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Show off your skills and solve real design problems
This Challenge invites you to create awesome accessories for StaX, a machined aluminum modular container system.
Also check out the campaign at Kickstarter.
You must include:
- Rendering
- STL
- Description explaining your design
You are encouraged to include:
- STEP or IGES file
- CAD file in any format
Winning designs will be:
- matching StaX concept
- matching StaX dimensions
- creative
The competition is open to everyone. Multiple entries are acceptable. Team entries are welcome - prize will be transferred to team leader. Participants may only win one prize per Challenge.
Tag your entry with “Staxaccessory” when uploading to GrabCAD. If you submit through the "Submit entry" button, this should be added automatically. Only entries with valid tag will participate. Only entries uploaded to GrabCAD through the "Submit entry" button on this Challenge page will be considered an entry. Private entries are not eligible.
By entering this competition, you 1. Warrant that the work is your original work. 2. To the best of your knowledge, it is not, and has not been in production or otherwise previously published or exhibited. 3. Neither the work nor its use infringes the intellectual property rights (whether a patent, utility model, functional design right, aesthetic design right, trade mark, copyright or any other intellectual property right) of any other person.
______________________
If you think an entry may infringe on existing copyrighted materials, please email challenges@grabcad.com.
Applicants are not entitled to any compensation or reimbursement for any costs. The applicant’s participation shall not constitute employment, assignment or offer of employment or assignment.
The sum of the Awards is the total gross amount of the reward. The awarded participant is solely liable for the payment of all taxes, duties and other similar measures if imposed on the reward pursuant to the legislation of the country of his/her residence, domicile, citizenship, workplace, or any other criterion of similar nature. Only 1 award per person.
Only public entries will be considered. Any private submissions will be made public at the Challenge deadline.
We will release the finalists before the final announcement to give the Community an opportunity to "vote" for their favorites in the comments. The jury will take these into consideration when picking the final winner. This new addition is based on feedback from you!
Winning designs will be chosen based on the rules and requirements. This Challenge ends on April 4, 2014 (11:59pm UTC). Winners will be announced by May 4, 2014.
Void where prohibited.
Cash awards for TOP 3 places.
StaX sets for TOP 50 designs upon a successful Kickstarter campaign.
$100 cash + GrabCAD shirt
StaX sets for TOP 50 places
The jury is comprised of experts from Zalaco, Zepto Industries and GrabCAD.
The StaX project is a collaborative effort between Zalaco LLC and Zepto Industries LLC.
Zalaco provides mechanical engineering design services, while Zepto Industries provides electrical engineering design services. Both are small businesses run by engineers based out of Orlando, Florida.
More information: www.stax.zeplaco.com
Zack Monninger
Craig Rettew
Zepto Industries
Sara SigelHave an awesome idea for this competition? Want to win cool prizes? Sign-up now to upload your entries.
65 comments
Arian Shamil almost 12 years ago
Nice item and very nice challange :)
Zack Monninger almost 12 years ago
Thanks guys! Looking forward to seeing what the GrabCAD community can come up with.
Tommy Mueller almost 12 years ago
@zack I'd expect no less than 400 entries on this one ;)
Sure to bring out the creatives on GrabCAD!
Pouriya almost 12 years ago
This is a nice challenge, GrabCaders will put beautiful creative things I cant wait for new designs (:
Dave Buczak almost 12 years ago
I'll take a shot at this Friday, and I'll look into the Kickstarter when I get paid. Great work guys!
Andre Fraga almost 12 years ago
Nice one!! , I will work to win this challenge
Bastien Bruyère almost 12 years ago
Very nice item indeed. I will give it a shot as well.
Zack Monninger almost 12 years ago
Thanks for the feedback everyone! Keep the entries coming!
Reza Allahyari almost 12 years ago
Perfect! I'm in.. :)
Joshua Scheringer almost 12 years ago
gonna be a lot of entries for this one
Craig Rettew almost 12 years ago
I'm blown away with these incredible designs, keep 'em coming! I'm very impressed with the GrabCAD community with hopes that it can help out our Kickstarter campaign to bring StaX to life! Great work!
Zack Monninger almost 12 years ago
@Everyone - When designing accessories, please start with one of the models labeled "StaX - Thread Interface Starter". These models have looser threads to help 3D printed parts mate with the machined parts. We're trying to print a few of the accessories and this will help us a bunch. Thanks!
Craig Rettew almost 12 years ago
@Everyone - We added a folder called "Printed Accessories" under the StaX models page. We hope to continously print some of the great ideas that keep rolling in. Keep an eye on it, there's one there right now! https://grabcad.com/library/stax-a-machined-aluminum-modular-container-2/files/Printed%20Accessories
Pouriya almost 12 years ago
I have fascinated about my 3d printed design (:
Jovan almost 12 years ago
@Pouriya that juicer looks great!!!
Hevi almost 12 years ago
@StaX Team - maybe we should have some sell contribution for the best 10-20 entries? :)
pawan almost 12 years ago
nice one...
Sara Sigel almost 12 years ago
So many amazing entries so far! Keep up the great work GrabCADrs :)
Jonathan Brazeau almost 12 years ago
SO MANY POSSIBILITIES!!! I CAN'T TAKE IT ANY LONGER!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH *jumps out window.
Stephen Nyberg almost 12 years ago
I have added the appropriate files for everyone to my entry.
Stax Aruduino prototyping enclosure
Stephen Nyberg almost 12 years ago
A consideration the everyone may want to consider is that most forms of 3D printing (especial at home) do not produce parts that food safe.
Arian Shamil almost 12 years ago
Yes it's true, everyone must consider that....but if you'll use PLA filament you can use it for food use, right? at home i'm using only pla filament... (sorry for my english Stephen :D)
Stephen Nyberg almost 12 years ago
If ABS has never been in your machine but with the PLA, you still need to be concerned with the porosity of the print and some how threat the surface to prevent bacteria growth after the first use Just something to keep in mind. Some of the good food related entries could be injection molded for actual use down the road but I personally would not risk eating or drinking from printed ones.
David Pedersen almost 12 years ago
Foodsafe (when cured) clear vanish :)
Arian Shamil almost 12 years ago
Good Point Stephen!
Bastien Bruyère almost 12 years ago
well the 3D print is obviously just for the prototype... they will later on use injection molding to produce great amounts of products.
David Pedersen almost 12 years ago
They arent going to produce them.
All the model is meant for people who haved bought a StaX, can print their own accessories for them.
"StaX is intended to bring 3D printing to a broader audience"
David Pedersen almost 12 years ago
But there are a huge numbers of online printing/cnc services,
for the people who dont have access to machinery.
So you could have it printed or machined,
in (just to be safe when drinking from it) Medical grade titanium :) hehe
3d printing isnt only PLA and ABS...
Corey Buchanan almost 12 years ago
It says that the selected entries will become the intellectual property rights of the competition owner. Will this still be the case as StaX seems to be an open source project?
Kamyar almost 12 years ago
Poor business idea gasping for new ideas to survive.
Sara Sigel almost 12 years ago
@Corey These designs will become part of the open source project and have the same intellectual property rules they use - keep derivatives of designs open, attribute work, etc.
@Kamyar This is a new, open source project looking to make their product even more useful. I hope you'll join the fun!
arman thakur almost 12 years ago
Nice one .i will work to win this challenv
The Ultimaker over 11 years ago
Looks like staX need a kickstarter boost :(
Stephen Nyberg over 11 years ago
So now what with the kickstarter funding being unsuccessful?
David Pedersen over 11 years ago
Sorry to see it didn't get funded :(
Zack Monninger over 11 years ago
@Stephen - Good question. In fact, we'd love to hear everyone's thoughts on where they'd like to see StaX go in the future. Please feel free to share here or email us directly (info@zeplaco.com goes to both Craig and myself). We'll be looking at things over the next few weeks and try to decide where to go next. Thanks to everyone on GrabCAD for the awesome concepts!
Jonathan Brazeau over 11 years ago
First time I'm in this thread....WoW! Craig and Zack, it's really cool to follow and watch this project on Kickstarter, sorry that you didn't make the goal....no sweat though, lessons can be learned from it, that goes for all of us. Here's some feedback for you.
Firstly, I understand that costs are probably one of the biggest hurtles to launching a product, but I can tell you unequivocally that your current price points are skyrocket high. 59$ for an anodized aluminum tin can is a no go for me, not with what you're offering. But again, having tinkered with engineering ideas, I understand how hard it is to get those initial costs down so I sympathize. But I would try to focus on this area, that is finding ways to bring the initial costs down, if you were going to continue, you might even have to front some of the expenses out of your pocket to start, just to get the initial production runs going...sucks, but sometimes thats what it takes.
Why are you CNC'ing them anyway, everyone knows this is one of the most expensive wasteful processes....it should be avoided unless absolutely necessary.
Have you also considered this business model??...... get quotes from a reputable plastic injection molding company for molding the three main sections, do your due diligence on the company, make sure they're going to do the job right, the first time. Lock in those rates and then get back on kickstarter. I've gotten quotes for similar sized parts from protomold.com, you would be looking at about 5-10K for the mold, and maybe 1-2$ per unit up to 1,000 units, The mold would be good for thousands of units. Obviously, the both of you will have savings from you day jobs, use your savings to front the 10K for the mold while you start out and offer the Stax cups kits for let's say a 10$ price point, so @ 2$ per unit cost for the molding, you're pulling in 8$ profit, that goes to paying off you mold and into your pocket for future development, AND, you 10$ price point with the proper marketing will gather a lot more attention and buyers. I would gladly pay 10$ for your product. 59+$ is unreasonable.
Lesson 2. Does you product really solve a problem? Do I need a Stax in the first place. Just because you can think it and 3D print it, you gotta ask yourself, does the world really need it. That's one of my qualms with 3D printing, are we going to have a bunch more ABS plastic junk floating in our oceans now because every Tom, Dick and Harry can print out a model now..... ) "Manufacturing revolution"...not quite.
To me, you guys are definitely cut out for this, but you might have to try a few times with a few different product ideas. But anyway, congrats on getting this far!
Jonathan Brazeau over 11 years ago
Would have loved to compete in this but so busy these days, have to weigh my options *pouts :P
Stephen Nyberg over 11 years ago
I agree with most of what Jonathan says but I don't think injection molded StaX would have the same feel as machined anodized aluminum StaX - I think those would be awesome! Making things cheaper instead of better is my least favorite thing about engineering.
The Ultimaker over 11 years ago
Agree with Jonathan on the costings, although I personally wouldn't buy a plastic moulded version of this... it was the highly machined quality aluminium that did it for me. Are your costing`s US based or sourced in Asia? I have good contacts if you need them, PM me
AIT OUFKIR YASSINE over 11 years ago
Just submitted my Entry, The StaXDeco,
Stax-deco
Zack Monninger over 11 years ago
Jonathan - Awesome feedback. This was very much an experiment on our part with a "lean" attempt to develop and launch a relatively simple product. We thought the twist of running a GrabCAD contest (crowdsourcing designs and crowdsourcing funding simultaneously) was a cool experiment. And you're right, we were 100x smarter the day after we launched the campaign, so countless lessons learned.
We considered the injection molding route but it just didn't fit with what we were trying to do at this time. Anodized aluminum consumer products are niche and expensive, but there is a place for them (though StaX may not fit that niche after all).
I'm starting to think we did this backwards - We should have come to GrabCAD with a really simple set of requirements and let the community design a product that we then took to Kickstarter. Wouldn't that be a cool model? Give the community a challenge like "design a machined aluminum pencil holder", keep the Kickstarter campaign goals at around $10k, and keep launching simple products against some theme (like machined/anodized aluminum). Setup a royalty structure and then repeat.
Bryan Morris over 11 years ago
I think that's a great idea Zack! I hope we get the chance to do that!
The Ultimaker over 11 years ago
Great to see you are positive Zack. I'm sure your next project will be a roaring success. Still...atleast you 3D printed my rocket stand, even if you did do it in girly pink lol.
Craig Rettew over 11 years ago
Great entries everyone, really impressed! We will be selecting winners soon. Great stuff GrabCADers!
Sara Sigel over 11 years ago
Finalists are announced!
https://grabcad.com/challenges/stax-accessory-challenge/results
.
Thanks to everyone who participated! It was incredible to see the GrabCAD Community come alive with ideas and give such great feedback on the StaX concept. We have some great finalists to share and recognized a very full list of honorable mentions, as well. Which one is your favorite? Did we leave anything amazing off the list? Let us know in the comments!
Ramin over 11 years ago
What are StaX Accessory Challenge Honorable Mention?
Lance Skelly over 11 years ago
Well done to everybody. Nice to see such innovative ideas.
I have eight favourites based on simplicity, functionality, and sound design. In no particular order, they are:
* sling stax by mustafa zorlu
* StaX - Quick Fishing Case by Concetto Vecchio
* https://grabcad.com/library/stax-accessory-challange-middle-single-handle-proto1-2 by Arian Shamil
* STAX Clear Tube by Marios Pazaitis
* EggSeparator by Pouriya
* Navigator by keith
* StaX Twist 'n' Shake by StaX Twist 'n' Shake
* StaX Pet Feeder by Azrul Amir by Azrul Amir
Very nicely done guys!
Not on the list but this one could also easily have been a finalist: STAX Soap Dispenser Adapter by Marios Pazaitis
If Stax tubes are dishwasher friendly, then this one is such a winner.
The Ultimaker over 11 years ago
Congratulations everyone and thank you for the competition stax & grabcad.
Bryan Morris over 11 years ago
Thank you for being selected as a finalist among such great designs and ideas!
Vladimir Palffy over 11 years ago
Congratulation to all winners. Thanks for this competition, Vladimir
Tommy Mueller over 11 years ago
Quite a successful challenge! Fresh ideas and new goals.
Go get 'em Zepto!
Pouriya over 11 years ago
Congratulation to winners :)
AIT OUFKIR YASSINE over 11 years ago
Congratulation to winners
Great challenge and it was nice to see all the creativity,
Sara Sigel over 11 years ago
Winners are announced!
https://grabcad.com/challenges/stax-accessory-challenge/results
.
Thanks to everyone who participated! It was incredible to see the GrabCAD Community come alive with ideas and give such great feedback on the StaX concept. We believe these winners are the best solutions based on what StaX needs and we wanted to recognize a very full list of honorable mentions as well. StaX got AMAZING feedback from the Community - stay tuned for more from them!
Jonathan Brazeau over 11 years ago
congrats to all winners! ) love the creativity!
Jonathan Brazeau over 11 years ago
@Zack, a GC------>kickstarter model would be hyper cool and I think GC needs to run something like that at some point! But just keep in mind that you need to have a prototype to run it on KS....so if it's going to be injected molded.....could be some large upfront costs.......so break out the cardboard and resin! :P
with regards to aluminum, I know, I get it and you're right, there is a niche out there for it, but is niche going to pay the bills, you've tried it on KS, and it gave you an answer.....
Ever watch the show shark tank, or dragon's Den, if you're in Canada?? tons of people come in there with a better mouse trap but if that better mouse trap fails to generate sales, it's not a viable business item. It's just a cool thing that you built....so it depends what you want to do, do you want to have a few cool parts to impress your friends, or are you building something that people want and will generate sales. CNC is expensive man, Asia or no Asia.
I'm sure you looked into die casting, cold forging and press forming maybe.....still expensive though. I guess everyone is right though, if you IM it, you loose the novelty ). To me, KS gave you the ultimate advice, it said, "move on to another idea"...
a yes, the cold world of business and profitability. Every artist and inventors nightmare.
good talking to you by the way, bright road ahead.
Good luck guys!
Arian Shamil over 11 years ago
Congrats to all the winners and to all the entries! Great ideas! :D
mustafa zorlu over 11 years ago
awards will be given when
Sara Sigel over 11 years ago
First three places should email challenges@grabcad.com if you haven't been contacted yet. No other prizes will be given since the Kickstarter campaign wasn't fully funded. Anyone can contact that same email address with questions or concerns.
Ridwan Sept over 11 years ago
are honorable mention get the stax set??
Stephen Nyberg over 11 years ago
No Ridwan, only prizes are for the first three.
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