Bottle Opener

Day 1 (1/26/16)

Today was the first day of Engineering 160. For the majority of class, our professor taught us the fundamental ideas and principles of engineering. We discussed how to systematically come up with a solution to a problem by 1. defining the problem 2. developing concepts (brainstorming ideas) 3. designing the system 4. designing the specific details of your product and 5. testing and refining your product. We also discussed useful tools to help design your product such as brainstorming, analysis, prototyping, and experimentation. We spent a lot of time talking about effective ways to brainstorm ideas and then did a few brainstorming exercises.

Towards the end of class we started working on our bottle opener project. My project partner Vivian and I spent a few minutes brainstorming ideas for a bottle opener. Below are some pictures of the designs we came up with:

After coming up with these different ideas for bottle openers, we reviewed our designs, and decided to try making "The Egg." We drew out some new iterations of the bottle opener to come up with the best possible design. Here are a few of the adjustments we talked about:

Once we decided what design we were going to use, we created a prototypes out of cardboard and foam. These prototypes were used to make adjustments for sizing and shape.

Day 2 (1/29/16)

Today in class we discussed laser cutting and important safety procedures to keep in mind while cutting. After the brief lesson, we had time to start designing our products in SolidWorks. Vivian and I had several struggles with SolidWorks that required lots of time and help to solve. Luckily for us, we had many resources (Amy, Larry, Xi Xi) that were willing to help us and we eventually solved the problems. At the very end of class, once we finished our design, we were able to laser cut our first prototype:

Unfortunately, there were several major things wrong with it. First off, the part that connected the large circle to the small circle was too narrow. The bottle was not able to fit through it without brute force. Once we were able to get the bottle through, the opener was not successful. Several factors led to the lack of success of this bottle opener. First, because of its large width (the base in the cantilever equation) and thin thickness, this cantilever was not very strong. It would bend quite a bit when we tried to open the bottle. Second, we were not getting enough torque to open the bottle when we lifted the opener. I think this was because of our design, which made it seem like we had to change our design completely.

Day 3 (2/2/16)

Today we learned different ways to fasten objects, specifically Delrin (the material we used for the bottle openers) objects. To see more details about that, visit my "Fastening and Attaching" blog. With the extra time we had between stations, we had more time to work on our bottle openers. During this time, Vivian and I completely changed our design and started again from the beginning. We eventually came up with this new design:

We planned to make it look like a key and designed it to have a little tab on the inside of the cut-out that would catch the bottom and inside of the bottle cap. Once again, we made cardboard and foam prototypes to refine our design as much as we could:

Outside of class, we designed the product in SolidWorks:

For our final design we also included an engraving of "ENGR 160" along the ring part of the key. Once we added the engraving, we were able to laser cut our new bottle opener:

The new bottle opener, the "Engineering Key to Success," had a design that would improve the functionality of the product. Because of its thicker material and shorter width, it could withstand more force and it would have less deflection when applying the necessary force to open the bottle. Also because of its design with the tab and the ring, we were able to apply a larger torque to the bottle cap which helped us open the bottle.

Directly after laser cutting, the product was still not able to open a bottle. Unfortunately, the tab was too thick to fit underneath the bottle top, so we had to file it down:

Once we filed the tab down enough so that it could fit under the bottle, the bottle opener was successful. 

Day 4 (2/5/16)

Today was the moment of truth. At the start of class we had to present our bottle openers to the class. We explained our thought process, designs, the physics behind the bottle opener, and then tested the opener on a bottle of soda. Our "Engineering Key to Success" was a success and was able to open the bottle without problems. If we were given more time to make the bottle opener, we would change the design of the tab to make it fit under more of the bottle top and make it more efficient. We would try different shapes and sizes of the tab and maybe change the shape of the cut out as well. 

Overall, this project was very successful. Not only were Vivian and I able to create a bottle opener that worked, we also learned how to design parts in SolidWorks, how to laser cut, and we learned the basic engineering principles to create a successful product. It was a great way to begin engineering and start developing our creativity and skills.