before painting, the parts were "cleaned" or sanded first to remove protruding parts.

Painting

• Use acrylic paint to paint each part of the accessory
• Layer the different colors
• I used purple, red, orange, yellow, and blue for my design. I got inspired by abstract designs and jeepney designs. I wanted it to be colorful not necessarily with a pattern.
• There may be other things that can be used like stickers or enamels.

For the assembly, use any way of connecting the parts

Glue gun

• I used the glue gun to add the hinge to connect the upper connector and the body wallet
• Next, I connector the coin container beside the body wallet
• Then, the flexible connector was attached to the body wallet, and the handle
• Covers for the body wallet and coin container were also connected using a glue gun
• Lastly, the magnets were put into their places using the glue gun

Super glue

• It was used to assemble the cardholder and attach the parts
• It was also used to put some magnets

Adhesive clay and magnets

• The adhesive clay was added to some parts to make the cohesion stronger
• The magnets were used for covers and opening/closing parts

Lace

• The lace is added to connect the clip to the upper connector
• Using the holes, insert the lace and stick it using a glue

How to Wear

• It can be put on the arms by clipping the clip to the handle
• It can be worn as a necklace by using the excess lace to tie it

Use

• Paper bills can be inserted into the body wallet
• Coins can be inserted in the coin container
• Cards can be inserted into the two compartments of the card holder. It has the active card and the reserve card compartments.

Recommendations

• Use sewing instead to connect the parts instead.
• Some parts can be printed together as well (ex. flexible connector and handle)
• Make the prints stronger
• Make the flexible connector stronger

This part is a culmination of the project.

The finished product exhibits that it is

• Multipurpose - it can be used as a bill and coin container, a card holder, and a handrail
• Portable - it can be worn on the arms and very light which can be carried easily.
• Functional - the magnets and compartments work out perfectly

Possible changes

• The models can be improved because some parts limit the movement of other parts
• Printing can be made thicker and slower to make the material a lot stronger
• Some parts are too bulky, and their dimensions can be changed
• Some mechanisms can be changed in terms of making the whole product an accessory.
• Make it smaller and make it more circular in the sense of the assembled design
• Add padding to make it more comfortable to wear for the user
• In terms of mass production, the models can be more generalized and the parts where the magnets can be placed should be more easy to find. Make the designs cleaner and there must be a general design or some kind of a logo that will be used for all the products.

Design choice

• It is mostly personal, but I suggest picking colors that may blend but are also of your liking. The filaments' colors might be limited but paints can be used to make the design more colorful.

Alternatives

• For the filament, other flexible materials can be used and filaments such as PLA and ABS may be also used but they may have a different feeling.
• As I mentioned earlier, there may be different ways of connecting parts and I suggest stitching as a better way compared to gluing.

Testing

• It took me multiple models and multiple prints until the final model. Until now, I still think of ways of improving the design itself.
• At first, I had the initial design in my mind, I printed it and I discovered some problems.
• I solved those problems and reprinted them to make sure it function.
• For example, the flexible connector took four prototypes until the current one as I was making sure that it moved in the right direction and was compact.
• Designing takes a lot of testing, blaming yourself or the ruler for the error, remodeling, and repeating.

Key takeaway

• It may be tiring, but the final product makes it worth it. Having ideas pop up was very fun and it's very fun to think of ways to improve the design because there will be always room for improvement.

Overall, the process of making the product was very fun. Making the models was very fun because it made me think hard about the parts and how can I connect them. Making sure that they function correctly was also exciting in some way. For the challenges, making the model and printing was also the hardest part. I had a design before this final product that was too bulky, too rough, and too hard. Adjusting was hard since I needed to start from scratch.

Thank you for reading!