How many times have you been in line at a cook-out filling your plate only to realize you have to make the decision to either leave your drink or your silverware due to the fact that your hands are full? While it's not a hard decision to make, obviously you quickly take your drink and head for any good place to devour your meal, it is one that phases me continuously over the summer months. After my most recent cook-out I started trying to think of a way to carry both my drink and my plate in the same hand, and I think I've found it. Now introducing, for all of your summer cookout food and drink carrying needs, the Glass Bottle Plate Carrier. Read on to make your own.

Step 1: Printing

The Glass Bottle Plate Carrier, or GBPC as I will call it for reading ease, consists of two 3d printed parts: the Plate Holder and the optional Dip Cup. These parts will need to be printed in PLA plastic as ABS plastic is not food grade and is therefore unsafe to eat off of. Because you're using 3d printed parts your GBPC will not be dishwasher safe and will have to be hand washed with warm soapy water after each use. If you have a 3d printer these two parts can be printed in about an 2 hours using rafts, one shell and .27mm layer height to print the pieces. If you do not have access to a 3d printer try finding a person with a 3d printer near you on 3D Hubs.

Step 2: Drilling Your Plate

The third piece of the GBPC puzzle is a plastic plate. I picked two up from my local Walmart for about two dollars. Once you have obtained a plate the first step is to find the middle. I did this by finding the spot on the bottom of the plate where plastic was put into the mold. I then centered a 1.5 inch hole saw on the spot and started cutting. The hole actually needs to be about 1.6 inches in diameter so I used so medium grit sand paper to get a perfect fit. After you have a good fit simply use some very fine grit sandpaper to clean up the hole. A helpful tip is to use a small drill bit to drill a guide hole for the hole saw. I did not use this technique on my first plate and the plate was destroyed.

Step 3: Handwashing

This step is pretty straightforward, but very worthwhile. After I used my hole saw, my plate had some dirty spots on it. I decided it would be wise to give all of the parts a good hand washing to clean areas that would be unreachable after gluing.

Step 4: Gluing

To permanently connect my GBPC I used super glue. I simply applied a thin layer of super glue around the top side of the lip at the bottom of the 3d printed Plate Holder piece. I then inserted the piece into the whole in the bottom of the plate so that the tapered end of the Plate Holder faced up and the lip was flush against the bottom of the plate. I then removed excess glue with a paper towel. The plate and the plate holder are the only two pieces that need to be glued together as the Dip Cup is a removable accessory for holding various things such as: salsa, BBQ sauce, or cheese dip.

Step 5: Overview

Once the glue has dried the construction of your GPBC is complete and you can begin using it at your leisure. To reiterate the GPBC is a convenience based project used to make carrying both food and a drink at cook-outs easy. It has a dip tray for carrying various types of sauces and dips that is removable for maximum plate customization. It is designed to work with any glass bottle, but because I am only 16 I was unable to display it with any alcoholic beverages. Thanks for looking! Please share how you use your GPBC and please don't forget to vote if you found this project helpful or interesting.