Creating a roller coaster column pencil holder

Something that might not really seem fascinating are roller coaster support columns, but I can find an interesting beauty in them. At some point during the course of my work, I needed a new pencil holder for my desk. While browsing Amazon for a quick and cheap replacement, the thought came to my mind about how cool it would be to have a roller coaster support column as a pencil holder. I did a bit of searching, but couldn’t find anything, so I only had one option; create my own.

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Design

I decided upon what I would consider a “classic” (if that even is a thing) style for the column. A simple flange with stiffeners round about the base of the column. I also figured that the column needed to be anchored to a concrete pad for a prototypical look and feel.

The pencil holder was designed in Fusion. The dimensions were based off of round pencil holders that I found online. They all fall into a similar size range so that made it easy. Fusion has a decent rendering engine, so I was able to get a good idea of what the pencil holder would look like once built.

Img. 3 - A close up rendering of the pencil holder base.

Once I was settled on my design, I printed out both the column and the base to do a test fit and make sure everything interfaced together and the holes were properly sized for the hardware. I’m happy to say that everything fit on the first try, which is quite remarkable, because projects don’t usually go this well for me. I suppose I’m not the only one who experiences this, but I digress.

Manufacture

When I had set out to make this, I wasn’t exactly sure how I was going to create the pencil holder. I knew that 3D printing was going to play a role, but I wasn’t settled on that being the sole part of the production process. I had done some research on mold making and figured this would be the perfect item to experiment with that discipline. I took the sample that I had 3D printed for test fitting the pieces together and brought it to my local Reynolds store. I showed the store clerk my model and got a crash course on how I might design a mold to fit this particular object. I got saddled up with a couple sample kits of silicone, urethane and some pigments and headed back home.

Img. 6 - Both the pencil holder cup and base were resin 3D printed on a Halot Mage.

Unfortunately, I didn’t take any pictures of the mold-making process. Perhaps at a later point when I make one of these again, I’ll document that and update this article. But alas, I first 3D printed my master objects from which the molds would be made. I chose resin printing for its high resolution layers and quality of print. I still had to do a fair amount of post processing to get a smooth and shiny finish, but I find this significantly easier with resin rather than filament.

Img. 7 - Post processing involved expoxy filler, lots of sanding, and gloss clear coat

For the base, I wanted to capture the grit and weight of a concrete footing that columns are attached to. I had some some concrete patch lying around from a leftover home project, so I mixed some of that in with the urethane resin at the time of casting. This gave the base a good amount of weight and tangible concrete texture.

Finished Product

The final outcome was much better than I had expected and much closer to my rendering than I ever thought it would be. This was the first time I’ve ever attempted casting, and despite the challenges, I’m sold on using this method for future projects. If I plan on doing a small batch run, casting will allow me to knockout several great looking pieces, with only the invested time up front to prep the mold master properly. This piece has earned a spot on my desk and has got me brainstorming about what other bespoke office items I can make with an attraction flair to them.