After our abrupt change in product and design last week, we used the time between classes to rethink and design our door stopper in order to have a prototype ready for print by this week’s session. After debating several designs of various operations and complexities, we settled upon a simple sliding motion. Although the majority of the session was waiting for it to print (we elected to print the prototype as a scaled down version in light density to be economical with resources), we were able to execute several tests once the printing and assembly process was complete.
We used the doors in the lab, as they are relatively heavy and have a tendency to slam; they also are auto-locking, and therefore would be one example of a place in which our product would be put to use. Since we have not yet decided upon the best way to fix our door stopper to said door, I held it against the door for each of the trials, attempting not to interfere too much with the velocity of the door. Despite its lesser size and low density, our design held up quite well. Ben wanted to test how much pressure it could withstand, so he began to place more and more pressure on the door – moral of the story: our door stop cannot withstand Ben Chin’s entire body weight being thrown against the door.
Moving forward, we plan on printing our door stop on a larger scale (about 2x larger) to spread pressure out and prevent snapping from a concentrated pressure point. Furthermore, we are going to add a piece in order to prevent the sliding piece from sliding entirely out of the bracket, as was possible in the original prototype (this could result in loss of the sliding piece, as it is not fixed to the rest of the product.) We are excited about this next edition, and hope that it will prove a solid base for our final product.