Drink Floater

I created this project for the MakeItFloat Challenge and I wanted something that was useful beyond just the challenge. One thing I wanted was a way to carry drink in my pool, so to keep in spirit of the challenge my main focus to was carry as much coins as possible, since if I can carry a heavy load of metal, carrying liquids afterwards would work out.

Did some research on how things float and how various things work, like a boats, barges, pontoons, etc. The biggest factor I learned was center of gravity and weight needs to be distributed. Then I learned how a ballast tank is used to help balance a boat on water.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballast_tank

The picture in the wiki page is what sparked the idea of making a cup holder that floats in my pool. Having the cup mostly submerged filled with cargo (coins, drinks, etc) will lower the center of gravity which should help with stability. From there I thought about giving the cup some kind of floaties to help keep it above water and add more balance.

Long story short I came up with a design using a honeycomb layout. The cup ring can have up to 6 pontoons connected to it. At first I tried creating the pontoons with 15% infill, so that I can trap alot of air inside, but it didn't help too much since it added weight to it. Second version of the pontoons were hollow and had a cap to trap more air while leaving out some of the weight.

The pontoons are the big piece of the design. it can connect to the ring and other pontoons, thus creating a modular system in which to create a floating structure. Stacking pontoons together add extra trapped air that can help add upward force while the cargo is applying a downward force since its heavier then water.

In the final design I added holes to the ring that allows me to add pegs that can hold a net. So instead of just holding solo cups, I can carry other things like cans of beer or bottles of water.

So with keeping with the rules of the challenge, using the ballast design and the pontoons I created something that floats. By making it modular I am able to print extra parts to allow the structure to expand and in doing so carry more coins, as many coins you need. For me with 6 pontoons and one cup I was able to handle a max load of 1.2lbs of coins.

In the end, you have a pretty versatile set of pieces that can be used to create a custom floating structure. It can be extended by using the peg holes or the slide rails. One such idea is to create a pontoon part that has a motor that can allow the structure to move. Can probable use the peg holes to add some rods to add a sail to the structure instead. Hell, you might have some other ideas I haven't even thought of by using theses.