Prisma is a 3D-printed throwing dart assembled using everyday office items. The project was an exploration in digital manufacturing in conjunction with old-fashioned fun.
Elvin Chu
Determined to design an entertaining product to be manufactured and sold online, I looked into the one environment where 'fun' is not typically associated—the office.
After making the correlation between a pushpin and the tip of a throwing dart... a lightbulb went off in my mind.
DIY throwing darts are not a new phenomenon, however they are a hassle to make and sometimes inconsistent in performance. I mocked up several paper models to test the feasibility of the pushpin as well as irregular flight shapes and was happy to find that it is possible to make an awesome dart.
Pushing my initial ideas onto paper, I started to think of possible secondary uses of the dart within the context of its office environment. Fun and interesting forms surfaced when thinking about the advantages of additive manufacturing processes.
Fleshing out my sketch ideas and exploring more in 3D, I began printing, testing and playing with prototypes to quickly improve upon the previous iteration. Every prototype provided valuable information on ways to improve the next model. Overall, my design challenges were to cleverly reduce material and optimize the pushpin snap feature. One of the advantages of additive manufacturing is that I was able to subtract an inner chamber from the dart's form to improve weight balance and decrease material volume while maintaining its structural integrity. Keeping assembly simple, I formed the flights out of sticky-notes, a readily available material in an office environment. After making the final material reduction of the body, the pushpin snap flaps became much more flexible and allowed for quick snap assembly.
When not being thrown across office cubicles, Prisma plays nicely with your everyday stationery while also providing an extra pin for written reminders.
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