Stress Relief Fan

grabcad

When planning what to enter for the Stratasys 'extreme redesign' competition (2018), I began to think about practical art pieces. Whilst a chair or another piece of furniture would be the obvious choice, I decided on a unique idea. A desk toy that runs on stress relief. This unpowered fan looks great on a desk, and is designed to be blown by the user (SLS printing is capable of creating 'living' rotary joints such as this) . Blowing this fan will be a clever way to relieve stress and tension, getting breathing back to normal and calming the user down.This could be made in a wide range of materials I chose to render plastics and metals, Chrome or copper would make the product interesting on a desk, and can be easily manufactured with SLS/ DMLS printers.Using Fusion 360's FEA capabilities, i was able to ensure the fan was relatively strong (even though it will not be subjected to any loads). I attempted a shape optimisation, however no reductions were necessary or easy to find, as the only change that could be made was simply making the 'neck' thinner. I did consider a mesh base, which would make this more interesting and equally easy to make with SLS printing. Additionally, more work could be done on the fan blades and aesthetic 'spiral' behind the product.This product is discreetly emotional, providing a comfortable relief under stress, with a minimalistic and artistic design. I have included design development sketches and all screenshots of my tests, regardless of their success. This was also designed with FDM printers in mind, with the idea that (although support structures may pose an issue), this should fit within the build volume of most FDM printers available.Whilst this is certainly not perfect, I believe that this piece of practical art will relieve stress :). And if blowing into it's not enough, you can always lob it at a wall... (Not guaranteed to survive)