Wave 

Wave was created as part of the triannual bottle opener challenge for ME 318, Computer-Aided Product Creation. The prompt for Winter 2020 was “author”, and so I created a design based on Rick Riordan and his book series Percy Jackson & the Olympians. The inspiration for this bottle opener came from the series titular character, Percy Jackson, who was the son of the sea god Poseidon. I wanted to create a bottle opener that Percy would be proud to own, with a design that was simple and yet clearly was made for the character. Through my design process, I ended up choosing a spire shell design for the body with lines of the surface to symbolize the turbulent waves of a stormy sea. To take my design a step further I hollowed out the inside of the opener so that it could be filled with water so that Percy could be close to the ocean no matter where he was. 

I machined all of the parts on a Haas CNC mill. The body was made from clear acrylic to give the opener a more water-like appearance. To make the opener hollow I made the body out of two pieces and used acrylic glue to bind them together. For the head of the opener, I used stainless steel to ensure that it would be able to open bottles. I tested out the shape of the head pre-machining by laser cutting a prototype and testing it on a bottle. Once I had assembled Wave I filled the inside with blue water to give the illusion of waves on the ocean.