Multi-Use Books and More Stand

Hello, my name is Rachel Benjamin, and I am a student entering 8th grade at Fort Bend Christian Academy. One of my favorite classes of the day is Computer Science, and I have taken it every year of middle school. I have used this experience to create several things, either for my enjoyment, or something that can be useful for others and myself.

I love reading books, and you could catch me with one at almost all points of the day, meals included. However, I have to hold the book in one hand and eat with the other, making both the reading process and eating extremely slow. I also play several instruments, including the piano and the flute, and I don't have a portable stand that I can easily clip onto something and practice my music. This is why I decided to create a multi-use book stand. It has arms that move back and forth to hold the book pages in place and has an attachable clip to use the stand wherever I need it. Let me show you how I made this useful stand, and how it has helped me in my daily life.

• 3-D printer (Any printer is useful for this)
• PLA filament
• Ruler for various measurements
• Tools preferred to remove 3-D printing supports

The first thing I did was to measure several books that I had, and different pages of sheet music, to determine the height I would need for the stand, without it being too bulky. I eventually settled for it being 10 inches tall in total, with 8 inches supporting the book, and 2 inches as a support under the holder. I then made a place to hold the book, which is about 2 inches thick, and the part at the end is 1.5 inches tall to make sure the book doesn't fall off. Then I made the place where the stand support would go, and I made sure to offset some of it so that it would create a hole with a tight tolerance.

I designed the clip to be a bit bigger than an inch in width so that it could clip onto most things. I also made the walls of it to be pretty thin so that it would be less bulky, and later filleted the edges so that it wouldn't be sharp. Then, I extruded the clip to be roughly 1.5 inches thick so it would be small, but would also support.

The book holder had some sharp edges, especially where the wall was that stopped the book from falling over. This is why I decided to make a small curve to make it look better and to prevent sharp edges. It was also looking a bit plain, so I decided to attach a fern canvas, and trace and extrude it to incorporate some design elements to make it look more appealing. After that, I added a name for the stand in that same area, which told what this stand could be used to hold.

In order to create the arms, I needed to create a place where they could stand on the sides, which is why I created these little holders on each side. I made the walls pretty thin, and I made sure that the inside of the stand was hollow, so the arms could go through here into the stand.

After that, I created the arms. These are each 5.75 inches long and slide back and forth to accommodate different book sizes. To make these, I first extruded a rod to be 5 inches long, and then created a part that was wider on each side, and extruded that to be 0.75 inches long. Then I cut a part into the wider edge to create a place to put the book pages.

I created the sketch for the stand support back in Sketch 1, and I extruded it now. It is slightly smaller than the place for it, so it has a tight tolerance, and will support the stand when the clip is not being used.

After that, I decided to add another design to the top of the stand. To do this, I found a pretty corner stencil that I liked, and I traced that sketch, mirrored it onto the other side, and extruded it.

I had initially added little ledges near the top of the clip to hold the stand in place, but then I realized that I would need more than that in order to hold the stand upright. So what I did was to move the clip to the place that it would be while holding the stand, and making barriers that went along with the stand's slant so it would stay upright. These walls were at an angle of about 11.3 degrees, which is the same angle that the stand is at.

Sadly, I do not have any pictures of this process, as I do not have a 3D printer. I got it printed by a private small business near my house. I will attach the separate STL files that were printed. The design was printed out with 20% infill.

After I cleaned off the design, I tried testing the design in different environments, and I believe it passed the tests with flying colors. Here are the different areas and ways that I tested it:

1. In the kitchen - I tried different cookbooks and devices that I would use for recipes, and the stand held all of them with ease.
2. Holding sheet music - With the clip I designed, I was able to attach this onto the cover for my keyboard, and I could practice with ease. It also helps me practice good posture as I am looking up at my music, instead of to the side or down.
3. Holding a book - This test went similar to the cookbook test, except these books have more pages. The arms were able to keep the pages and book cover in control, and the stand where I have the designs helped the book from falling over.

In my opinion, I believe that Computer Science and 3D printing is a very useful tool for everyone to have, and it can also be accessible to others. The 3D designing process is not easy, and there were several models that I deleted because I didn't like the look of them, or because they weren't as effective as others.

Do I have critiques on my final design? Definitely! As I am reflecting on this design, I realize that there are certain elements that I could have designed differently or taken a different approach to have different results. A design is not always going to be perfect, and it's important to learn from your mistakes and improve next time.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, and that this Instructable was useful for you to think of different creative ideas to solve problems in your home. I hope that I introduced some new skills to you and that you learned something new that you never thought of before. Finally, I wish all of you well on your design journey, and that you can solve problems in your communities and houses with the power of 3D designing.