Kitchen Sink Drain Mat

 The plastic coded wire rack in my kitchen sink has rusted through and left stains on the porcelain and told me in no uncertain terms that it was time for a replacement.  

In my 21^st Century it means asking someone the name of the object followed by a web search.  In the end I found a rubber mat at a discount store for $2.99.  ($3.25 if you add in the tax.)

Just before I put the mat in the sink I took a closer look.  It's something I've done more and more for ideas for my Engineering Drawing course.  This I imagine is similar to musicians looking for patterns and inspiration in sounds I'd never remember.  For me everyday objects get a brief consideration as a homework or exam problem.   (The latest midterm had a variant on COVID-19 icon.)

I realized that the lines of holes in the mat were not orthogonal (perpendicular to the sides), but at a slight angle.  And then there were the ridges.  Could I actually ask the students to do that in 3D, or more importantly, could I?

And with that I was off on a 2¹/₄ hour jaunt through AutoCAD land.  Here's the result:

This is the type of drawing which, in the past, I would say makes the world a safer place for democracy by keeping the students off the streets.