Tennis Ball Holder - for slitting balls

thingiverse

After discovering someone's struggle with slitting tennis balls for walkers, I realized that a simple holder could greatly simplify this process and reduce the risk of injury. To achieve this, I designed a basic 3D printable holder that incorporates rubber bands to secure the ball while it is being slit using a box cutter or razor knife. I looked into purchasing commercial versions, but they came with hefty price tags (> $100), which led me to explore alternative uses for the device. As it turns out, teachers have successfully employed similar slit tennis balls under student desks to minimize classroom noise. This raises questions about potential other uses for this invention. Although my initial OpenSCAD design leaves much to be desired, users should be able to modify the variables below to suit their needs: The project consists of two main components: the upper holder and the lower holder. To create the lower holder, printing it with low infill is sufficient, whereas the upper holder demands more perimeters in its knife slot area for robustness. Note that this design has not yet been tested, and a potential improvement exists based on whether the person it was created for owns a vice.