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Commuter Bike Crates

Exploring the gaps between digital representation and the physical world.

Side-view of someone riding a bike, The bike is equipped with baskets in the front and rear.

Project Description

During the pandemic, Toronto increased its bike lanes to offer accessible biking within the city. Many Torontonians have embraced biking as an alternative to driving or public transportation.

In celebration of this, I designed + 3D printed bike accessories to help people
carry their stuff while enroute.

Using Rhino3D, a continious polyline is drawn. This line acts as the path which guides the robot. Two continuious, over lapping paths are drawn to print the front crate and back pannier. This style of 3D printing requires a continuous line because the printer, once started, has a continuous flow.

The thickness of the line is controlled by the height of the robot tool above the printing bed, the temperature the pellets are heated to, feed rate of the pellets and the speed of the robot.

Using a heat gun along the fold axis, the material becomes malleable and can be folded into shape. Tabs incorporated into the design help join the different faces together, providing structural rigidity and an accent detail.

No glue or hardware required.

A close-up image of rear bike baskets on a bike. The basket is woven black and white plastic, resembling a textile. One basket is holding a canvas bag.
A close-up image of front bike basket on a bike. The basket is woven black and white plastic, resembling a textile. There are beverages and a paper plate inside the basket.