Introduction: The Universal Utensil

Our design is a set of utensils that are interchangeable off of 1 base rod. The utensil tops include a fork, spoon, and knife. If you want to change the utensil, say from a spoon to fork, you can screw off the spoon top and screw on the fork top. Our idea derived from the idea that when traveling, it would be a hassle to take a bunch of utensils on the trip and would be difficult to keep track of. Thus, we developed these small, simple utensils that are portable and easy to keep track of (in its own case).

Supplies

  • CAD Design
  • 3D Printer
  • Fork (for reference)
  • Spoon (for reference)
  • Knife (for reference)

Step 1: Planning

The materials you will need for this project is a CAD design program, a 3D printer, and for reference, desired measurements of a fork, spoon, and knife. Our first step was planning out our design. You can ask yourself these questions: how long/wide would the base rod be and how long/wide would the utensil top be?

Step 2: Designing

Use your reference materials to start planning and building your sketch! In this design, we included the nut and bolt component, so your utensil parts and handle MUST have the same revolutions in the screw and bolt (usually around 1.000 ul). Additionally, we first started building the connector to the handle with a square bolt. Base your three sketches off of this square bolt. (Remember to filet the sides after building your utensil on top of it. (Optional: filet the corners. During this step, we filet the handles and the utensil components for a smooth and comfortable grip).

Step 3: Building a Model:

Start building! In this step, we started building the base and the three utensil parts on a CAD program. It’s safe enough to say, that for us, this step was the hardest, and the longest, as it took a lot of planning and designing to make this project happen!

Step 4: Assembly!

Assemble your parts together for easy use, and remember to wash your utensils before using!