In Monday’s class, we confronted a number of challenges that we are currently facing in designing our bike blender. Our current areas of concern are in obtaining the correct materials for the blender apparatus as well as designing an effective stand. In terms of our stand, we would like to strike a balance between strength and simplicity. While we like the stability of Jodie Wu’s design, we want to reduce the number of parts that each joint requires. We also collected a number of wheel axles for our blender apparatus and attempted to disassemble them (in order to better understand the inner parts), which proved to be quite a challenge without the correct wrenches. We realized that in order to move forward with the construction of the bike blender, it would be really useful to have a bike toolkit so that we can take apart the wheel axle, remove the parts, and obtain the nuts and bolts that would have the most utility for our apparatus (we need a longer bolt so that we can attach the rubber wheel that will spin with the bike wheel).
We were also able to communicate with a Grupo Fenix representative on Monday. After our discussion, we were able to obtain images of the bike blender that is currently implemented in Nicaragua. The images of the current bicycle stand reveal that the stand is permanently fixed to the bicycle with screws attaching the stand to the frame of the bicycle. It appears that the screws are necessary to stabilize the bicycle and make it safe for someone to ride it while it is stationary. After seeing these images, the problem with the current design is much clearer. We need to design a stand that can be easily removed from the bicycle, but is still safe and stable for stationary riding.
No comments:
Post a Comment