Door Stopper

When I saw my teacher using a bucket filled with rocks to keep their classroom door open I realized it wasn't the most practical or reliable solution. To improve on this, I decided to design and 3D print a custom door stopper. This projects shows how you can create a simple, durable, and functional door stopper using a 3D printer, turning an everyday problem into a quick design challenge.

-3D printer

-TinkerCAD

-Paper

-Pen/pencil

As the students leave the classroom, a huge chunk of the door stopper would sticking out, vulnerable being kicked into the hallway the teacher would have get up and go into the crowded hallway as students rush by to their next class to retrieve back the door stopper. This was very inconvenient and obnoxious to do every single time for her. The teacher would eventually lose their own door stopper for the class cause a kid kicked it out so far it's now lost, now the teacher doesn't have anything to keep the door open but to use random objects such as a pile of rocks in a bucket to stop students from shutting the door. To solve this problem, I decided to design and 3D print a better door stopper.

I decided to 3D print a door stopper that would stand out from the rest. I started by asking my teacher her interest to help guide my design taking notes on what her hobbies, activities or somethings she might really like.

After learning about her interest, I went onto CAD software to start designing. I included the sports team as she's mentioned in the list at the side of the stopper while also making a scale replica of a dinosaur at the top of the door stopper to make it more unique and personalized. I used a triangle shape and stretch it into the dimensions I needed to fit the exact door gap. Yours will be a bit different depending on how tall or short the gap of your door is.

Now started to print the door stopper by preparing the design file for printing by exporting it in a format compatible with your 3D printer. My door stopper fulfillment is PLA as it helped ensure the door stopper would hold up to regular use. Then, set up the printer to the correct setting for layer height and infill to balance strength and print time. The printing process took several hours, make sure to monitor it very closely to avoid any issue.

In this part I made sure everything was perfect taking off any excess fulfillment with pliers to give it a clean polished look. I also sanded down the edges to make the door stopper smoother and more comfortable to handle.

I made the design door stopper to fit inside the door gap instead out of the door like a traditional door stopper because the traditional way would cause more problems as a big piece of it would stick out of the door causing kids to kick in the hallway. My design only leaves a small portion visible outside the door, reducing the chance of it being kicked. This approach proved to be much more effective, keeping the door securely open without the risk of it getting knocked away.

The teachers were very happy because now they wouldn't need to use random objects to keep the door open such as rocks or books. They've been using the door stopper for a while without any problems! proving this to be a very effective and simple method. To remove the door stopper all you have to do if push the door forward since it's slanted downwards and kick the door stopper back so the door can fully close making it super convenient without any hassle.