Twisted Heart Box - Last Minute 3D Print for Valentines Day

There's no saying when inspiration will hit - but somehow it always seems to be too late or just in time.

This time it was late on the night before Valentines Day and I suddenly realized it would be cool to create a not-so-ordinary heart-shaped box to hold chocolates or paperclips (the heart-shaped kind, of course) - which had a twist - literally.

Design Goal

I wanted something heart-shaped, but more unique and somewhat artistic looking. It occurred to me that I could take a heart shape and twist it while lofting it. I figured if I made the box big enough, it could even be practical to hold things - and so I also figured I would create a top for it.

Design Method

I tried a couple of different methods in Autodesk 123D Design - experimenting first with extrusion tools. I finally settled on the Loft tool - using the heart sketch on the bottom and the top at 90 degree twist from each other. The loft worked quite well.

Then I used the "Shell" tool to make it hollow, with a 2.1mm shell thickness. This seemed perfect, but had some sharp edges on the inside and the part where the two bulbs of the heart came together had a bit too much material.

I fixed this by using the "Filet" tool on the edge along that inside seam where the bulbs came together (shown in the picture).

The top was much easier - I basically created two hearts on top of each other, and reduced the perimeter of the upper heart by 2-3mm so that it would fit inside the top of the box. This presented a problem given the extreme slope of the top of the box - since that inset of the top would not fit in straight against the sloped sides of the inside of the box.

To fix this, I fixed the box itself, not the box top. I added a 3mm high STRAIGHT top to the box, to give it a perfect place for the box top to fit.

There's a small trick to doing this, as simply pulling the face on the top of the box would continue it's slope. I used the shell tool on another same-sized heart and removed the bottom face, making it an outline only. That's what I pasted to the top of the box.

The Model

You can find the Twisted Heart Box model here - and hurry up if you want to print it before the end of Valentines Day!

For Valentines Day: 3D Printed Heart Paperclips

Why Paperclips?

I know - paperclips are not particularly romantic, or special, or even interesting - not even a little bit. In fact, some might say they foster the use of paper - which we would never want to do.

BUT - When shaped like hearts, paperclips become about 0.001% more interesting than when they are shaped like paperclips. And when you can say you made them yourself - on your 3D Printer - they become even more interesting (I'll say 1.7% more interesting).

More importantly - when one of these little, boring, uninteresting heart-shaped paperclips can be printed in 2 minutes on your 3D Printer - well - NOW I think think they just got 400% more interesting!

Anything that prints in 2 minutes on my 3D printer and has even the slightest utility, is a winner in my book.

I've written a few posts already on paperclips in a row (the Football for superbowl, the "We Hate Paper" clip) - so you can tell I'm a bit into this theme and I won't get into the details on this model. I'll just say, again, that these babies print FAST. I can print a dozen in under 25 minutes :)

I created these for my 9 yr old daughter to clip onto her Valentine Day cards that she gives to friends at school - so this model has been a winner all around.

There are just so many different designs you can create to appeal to the paper-lover in your life - get creative!

The Model

Here is the 3D Heart-Shaped Paperclip model so you can spend 2 minutes getting one for yourself.
I'm posting this model hopefully with enough time for you to get busy printing hundreds in time for Valentines Day.