Another -but different and geometrically proportionate- spaghetti measuring tool by Fernando_R

Last crawled date: 3 years ago

Perhaps it's my clumsiness, but I find the standard designs, based on round openings, hard to use. Either I end up with a fistful of spaghetti loosely dangling in the hole (hence eliminating the measurement goal) or individually squeezing -sometimes breaking- the last ones.
Moreover, I found that many of the "standard" published measures are simply not proportionate, i.e., the area of the hole for 2, 3 or 4 servings is substantially different (sometimes up to 22%) from 2, 3 or 4 times that of a single serving. Curiously, servings for 2 tend to be the smallest (vs. twice a single one). Perhaps trying to avoid criticism from weight-conscious partners :-) ? Check for yourselves if you don't believe me. The math is simple: Area = π (3.1416) times the square of the radius -in excel, +PI()*R^2-.
The "standard" individual serving also varies substantially, ranging from diameters of 17mm (0.67") to 23mm (0.91"). It may not seem much (35%), but when you square the radius, the difference in area amounts to 83%! Of course, traditional "index & thumb" rules will also be widely different (a "Boban Marjanović serving" will surely be plenty for anyone), but that's not the intent.
I've settled for a rough average of the most widespread "standards", equivalent to a 21mm (0.83") diameter for a single portion. And yes, the area for 2, 3 or 4 servings is exactly 2, 3 or 4 times bigger. If you find it too scarce or too generous, just scale it up or down, but be aware, any linear in-/decrease will yield a square in-/decrement. For example, a 10% linear upsize represents a 21% increase of the resulting portions (1.1x1.1=1.21), 20% (1.2x1.2=1.44) 44%, and so on. Still, large or small, the servings will remain proportionate.
About the design, I found the proposal (www.thingiverse.com/thing:961715) of Engineer89 inspiring. Not only his servings are exactly proportionate (as could be expected from an engineer, @ 350 mm2 each), it also allows to simply drop the spaghetti on top and remove the excess. However, it's a bit bulky to fit in our already packed kitchen drawers. So, I decided to "open up" the traditional circles and use instead appropriately resized semicircles. It's not as stable, but it does stand sideways reasonably well. All edges are rounded for additional safety.
Concerning printing, I've used PET-G to make it "dishwasher-safe", but almost any material will do. 30% infill seems strong enough, unless you want to print a wafer-thin version, in which case flexibility will be key (avoid PLA). Food compatibility should not be a concern because contact will be minimal and brief.
I've created two versions, one w/ roman numerals (+Braille on the top side) and a more symbolic -and easier to print w/ some materials- one. Besides STL, SKP, DXF and 3DM (Rhino 5) formats are also included, to facilitate remixing/personalization.
Happy printing -and cooking-!
Note: Upon use, I found that if the kitchen desktop is very smooth, dropped spaghetti tend to slide away. Put a non slippery mat under it, or place an adequate barrier (e.g., the spaghetti box/bag) aside to prevent it.