A worn-out pot in need of new handles became the perfect opportunity to practice my skills as an industrial designer; problem solving, design, modeling, and production.
The pot’s handle attachment points were carefully noted and used to determine the most functional and ergonomic solution. With the help of 3D-printing via 3D Hubs, I was able to produce the handles quickly and cost-effectively. It was important that the handles matched the existing knob located on the lid. To accomplish this the printed handles were sanded smooth and put through a simple process called vapor smoothing. For this process acetone vapor condenses on and reacts with the surface of the ABS parts. The result is a smooth and glossy surface very similar to what you’d expect from an injection-molded part.
Thank you! The handles had already been broken for many years so I had never even seen them before. I ended up basing the handles on design cues from the handle/knob on the pot lid.
Thanks! The handles should do just fine against heat and everything. With a glass transition phase of around 150°C ABS plastics do pretty well against heat compared to other printable plastics such as PLA. ABS plastics are used for a variety of applications such as helmets, car parts, and Lego to name a few.
Nicely made! We really love your project and the fact that you preferred to fix it than throw it away. Please let us know if you make your model available for download. We would like to 3D-print a sample - obviously with attribution to you.
Typically the glass transition for ABS is 105C, not 150C. This seems to me to be well within common temperatures of surface stove use and well above common temperatures inside an oven.
It can probably handle 105C just fine but by 120C the handles will probably be as soft as clay. Maybe this is good enough for boiling things - I’m not sure.
Yeah sorry about that, typo! It’s definitely 105C. I hope they withstand stove use, in testing right now time will tell. I probably should have used sintered nylon but I wanted to try out the vapor smoothing.
