This week’s selection is the startlingly simple Nut Bowl by designer Ahmad Hasan.
This is one of my favorite 3D printed designs because it hits all the right checkboxes. What is it? It’s just a bowl, but a bowl with some very special properties.
While you can pile items in the bowl itself, the interior of the bowl is hollow. There’s an opening through which you can access this cavity. That might not seem special, but it is transformative in several common use cases.
Consider the problem one always encounters when eating seeds or nuts: you must discard the shells, and this always requires a second dish. But with the Nut Bowl the disposal “bowl” is actually part of the main bowl — two functions in one object!
This means you can deploy a single bowl for full nut functionality! This also saves some footprint space on tables.
The bowl is ideal for any type of nuts, but I am specifically interested in pistachios and sunflower seeds, both of which produce copious amounts of shell debris.
For 3D printing, the bowl is ingeniously designed: it has a circular flat bottom, making it extraordinarily easy to 3D print: there’s little danger of lifting off the print plate during 3D printing.
There are also no support structures required, as you can see in this slicer view. There is a hidden central pillar that supports the top bowl, ensuring no portion will have an overhang, except perhaps for the very top where you won’t see any printing issues anyway.
Hasan has provided two version of the bowl, with one being taller and the other a wide version. You can pick one or both, depending on your specific nut needs.
One more thing needs to be said: food safety. I bet you’re thinking I am going to suggest this item should be sealed in food-safe acrylic or something, but I’m not. That’s because the food items stored in this bowl already have a cover on them: the nuts’ shells. This means you do not necessarily have the usual food safety concerns due to the nature of the food.
However, if you do choose to use other foods that will be in direct contact with the bowl, you’ll have to make arrangements to ensure it’s safe.
Now it’s time for some nuts!
Via Thingiverse and Reddit
