Fast prototyping in action - 24 hours between the idea and the product

We found this rotating plate in the cupboard. We throwed the microwave oven out years ago, but for whatever reason we kept the glass rotating plate. When we tried to figure out what should we do with it the idea came: we should turn it into a cake plate!

When we tried to find some inspiration for the design we bumped into an article about modern architectures. The North Transept Window of the Lincoln Cathedral caught our eyes. That's almost perfect for our purpose. We just had to change the middle, because there are three handles on the bottom of the rotating plate, so the center should have three big holes instead of four.

We used our JavaSCAD framework to create the model. Within an hour the model was ready - and what a model: it doesn't contain a straight line! Just cylinders and rings...

The printing itself was tricky, because this is the biggest print we printed with our new printer so far. And it barely fit - the head almost touched the sides on both side. The printed part is 16 centimeters (about 6.3 inches) in diameter, which is way under the theoretical maximum of 20 centimeters (about 7.8 inches) of the printer, but it seems the 20 centimeter maximum is really just a theory. Apart from that the print went without any problem, but took more than eight hours.