Do you have a bathroom towel radiator and always struggle to hang multiple towels on it? Do you need a fast and permanent solution? I will show you how to design a simple hook for it in 5 minutes in a free design tool FreeCAD. I will also reveal a trick for faster sketching. Coming up!
See the video about it on YouTube!
INTRO
I have a towel radiator in my bathroom. We are a family of four plus one small and naughty beagle. We always struggle to hang the towels. There is a small gap towards the wall and the towels overlap which lengthens drying a bit. As a handy man, I came up with the solution! I made towel radiator hooks. It’s a simple and fun few minutes project. You only need a vernier caliper.
MEASUREMENTS
Before the actual design in FreeCAD, we have to do some measurements. We need the info about the diameter of rods and the distance between rods. In my case the rod diameter is 20mm and so is the distance between rods.
I have already drawn the hook, and I will let it print during this video. I selected 20% infill and 0.3mm layer height for fast print.
FREECAD DRAWING
Let’s start designing from scratch in FreeCAD. I use 0.16 version.
Go to PART DESIGN section. Create new empty document. Select CREATE NEW SKETCH, leave X-Y plane, click OK. We will use a POLYLINE tool for drawing. Select it. Let’s start drawing at the top. Draw a straight line. Be sure the horizontal line appears before making the next point. It will save your time. Next press “M” key several times to select an arc. Continue drawing horizontal line by pressing “M” key several times again. “M” key will be used in every step. Next is vertical line. End it on Y axis starting point, so you will not have to coincide it afterwards. Draw an arc. End it on Y axis offset zero. Draw the arc backwards. End it on Y0 again. It turns yellow when over it. Draw inwards arc. Then horizontal line. End sketching at the starting point.
Now we just have to coincide missed parts and define dimensions. Press escape to disable polyline tool. Click oblique line. Verticalize it. Set its length to 40mm. Top left line to 5mm. Make the arcs’ orientation horizontal. Top right line will be 5mm in length. Arc radius 10mm. Let’s make it eyes friendly. The sketch got ugly as the lower arc is not yet set. Let’s coincide the arcs’ middle to zero coordinate first. Then set the radius to 10mm. Now set upper arcs’ middle to Y axis by fixing it to the axis. Much better! We have only the lever left. Coincide both arcs and then fix them to axis. Set inner arc radius to 10mm.
We have some redundant constraints. Let’s remove them. Select each of them and press “del” key. Mind the numbers changing.
If we want to spare some 3D printing filament, we just have to draw a hole in the middle. Let’s define radius to 4mm. It can be even larger. Define it to 5mm. Much better. Now just define Y offset. Let’s center it. Enter 20mm. Nice looking sketch! It is fully constrained. Close it. Now use PAD tool. 5mm thickness is enough.
Let’s see it. The towel lever is a bit sharp. Select the face. Use Fillet tool to round it off. See it changing. Press OK. Select Fillet and export it to STL file. Ctrl+E is the shortcut.
INSTALLATION
The installation is simple. Just slide it in. Towels are hung faster and they dry at the same pace.
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Well, inbetween, the print has finished. Let it cool down for a moment. It surely isn’t the best looking print, but I chose fast versus precise print.
ABOUT
We will see how to make a simple bathroom towel radiator hook / hanger for easy and fast towel hanging. I will show you what measurements to take and design it in FreeCAD with polyline tool. I will reveal a trick for faster sketching in FreeCAD. It is a few minutes project. Meanwhile the 3D printer will print one – 3D printer in action, 3D printer time lapse.
It’s a FreeCAD tutorial / FreeCAD tutorials for beginners. See my other videos about useful 3D prints and FreeCAD.
STL files can be found on my homepage (http://www.rodic.si) or on Thingiverse.com.
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LINKS:
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FreeCAD: https://www.freecadweb.org/
STL MODEL
Songs in the background: Topher Mohr and Alex Elena – Where I am From, Albis – New Land, YouTube Audio Library.