Product Design

The final project for my Design for Manufacturability and Assembly course was to combine two well-known, compatible products into one viable proof of concept. The project followed a typical product development timeline, starting from the ideation stage, and included modeling a design and creating a plan for production.

My team created Helmlock: a combination bicycle helmet and bicycle lock. We began by interviewing relevant stakeholders on campus to gain a better understanding of customer need. After researching system architecture for both individual products, we implemented quality function deployment to determine overall value for each component. The next step included creating a bill of materials and using it to estimate manufacturing costs at an individual and production scale. This data was then used to develop total target costs.

The final product was designed through surface modeling in SolidWorks. All parts were designed with ideal manufacturing techniques in mind, and all injection molded parts underwent SolidWorks Draft Analysis. A full fishbone diagram was developed as instruction for final assembly. Helmlock was created with teammates Nikhil Chari and Hansell Stedman.

For my Integrated Computer-Aided Design, Manufacturing & Analysis course, I implemented silicone molding and urethane casting to fabricate a case for the Raspberry Pi micro-controller. The parts were designed in SolidWorks, including an additional configuration for a negative mold. This model was partially extended to create filling holes, and was promptly 3D printed.

The 3D printed model was fitted to a MDF box to house the negative mold. A silicone mixture was measured to received maximum yield, degassed, and poured into the MDF. Once the silicone cured, the 3D printed component was removed to expose the negative mold. From there, a urethane solution was constructed and carefully poured into each of the filling holes to create a uniform wall-thickness. 

The finished part formed a robust Raspberry Pi Case. The negative mold allowed for the part to be easily reproduced and rapidly manufactured. Three different urethane solutions were used to create the three different colored cases, all yielding the same material properties. This project was designed and executed with classmate Philip Hu.

In my Integrated Computer-Aided Design, Manufacturing & Analysis course, a classmate and I developed a model of Iron Man's mask out of carbon fiber. One of my classmates and I used a carbon fiber layup to create a model of Iron Man’s mask. We designed the model of the mask using SolidWorks and used it to CAD negative mold. The negative mold was fabricated by gluing together thick sheets of medium density fiberboard and milled out using 2.5-axis machining on the CNC Prototrak. The negative was designed into a bowl configuration to be post-processed due to the internal features. We then created the composite layup out of carbon fiber into the described bowl configuration. We printed out an unrolled model of the mask on paper and attached it to the carbon fiber layup in order to cut away the facial features using a Dremel. The mask was designed and manufacturing with teammate Jeremy Wang.

In my Integrated Computer-Aided Design, Manufacturing & Analysis course, I created a piece of desk candy to learn about 3-axis machining and surface milling. I designed a replica of Thor’s hammer, the Mjolnir, encased in a bed of rocks. The design was split into three distinct parts: the handle, the head, and the rocky enclosure. The handle was fabricated by turning down a brass rod and knurled as designed. I squared and chamfered the head out of aluminum using a 2-axis CNC Prototrak mill. Lastly, I surface modeled the rocky enclosure, developed g-code using SolidCAM, and machined the part out of aluminum on the Haas CNC MiniMill. Afterwards, I milled a slot in the rocks to hold the Mjolnir using a manual mill. I used an interference fit to lock the handle into the head of the hammer. The Mjolnir is fabled to only be picked up by those deemed ‘worthy’. To demonstrate, I inserted a magnet on top of the hammer's head and another magnet in the rocks to provide resistance when attempting to pull the hammer out of the encasing.

In my Integrated Computer-Aided Design, Manufacturing & Analysis course, my team and I were tasked with designing and fabricating a chess set. We machined pieces out of both aluminum and brass rods to differentiated the two sides. I designed the pawns, queen, and king, as well as developed the g-code for each component using SolidCAM, and machined pieces on the TL-1 Haas CNC lathe. I aimed to develop pieces with an ergonomic design using a series of curves to make them easy and comfortable to grip, and worked with my teammates to create a uniform design. The chess set was created with teammates Joshua Chubb and Hansell Stedman.