Reverse design and additive manufacturing of furniture protective foot covers

Abstract

Reverse design and additive manufacturing technologies are fast ways to develop customised products. In this study, furniture protective foot covers were taken as the design object. Using flexible filaments of polylactic acid (PLA) and the development process of reverse design to additive manufacturing, the protective foot covers were designed and manufactured to fit the shape of the chair feet. Furniture protective foot covers have high practical value. They have a certain buffering effect, avoiding the damage caused by the collision of furniture feet with the ground when moving furniture; secondly, they reduce the noise generated by the collision of furniture feet with the ground, creating a quiet and comfortable home environment. According to the finite element simulation results, the maximum stress value of the European-style chair installed with protective foot covers was decreased by 90.8% in the case of vertical fall, which verifies that the protective foot covers have an obvious buffering effect. Noise test results show that the noise of the European-style chair installed with protective foot covers was decreased by 51.0%, which verifies that the protective foot covers have an obvious quieting effect.