Final Project: Window Cat Bed
For my final project of IDEA, I wanted to make something that my cats could use, so I settled on the idea of making a cat bed that attached to a window. The project had to be made of reused stuff, or stuff that we made using the machines, so I found some wood, an old litterbox tray, towels, shoelaces, and some suction cups. I would make a frame out of the wood, and attach the litterbox on top, and then sew the towels together and put them in the tray. The shoelaces would be attached to 3-D printed hooks, and then to the suction cups.
I first started by digging around in my house for supplies. After finding wood I could use, I took it to the Woods shop to get it cut to the exact lengths. I also made the hooks in Inventor, and 3-D printed them using Makerbot. I made 6 extra hooks, because I wasn't sure on how many I would need. Using the vinyl cutter, I made cat decals to go on the sides of the litterbox.
I drilled and screwed together the six pieces to make the frame. I then moved to working on the vinyl decals, adding tape and then attaching the cats to the litterbox tray. After sticking on the decals, I began to drill holes into the litterbox to attach the 3-D printed hooks. Taking the shoelaces, I made them into the supports that could be hooked onto the suction cups and the body of the bed by the hooks. Taking some old towels, I sewed them together to form small pillow that the cats could lay on.
I really liked how the final project turned out. Jika, one of my cats, seems to find it nice to sit in to. If I had to change one thing, I would make the shoe laces longer to that they aren't in the way, and less likely to get chewed on.