Phantom 1 Basketball Shoe
January 2021-May 2021
Project Statement
In the past, I was satisfied consuming designs from others. Now that my skills have grown, I want to create. I want people to ask “where did you get those shoes” while I’m giving out buckets and I want to amaze them when I say I created them. For my project I am building upon my 4th year capstone project. Initially, I wanted to recreate an iconic shoe, but the class convinced me to try designing my own. I’ve worked on devices and modifications but never had to focus on both utility and looks. I must inspect what specs I want in a shoe and apply them since this shoe is solely designed for me.
Materials List:
Mesh for tongue
Leather, two sides, uncolored veg tan or chrome tan
Leather strips or jersey stripes
Rubber sole somehow tires?
Thread,
laces
Cork?
3D printer filaments (PEBAX and semiflex)
Shoe glue
Above, I laid out a few examples of the sketches I drew and how I wanted to define my shoe. At first I wanted to create an automatic lacing mechanism similar to the Nike Mag and BB technology. I moved away from that idea since I didn't have enough time to do R&D for the mechanism. Instead, I moved to different ways to tighten the shoe without laces. Ultimately, for the scope and time of the project, I went with laces as a temporary feature to be replaced in further iterations of the shoe.
Designing the shoe was a challenge two-dimensionally but cutting the leather and 3D printing parts was comfortable. Putting everything together has been so challenging and has tested my patience. Seeing everything come together has been exhilarating
The base of the shoe was entirely 3D printed with the midsole cushion being modeled as a drop-in printed with PEBAX filament for increased flexiblity and compression. I was really curious how the PEBAX filament would feel and I was surpised the comfort was better than the other filaments I could've used. The Outsole was printed in Semiflex since the shore hardness was higher which would be better for durability. For a basketball shoe, I needed traction but I honestly didn't know what metric was used for grip and which materials would have the best traction. 3D printing went well until it didn't. The Semiflex stuck too well to the TAZ 6 print plate and I broke it. Luckily, we were able to remove it safely and weaken the chemical bond with acetone nail polish remover. After that I used masking tape to safely remove flexible filaments from the print bed.
The leather arrived and it was much tougher than I had expected and sewing it together proved to be a tough task. The sewing machines we had in the Fabrication Lab were not strong enough to really puncture the leather. I also did not account for the bunching and inflexibility of the material. I have done sewing in the past but the lighter and more flexible fabrics I used hid my mistakes well. I have so much space to grow in this realm of creation but I had lots of fun! I used a darting technique to reduce the stress and bunching and used the thickness of the leather to my advantage. I had the outward force of the drop-in midsole keeping the upper in place and glued to the outsole.
Looking forward, I want to make a more refined pair with a grippier outsole. Currently, Semiflex is more rigid than I expected and it does not grip as well as I want from a performance shoe. I placed support in the proper areas and ventilation where I could, but ultimately the final result was a basketball inspired sneaker