Introduction: Fruit Basket „Cradle“ - 3D Printed

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About: I love to craft and my sons and grandchildren keep me going!

I have called it "Fruit Basket" but actually this is a container with a wide range of usage options! There are also many color design options.

The idea of constructing the "Cradle" for 3D printing actually comes from the wood crafting field. A company that offers commercial wood projects for schools had (has?) a similar project in their assortment.

For those who have no relation to woodworking but to 3D printing, this project might be of interest. This "Cradle" project does not require any crafting skills. Only 3D printed parts are used - except super glue! ... just apply some glue and stick it together!

Dimensions L230 x W180 x H115 mm

Most patience is needed when printing the 16 bars. To shorten the printing time, I reduced the filament infill to 5%. This is completely sufficient and has no effect on the stability!

Print Settings:

Printer brand: Prusa

Printer: i3 MK3s

Supports: No

Resolution: 0,2

Infill: 5%

Filament brand: ICE

Filament color: Young Yellow, Wintershine White

Filament material: PLA

Attachments

Supplies

  • Super glue

Step 1: Preparation

Print files:

  • Fruit bowl_sidepart.stl (2x)
  • Fruit bowl_bar.stl (16x)
  • Fruit bowl_foot.stl (2x)

Remark: As all parts are designed to fit very precisely, it may happen that you have to rework one or the other part a bit with sandpaper and/or cutter due to different dimensional accuracy of the printers and the different behavior of the filaments.

After you have printed all the parts, you can start assembling them. It is very simple! The only thing you need is super glue. As the parts fit very well in my case, I didn't have to fix them very much.

Attachments

Step 2: Installing the Outer Bars

Start with the outer bars. This gives the basket enough stability so that you can continue with the other bars without problems. Apply a little bit of superglue to the outer teeth and then press the bar firmly into place. Put them together so that the bar is flush with the side panel.

Step 3: Installing the Remaining Bars

Go on installing the remaining bars.

Apply a little bit of superglue to the teeth and then press each bar firmly into place.

Step 4: Installing the Feet

The feet are placed exactly in the center, at the highest/lowest point of the arc

Up to a certain point, the feet can be pushed inward, but no more than 5-6cm from the edge of the basket. A placement further inward will result in an unstable stand.

I placed them as far out as possible.

Step 5: Video

Step 6: Wooden Examples

... and if someone wants to build it in wood, here are a few impressions of how it might look!