In the world of business cards, it seems that for some people a white rectangle of card just doesn’t cut it any more. A card isn’t simply a means to display your contact details, instead it can be a way to show off your work and demonstrate to the world your capabilities. For [agepbiz] those are the skills of a 3D design specialist, so what better way to proceed than by distributing a 3D-printed example of his work? How to render that into a business card? Put it in a retail-style blister pack, of course. Take a look at the video below the break.
It’s an interesting process to follow, because there are certainly readers who will have toyed with the idea of selling their work, and this makes an attractive way to display a small assembly while still keeping it safe from damage. The toy – a small 3D-printed jet fighter with working swing wings that’s a masterpiece in itself – is laid on a backing card and a custom blister is glued over it. The manufacture of the printed backing card with a CNC card cutter is shown, followed by that of the blister with a custom SLA-printed mould being used to vacuum-form a sheet of clear plastic. Surprisingly the whole is assembled with just a glue stick, we’d have expected something with a bit more grab. The result is a professional-looking blister packed product of the type you wouldn’t bat an eyelid over if you saw it in a shop, and one of those things that it’s very useful to have some insight into how one might be made..
It’s possible this card might be a little bulky to slip in your wallet, but it’s hardly the only novelty card we’ve brought you over the years. Some of our most recent favourites run Linux or play Tetris.
If you designed the card from scratch, you know the dimension of it and where the cut lines need to be. Taking a photo of the printed cards and determining cut lines from that seems like an extra step when you could just draw a simple DXF as you design it.
Maybe I’m missing something, the photo step just seemed like an unnecessary complication.
The photo was to have the printout positionally referenced to the plate that goes through the plotter/cutter
Oh I see, that’s a pretty cool feature actually! You learn something new every day
It took watching that part of the video about a dozen times before I realized why he was doing that! As soon as I did, I was like “Oh dang… now I have another tool I want to buy!”
Reminds me of the ‘contact cards’ from ‘Ready Player One’ nicely done!!
It might standout at first. If it doesn’t fit in the same box that the recipient keeps the rest of his/her contacts, it might get lost. Same with the usual circuit cards business card that might get damaged – parts rubbed off, ESD etc.
All it has to do is “stand out at first”.
Remove blister dome, play with toy, file now-flattened card. Simple.
How do you trigger the Pym particles to get it back to full size?
But anyhoo, time to put all these fancy business card ideas into one… micro drone, with FPV controller on card running linux.
+1
Love it! And it really highlights the time and effort required to make something appear (or in this case actually be) a full end product. Hacking something together is great too, but taking an idea straight through to basically a consumer ready product is another level entirely of refinement, effort and attention to detail.
I am pretty sure I would just toss it out. I don’t like blister packaging and I would not enjoy separating the card from it. Sticking your name on something useful is a much better idea.
How about one of those blisters with folded edges so there is no adhesive? Then there is no problem separating the card from the blister. By contrast I really like the idea of including a sample of your product with your business card. Putting your name on something useful is not helpful because the item will probably not fit in a rolodex the way a business card does.
I would give a card as well, but all things being equal, I would just assume that my name be on something they handle or use a lot or want to show other people. Everybody winds up in the rolodex. I wanna wind up next to it, with my name sticking out.
The other thing about hiring, and a lot depends on the job, but I tend to not to want to waste a lot of time so I tend to use the pile from the most recent person back, not the other way round. Once I get to the pile that is.
As with everything YMMV.
Wow – that’s pretty impressive. Nice work!
It makes sense for surface finish reasons, but I was still tickled by the maker using an FDM printer for the intricate tiny plane, and a resin printer for the simple block buck. Really fun project and nice video!
I feel like the “business card” is not really the product. Its the draw. They want you to watch the video so they can show off their toys/ small scale production/ prototype capabilities.
a cutout in the front cards would make it possible to mount the blister inbetween.
A nice project anyway, a buisness card that would be hanging in front of me all the time at the desk.
Super impressive results, looking forward for tips how to do this in my kitchen with ‘only’ a gas stove, fridge, oven and sharp knives.
Find old model aircraft books with a section on making canopies and/or cowlings. Kind of a hole and plug method of vacuum forming without a vacuum. That’s the bubble for the bubble pack part.