I wanted to make a music stand for my guqin table because my room at San Clemente doesn't have enough space for a proper one. I envisioned something that would clip to my table and have enough surface area to flatten out the paper.

Step 1: Measure & Sketch

First, I took some quick measurements of the table. After this step, I forgot about the need for a slant backwards for the paper holder to balance the papers. I decided that the clamp part would be 100mm long and have at least a 38mm gap. Somehow, the dimensions of the paper holder ballooned to 180mm x 180mm because I forgot that we were trying to keep components under 100mm. I only remembered that the dimensions of the bed were 200mm x 210mm.

Step 2: Model in Fusion

I modeled the base clamp and the paper stand in Fusion and then extruded. Everything was much easier this time around. I then added a hole and a peg. At this point, I still hadn't realized the lack of tilt.

Step 3: Generative Design

This process was pretty straightforward, I guessed at some of the forces and planes but was able to get it started without issue. It jumped to 9% complete and then stayed there. I noticed there were many designs that were very similar to each other. I wished there was a way to add a threshold to make sure each iteration was sufficiently unique. I picked a design that looked a bit stable and like a car tire rim. It was interesting to me that the four spokes weren't perfectly symmetrical despite the forces I set up being symmetrical.

Step 4: Final Print

The final print was successful but took a while on two different printers. I made it way too big. I also realized I forgot to tilt back the paper holder. I suspected this would happen despite adding the hole multiple times after incorporating the generative fill, but adding the generative design center would cover the original hole I made, and I couldn't seem to restore it. Had I done this again, I wouldn't have gone for a clamp and would have instead gone for a normal stand. I thnk the friction of the 3d printed object was more than I had realized.