In 1986, San Francisco based Joseph Enterprises introduced The Clapper. Suddenly, any consumer willing to shell out a few bucks could control their household lights with a couple claps of their hands. The Clapper was featured on late night infomercials for decades, and the phrase “Clap On, Clap Off” was embedded into the books of marketing history. During that timespan, however, not much has truly upgraded the way we control our most used, yet most under-appreciated household appliance.
That was until Atif Noori and the team at Emberlight decided to completely alter the way we control household lighting. Their goal: to enable full control of at-home lighting via WIFI and smart phones. This was still an idea when we spoke with them in April. Due to our prior relationship with Atif, a MadeSolid Advisor, we were more than happy to help when it came time to prototype the light housing.
Holding the Idea in Your Hand
Will Kasten, MadeSolid’s in-house designer, worked with Atif to design the original smart light housing using Autodesk Inventor. The goal of the original prototype was to leave room for the functional components, such as the PCB. After the prototype design was agreed on, Will printed the model in MadeSolid PET+ material using an Ultimaker 2 Printer. This gave Atif a functional prototype he could take back to his team for testing. Since the PET+ has flexible strength, the Emberlight team didn’t have to worry about breaking the print while they were still figuring out how all the components would integrate.
Printing Functional Prototypes
Before long, Atif returned with an upgraded design and a goal to take the next step in prototyping. They really wanted the housing to have a finished-product look so they could show the prototypes to partners, investors, and potentially launch the product on Kickstarter. Will and Atif agreed that the smooth surface-finish and detail of the MS Resin would prove to be an appropriate material. Will printed a few housings in MS Resin using a Form1 Printer and presented them to Emberlight. With a bit of sanding and painting, Emberlight had an aesthetic prototype that looked anything but 3D printed.
Kickstarting the Dream
With interest brewing around the technology, Emberlight decided to launch a Kickstarter to bring their smart light to the masses. That Kickstarter just went live today! [Check them out here!]
The Emberlight team will likely move on to injection molding for the final housing, especially as the number of units they sell increases. But, the team at MadeSolid was happy to be a part of their journey, as well as to be supporters of the Emberlight Kickstarter!
If you are working on any projects and you feel that a MadeSolid material would help take it to the next level, feel free to reach out to us!
The post Light It Up: How Emberlight Used 3D Printing to Advance Household Lighting appeared first on MadeSolid.