Rafts and a new KidCap

It is only when my wife and I are in Starbucks and we do not have a sippy cup that our kids want something to drink, one of the small bottles of chocolate milks or orange juice or fruit blends.  That's when my wife said, "wouldn't it be great if we just had a sippy cup cap that screws onto those bottles?".  KidCap was born and today we have patented, sourced manufacturing costs and continue to work on a path to market for our product.

The other day, I had discovered a new supplier for the silicone valve I use in KidCaps.  A smaller version with more possibilities.  That meant creating a new CAD file to fit the smaller valve and 3D print a test.

Lesson 1.  If it didn't print correctly the first time the second time will be the same.  I can't believe I tried it again!  The inner stem of the cap doesn't get connecting in the print until later on.  The problem is the inner stem was falling off the print bed during printing before I could get to that point.
Lesson 2.  If something isn't working, don't do the exact same thing.  Ok I know that's the same as lesson 1 but it's an important one.  I knew about 3D printed rafts ( a layer of plastic you print down first and then print your object on top of ) but had never tried them.  It worked great the first time.  The inner stem stayed put and final cleanup of the raft was easy.

Next steps for us on this product?  Reduce the plastic consumption, print and test the new valve and then sell on Amazon, printed right from here.

...be sure to look for future posts on self manufacturing...