Belated Umbra Paper Towel Holder

Last crawled date: 1 year, 10 months ago

Well, I'm an idiot. Here's my entry to the paper towel holder challenge. I actually worked real hard on it for quite some time. I just kept making adjustments as long as I could and then before I knew it, it was getting close to the deadline so I said "better make a few shiny renders" and as the first one was doing its thing, it hit me like a freight train full of bricks. UTC. 10:30PM my time, 2:30AM contest time. I haven't cried for a long time but this almost got me going. Oh well I guess. It probably isn't Umbra style anyways. but everyone have a look and tell me what you think. Like I said, there's only one quick render for now but after I'm finished patching this strange fist shaped hole in my desk I might make a few more. I guess I should look on the bright side. I finally made a GrabCad account and posted something! Even if I can't take part in this contest, I'm glad that now I'm part of this awesome site and hope to try at future challenges. Now about the model... Basically, The "platter" and the "case" get glued together (or possibly screwed using threads molded on the platter and case) then the "guide" is attached and they are all placed on the "base" and screwed down. Then the threaded "post" is screwed into the base. after that, the "spring steel" is inserted with the "cap" on top being screwed down. I think that's all. Then just pop in a roll of towels and slide the end through the slot. The idea behind the "spring steel" was to keep the roll from spinning wildly and also to prevent it from rolling backwards and retracting the paper. When you want a sheet just pull some out and tear to the left. The rubber on the bottom and its natural weight should keep it from spinning or moving. And yes, I do know how expensive stainless steel is these days but I just couldn't get the concept out of my head. Although it probably could be very thin steel over plastic filled with sand or cement... there's just something about a heavy chunk of metal in your hand that says quality better than anything. By the way, I had planned on making an animation and a fancy sales image with labels and instructions like the ones some of the GrabCad gurus submitted but I stupidly saw the challenge a couple weeks late and just couldn't ever find the time to work on it. Do be sure to check out the exploded view though. And if you're in the mood for some relaxing SolidWorks parametrics, open up the master model and change the size of the roll sketch to see how it would look with different amounts left on the roll. Well I'm looking forward to any comments and criticism. I know its my own darn fault but I sure wish there was some way this could still be considered as an entry. C'mon Grabby, it was only a couple hours late... Oh and this is my first upload so if anyone notices anything wrong with the files or anything let me know in the comments.

Happy Grabbing,
Mike.