Port Dust Covers

thingiverse

For the Thingiverse Challenge I had to design a desk organizer or component that classmates would be able to use to make learning from home easier. I started thinking about new problems that could arise from the current way of learning, given the Coronavirus. In the end what I decided to create would be most useful for students who are involved with a hybrid schooling schedule. What I mean by this is they’re constantly traveling between school and home, putting their Chromebook loosely into their backpack. Over long periods of time this can cause dust to build up in the Chromebook itself. Which is why I designed an item to combat it. I designed dust blockers for Chromebook ports. The design itself is a rubber piece that goes into all the ports on each side of the Chromebook before transportation or storage. Each plug insert located on the main piece is specifically made to substitute the attachment meant to go inside that port, ensuring that the port itself will be sealed from the outside. Although it’s a more subtle creation, in theory the long lasting effects of this component should be very beneficial. It will be a great component to prevent dust, foreign objects and possibly even spills from within the backpack from going into the interior of the Chromebook. In the long run this will be great to keep the quality of the Chromebooks in good condition. This means that Chromebooks will last much longer ensuring the students in the process of learning will not be interrupted with some of the unfortunate events involving the quality of their Chromebooks. One of the problems I ran into on the way of completing the design of the prototype was what material to use. At first I went into it thinking I would just use a generic plastic for it, but then I realized it would be way too brittle with all those tiny parts. So I switched to rubber-like material called NinjaFlex - PLA. If I could redesign I would choose to go with a design that would less likely lead to the product being lost. I could make a number of changes to improve its visibility, like color or improving the lack of a connection between the two dust blockers. I also feel that 3D printing would greatly improve the quality of my design. 3D printing in general is also a great alternative to any production making things like prototypes much more cheaper and cost effective.