This project was created as a part of Carnegie Mellon's DIY Design and Manufacturing course in Spring 2023. The goal of the project was to test our ability to rapidly design, iterate, and manufacture a product that meet a theoretical clients needs. We were given 2 weeks to complete this project where we had to design and make a product for one of 2 different example companies each with their own design criteria and goals. The overarching theme was to create an apparatus that interacted directly with an object on our desk. The example company I went with was ShiModern Mounts . The main requirement for this this company was a product that had at least one degree of freedom.
I started my design process by first drawing many sketches of different designs for each of the different example companies. I then further refined one of my sketches making sure to including arrows and hands to help better explain how I imagine the product could be adjusted. I decided on a height adjustable headphone stand. I decided on making this as my product since I have a nice pair of headphones and have been looking for a way to hang them on my desk instead of just laying them on the desk where they could get damaged.
With my design concept selected I set about taking accurate measurements of the headphones I would be putting on the stand and then designing the parts in CAD.
I had decided the create the main body of my part out of 1/8" laser cut acrylic. I choose this material because I had previous experience with it as well as it being relatively cheap and easy to work with for my geometric design. I went through a few iterations on in CAD making sure that everything was properly space for my material thickness.
With my design completed in CAD I was now ready to manufacture my final product. Because the thickness of the acrylic was critical in making sure the tube on my design would fit together I first found cardboard that was the same thickness as that of my acrylic. I then laser cut out all the important pieces of my design and test fitted them to make sure my dimensions were correct. I was able then to make some slight tweaks to my dimensions to account for the lasers variability before cutting out and assembling my final product.
I had 2 key measures of success that my design had to fulfill for my selected company:
The product must support some desktop accessory in a sleek and intuitive way
Your apparatus must be adjustable with at least one-degree-of freedom
The easiest of these 2 criteria is the second one. With my design the height of the stand could be easily adjusted and secured in place with the thumb screw. The other design criteria is much more subjective, but out of the 10 different people I asked all of them said that it fit in well on my desk.
In conclusion I was able to create a product that successfully met both of the major design requirements. This product was able to be adjusted while also fitting in well on my desk and being a functional desk accessory.
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