Make:'s April Fool's 3D Printing Contest

The challenge

Good design isn’t easy; user experience is something we take for granted when it’s done right, but is blatantly obvious when it goes wrong. Our Digital Fabrication Editor Matt Stultz recently sat down and drank out of portable cup without its lid on it. It was too thick, there were threads to screw down the lid that got in his way, and it was just annoying. Since he spends so much time thinking about design, he thought “How could this cup be even worse?”

Let’s find out…

Since handing someone a horrible cup to drink out of could end with very funny results, we thought there's no better time than April Fools to launch a contest to design the WORST CUP EVER!!! The idea is simple: we want you to design and 3D print a cup that is impossible, annoying, or tricky to drink from. Bonus points if you engineer a secret trick that allows only you to drink successfully from the cup.

We know designing the worst cup ever isn’t going to be a simple task though. It’s going to take some work — so, we have an awesome reward for the winner. The great team over at SeeMeCNC loved the idea of this contest, and are thus awarding a prize to the creator of the most infuriating goblet. If you create a vessel that truly vexes us, you will win a SeeMeCNC H2 delta 3D printer kit.

Rules:

• The cup must be able to hold at lest a 1/4 cup of liquid (no cup full of holes, you need to work for this).

• The cup must be able to drain the liquid inside (no printing half your cup, filling it with liquid, then sealing the top).

• The cup must be 3D printable on standard FDM printers. We are going to print all the cups to see how they work.

• Bonus points if the user cannot drink from the cup without spilling the contents all over themselves.

• More bonus points if there is a non-obvious trick that allows the user to successfully drink from the cup.

• Entries must be submitted before the end of April.

• A printable STL file must be submitted with your entry.

• Due to shipping logistics for the prize, this contest is open to US residents only.

We look forward to seeing what you think is the worst cup ever, and trying your creations for ourselves!

Prizes

First Place

1 winner

SeeMeCNC H2 Printer Kit

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$499 value