This is the story of the most “first world problem” of any possible problems. I couldn’t find my 6 count egg carrier to go camping. I know… it’s a big deal right?
Later on, as I was driving down the road I started to wonder… did I ever own a 6 count carrier? It’s not something I fret over. Maybe I’m misremembering.
Anyway, the only egg carrier I could find carries a dozen; absurd for a solo guy like me. I only wanted 4 eggs, I carried 6 because the damn thing looked too empty. My small cooler couldn’t hold the carrier so I stuffed it in a Milwaukee Packout with my stinky muddy motorcycle boots.
In case you’re wondering… breakfast was fine. Stinky motorcycle boots won’t mess up your breakfast if it’s chilly out and it’s a short trip.
However, I should do better. Am I not an Adaptive Curmudgeon?
Here’s what I started with. (Link to Amazon. The one I own is a million years old but they’re all the same.)
I needed something strong so I could toss it in a cooler with ice and beer and stuff. It should roll around like it was in armor. I spent forever trying to decide if I wanted 2 eggs or 4 or what.
Finally I remembered I live in the future. I’m a big bad 3d printing nerd! I can have whatever the hell I want. The most flexible arrangement was 1 egg per “case” and multiples of the single case.
I found a model on-line and started printing. Note: The licensing is such that I can’t sell the design, even if I modify it (which I did because nerds have to tweak everything). If you want your own and have a 3d printer go here. The guy who made the design would probably love a few more hits.
It looks a little goofy but it’s a lot smaller than the big crate.
Delightfully, it really is a single egg fortress. I don’t have the right equipment to stress test it. Ideally I’d put an egg in one, hand it to a toddler, and say “carry this to the swing set and back”. Knowing toddlers they’d test the livin’ shit out of it. Even so, it seems excellent. Eight flexible arms on top and bottom cradle the egg. You could probably chuck it off a cliff.
However, I wasn’t satisfied. This is the bottom of one half. The flattish object is called a “raft”. It’s designed to keep the rounded bottom adhered to the print plate. I didn’t like it.
Also the bottom 6mm or so of each half starts narrow and moves wide. This is called “overhang”. 3d printers aren’t great at overhang. Thus, the bottom of the print looks lame. (Still functional, just a little funky.)
Also, every layer of a 3d print has to start somewhere on the perimeter of the object. This is called “seam”. Here the seams are “aligned” and you get that vertical line. It’s merely cosmetic but I wondered if “random” seams would diffuse that line.
The last thing was that they’re hard to grip. It’s an egg shape after all. If I just fished it out of ice water (maybe with numb fingers while winter camping) could I grip it tight enough to twist?
I decided to innovate. In the Bambustudio “slicer” software I created what’s called a “primitive”. Just a geometric shape. I made a flattish square the exact size of the “overhang”. I planned to merge this with the original part so I’d have no overhang and also a nice flat space to grip with my fingertips.
This might fill some of the area necessary for the egg’s volume. So, I added a small cylindrical void into the square. Just enough for the hypothetical tip of the egg. When, I merged the “primitive” with the original part it looked great.
I printed one half with “random” seam and one half with “aligned” seam and compared the two. Both came out pretty good but “aligned” looks better. I also really like my “grip” for twisting them together.
The last step is to switch to a better color. Black looks like I’m making a giant deer turd! (Not that I’ll throw out the two variants I already made.)
By my calculation it’s a fair deal. The oversized egg crate on Amazon is like $9 to hold a dozen eggs. That’s $0.75 per egg.
I’m printing them at $0.60 for each individual locking egg fortress. I’ll send photos of the finished produce when I get a chance.
It’s not like I’m curing cancer, but I’m having fun.
A.C.
P.S. My dumb little “grip” on the top and bottom of the egg fortress gives it a nice flat spot to rest on a tabletop! A fortuitous feature!
