Not much has changed since the last prototype. I actually recreated the box so the edges were cleaner and I also tested out the latch idea for the lid. For the edges of the box, I tried cutting out bits of one of the edges so when it folds up it’s more flushed (unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of this process). For the flap, I cut out a small rectangular hole in the lid flap and then attached another rectangular piece of foam core onto the box. The rectangular hole was about the same size as the foam core thickness, so I just had to figure out how big the latch on the box should be. It’s kind of difficult to get both sides in the latch, so this lid design needs further improvements.
This is another sketch with the current design and measurements. I also have some other possible improvements for a future prototype. These improvements are mainly for the lid design, since currently it’s not entirely functional. One possible lid design is the tupperware style, which I mentioned in the previous update. Another design is one that slide and locks in place. One downside to this lid type, however, is that if I put it in my backpack in a different orientation, the lid might slide out of place.
I also was thinking of creating a mini drawer in the painting toolkit for paint tubes. I will have to look into how to make a drawer function smoothly though, but this is just another possible idea. I want to test out different lids before moving onto the 3D modeling part so I can figure out which lid works the best, but I currently just have the latch type so far.
I actually tested out the drawer idea later on, but I ended up making the drawer too wide so I couldn’t fully try it out. This is just a general idea of how it might look like physically. I used the same box technique as I did for the overall kit..
Since I made the tray too big, I’m not sure if I will be able to have that many paint tubes at once. I was also thinking if there is a drawer, then there needs to be a cover over the drawer so the paintbrush handles can rest somewhere. For this, I was thinking instead of having the lid as a palette, I can have a removable lid for this drawer as a palette as well. Or both the lid and the paint tube drawer lid can serve as different palettes.
I’ve been only playing around with Fusion 360 and kind of just learning how it works. So what I have so far is not a lot, but I kind of have the rectangular base of the prototype and I need to figure out how to make the rest. Since I already have the dimensions from the physical prototype, it saves time making the 3D model because I already know roughly the sizes of each component.