Tape Dispenser Design Project
The Project:
The goal of this project was to design an aesthetically pleasing device that will dispense cellophane tape that sits on a desktop. The basic criteria were that the design must be able to repeatedly dispense tape when provided with a roll, regardless of who uses it, meaning that the device must be clearly understandable by the user. The allowed materials for the project were three metal coat hangers, one piece of a saw blade to make a cutting component, hot glue and masking tape to be used as fasteners.
The Design:
Four designs were created to meet these criteria. The first design was similar in appearance to a normal tape dispenser, it was a wedge shaped, 'wire skeleton' design, with a removable axle for a roll of tape to be placed around, and the blade component at the opposite end. The second design was a more compact (shown above), box shape, with the same removable axle design. The third design was the most imaginative, it was shaped like an egyptian obelisk (for reference, the George Washington memorial), the axle being near it's base, with the blade at it's peak. The fourth design was also unique. Essentially, the axle pointed skyward, instead of the normal side-to-side orientation. The roll of tape would lie on it's side , surrounded by a cylindrical frame, designed to surround the roll's exact dimensions, one quarter of the cylinder' circumference was removed, making a "c" shape, with the blade attached to one of the edges of the "c". The second design was chosen for construction because of it's simplicity, and easy construction compared to the others. One of the flaws of this design was that , because the blade was higher that the axle, when a piece of tape was supposed to be removed, one pulled the tape roll upwards, which pulled the axle out of place instead of peeling tape off of the roll. This flaw was eliminated by moving the blade downwards on the front plane of the box, from the corners, to about the middle, this can be seen in the picture above, where the top left corner of the box met is where the blade initially rested, where it is located now is the final design.
The design was constructed by cutting the wire hanger into different pieces, with measurements taken for the sketches, then, those pieces would be bended to take the shape that they needed to have. For example, the "back piece" was cut to the length of 12 inches, then bended into a 90 degree angle every three inches, creating a square, then, the ends of the piece were hot glued together where they met, to complete the shape.
The Results:
The design met all the criteria, and received full credit for the function-based grade. The aesthetic grade was based on, as on earlier projects, a vote, however, for this project, the functionality of the design was also taken into account. In addition, the students in this class were also allowed to vote on the designs. For the aesthetic grade, this project received 33 out of the possible 45 points, and received no votes. The total grade for this project was 87 out of a possible 100 points.
Experience, what was learned:
For this project, another lesson was learned about the use of tools and how to use them. There were two ways to cut the wire segments: a wire cutter could be used, or, a saw could be used. The sire cutter was quicker, but the saw made a cleaner, less sharp cut. The saw proved to be the better tool to use for the project because of the many exposed cuts on the design. Another experience to be taken away was with the use of the hot glue gun. It was difficult to adhere the wire pieces together where they met at a point, and the process used excess amounts of glue.
The goal of this project was to design an aesthetically pleasing device that will dispense cellophane tape that sits on a desktop. The basic criteria were that the design must be able to repeatedly dispense tape when provided with a roll, regardless of who uses it, meaning that the device must be clearly understandable by the user. The allowed materials for the project were three metal coat hangers, one piece of a saw blade to make a cutting component, hot glue and masking tape to be used as fasteners.
The Design:
Four designs were created to meet these criteria. The first design was similar in appearance to a normal tape dispenser, it was a wedge shaped, 'wire skeleton' design, with a removable axle for a roll of tape to be placed around, and the blade component at the opposite end. The second design was a more compact (shown above), box shape, with the same removable axle design. The third design was the most imaginative, it was shaped like an egyptian obelisk (for reference, the George Washington memorial), the axle being near it's base, with the blade at it's peak. The fourth design was also unique. Essentially, the axle pointed skyward, instead of the normal side-to-side orientation. The roll of tape would lie on it's side , surrounded by a cylindrical frame, designed to surround the roll's exact dimensions, one quarter of the cylinder' circumference was removed, making a "c" shape, with the blade attached to one of the edges of the "c". The second design was chosen for construction because of it's simplicity, and easy construction compared to the others. One of the flaws of this design was that , because the blade was higher that the axle, when a piece of tape was supposed to be removed, one pulled the tape roll upwards, which pulled the axle out of place instead of peeling tape off of the roll. This flaw was eliminated by moving the blade downwards on the front plane of the box, from the corners, to about the middle, this can be seen in the picture above, where the top left corner of the box met is where the blade initially rested, where it is located now is the final design.
The design was constructed by cutting the wire hanger into different pieces, with measurements taken for the sketches, then, those pieces would be bended to take the shape that they needed to have. For example, the "back piece" was cut to the length of 12 inches, then bended into a 90 degree angle every three inches, creating a square, then, the ends of the piece were hot glued together where they met, to complete the shape.
The Results:
The design met all the criteria, and received full credit for the function-based grade. The aesthetic grade was based on, as on earlier projects, a vote, however, for this project, the functionality of the design was also taken into account. In addition, the students in this class were also allowed to vote on the designs. For the aesthetic grade, this project received 33 out of the possible 45 points, and received no votes. The total grade for this project was 87 out of a possible 100 points.
Experience, what was learned:
For this project, another lesson was learned about the use of tools and how to use them. There were two ways to cut the wire segments: a wire cutter could be used, or, a saw could be used. The sire cutter was quicker, but the saw made a cleaner, less sharp cut. The saw proved to be the better tool to use for the project because of the many exposed cuts on the design. Another experience to be taken away was with the use of the hot glue gun. It was difficult to adhere the wire pieces together where they met at a point, and the process used excess amounts of glue.