Hold Your Hot Drinks Using Your 3D Printer

In this short instructable, we will use the might power of our 3D printer to make ourselves a hot cup colder.

The filling for this cup holder doesn't really matter. The side that touches the cup itself will be coated with Silicon to prevent the cup from sliding away.

The cup holder is made out of little brick segments, about 1 cm in size. They will make a string that will surround your hot cup and prevent from burning yourself. A rubber band will hold the blocks together applying pressure on the cup, as can be seen in the image.

Note: Some 3D printers (even Most) have an option to make the print hollow. Remember from science class that air isolates heat better than other material? We will use this, as when you print these tiny blocks, set your printer filling option to about 50% - 75% so it will contain air and isolate heat; it will also be lighter and spare more filling.

Another Note: This article was submitted as an entry for the 3D Printing Contest. If you liked what you saw here, please vote for me! If there was a mistake or you want to leave feedback, please do so in the comment section! Thank you for your time and feedback.

Step 1: Print the Blocks

For a normal cup, about 10 - 15 small blocks are required. The 3D files are available in the attached files section of this step.

There aren't special requirements for printing these small blocks, you can use every filling you have.
One thing you can change in the printing settings is the Print Density, or "how much the 3D printer fills the build". Because air is isolating heat better than plastic, we want the density at about 50%-75%.

Also, the build and files attached are oriented correctly so your printer won't have to build "support towers". There is also an SVG file attached if you want to CNC the blocks.

Step 2: Fill the Blocks With Silicon

In order to prevent the cup from sliding away from us, there is a immersed section in the print, where you can put in Silicon. It will increase the surface area touching the cup and hold it in place. Hot glue is also an option, but not recommended as with hot drinks it may become soft and gooey, and might just stick to the cup.

Step 3: Connect the Blocks Together

A hair rubber band is best to hold the blocks together around the cup. There are two holes in the build to thread in the other edge of. Flip your designated cup upside down (so the wider part will touch the working surface) and surround it with blocks to see if you have enough. Then take a hair rubber band and cut it so it will make a string. Thread the band through the upper hole in the blocks. If you've got any extra blocks, they will be needed (at least one) to connect he band.

You can use a normal rubber band if you don't have any (a pack of 10 hair rubber bands costs about £2).

I don't have a 3D printer, so I made my blocks out of foam for this example. It looks ugly, I know, but it works.

* When you thread the rubber band through all of the blocks, use one of the spare blocks and thread one of the edge. use hot glue to secure it in place.

* When it cools down, take the other edge and hot-glue it in place.

Step 4: Use the Holder!

All you have to do now is to put the string of blocks on the cup!

This article was submitted as an entry for the 3D Printing Contest. If you liked what you saw here, please vote for me! Thank you for your time and feedback.