Archives for the ‘Crushtoberfest ’12’ Category

clip-on mustaches for Crushtoberfest ’12

It’s Crushtoberfest time again… time for mustache-related tomfoolery leading up to our big, hairy keg party. With all the men-folk growing their best mustaches (open to any facial hair this year, BTW), the ladies inevitably feel left out, so this year I wanted to help get them involved.

Sadly enough this was one of the more challenging 3D modeling projects I’ve had recently. I first sketched a couple of splines to define the general shape of a mustache, then created an ellipse perpendicular to those curves. I then projected the splines onto a curved surface so the mustache would better follow the shape of the face, and swept the ellipse along them.

I then mirrored the ‘stache and cut out an additional scoop in the back to make room for the clip. The clip was designed to fit into the nose and clamp the part in between the nostrils. I took a blind stab at the sizing of all the elements, hoping it would be  flexible enough to be comfortable but stiff enough to not fall out. I printed one out and tried it on… Turns out the spheres up top were not big enough and the clip was way too stiff, resulting in immediate pain, especially when removing it.

In the revised design I added some loops in the clip to make it more compliant, made the pads bigger and flatter, and added some fingernail nubbins to help spread the pads to put the mustache on.

I took this one around to some test subjects and we determined the mustache was a little too wide and thick to allow for beer drinking, so the next revision shrunk everything down a little.

The geometry of the clip changed enough to affect the compliance, but we’re still within acceptable stiffness. The best part is the layer lines inherent in the FDM process makes for a near-perfect mustache-hair texture. Here’s the finished product, ready for Crushtoberfest!

UPDATE: I uploaded the .stl files to Thingiverse!

UPDATE 10/25: Here’s an alternate style, for those of you into the push broom. Also available on Thingiverse:

bouncy-ball race trophies

That’s right, bouncy-ball races. Crushtoberfest is about three things: mustaches, drinking, and a complicated competition that makes adults look ridiculous. This year we had a couple of great ideas–like mini-bike jousting–but one too many conversations about safety killed that one:

Lack of time was also a factor this year, so compromises were made and we ended up here:

Since there’s really no “making” in the event, I looked to create a fun trophy instead.

A combination of FDM 3D-printed parts, laser-etched name plates, stained oak and lots of gold spray paint resulted in a surprisingly “official” looking trophy.