Our Design Team Has Redesigned the Combination Square and Scribe. the Main Reason Why We

Abstract

Our design team has redesigned the combination square and scribe. The main reason why we thought it would be a good idea to do this is because how inefficient this tool was in our lab. So our thought process was let’s design something that is more efficient for everyone to use. Now our new product is more efficient compare to the previous tools for a few reasons. The first reason is that our new tool is capable of smoothly scribing lines at angles. The second is that our product is longer than the original so you will be able to scribe larger pieces of metal.

Needs Assessment

Our group came up with a needs assessment in order to obtain information about how and why it would be an improvement upon the previous design. The main thing that helped us obtain this information was an Ishikawa diagram. We constructed an Ishikawa diagram in order to assess the needs of four major subjects. The first is people and it helps us with the interaction between the user and the new product. The second topic is materials and it simply describes what the tool is made of, and helps us make it as durable and cheap as possible to construct. The third topic is machine which tells us how our product will be constructed and with what tools. The last subject is procedure, and this is easily describes as how the product is used.

Methodology

As with any design process, there are many different sections, tasks, and subgroups that all contribute to the final product. At the start of our project we organized our tasks and methods in a way that would allow us to complete everything we needed to by staying on schedule and recording all our actions in our engineering notebook. The first task was to come up with our design idea, which we did by analyzing the tasks performed in Manufacturing 195 and thinking about possible solutions to the problems which we came upon. After deciding on a concept, we came up with several possible design ideas and produced rough sketches of each. One design stood out as one that could work very well so over the next week, the sketches were improved and became more detailed until we reached our current product. Our next step was to discuss the materials used and in that process, we talked about how they would affect the performance. Our main goals were to achieve a long lasting and durable tool that would still be manageable and lightweight.
The next task for our group was to show our material in an organized and professional manner to be submitted and presented to our peers. Our solution to this was to take our engineer’s notebook and our AutoCAD images and turn them into a power point presentation. This allows us to have large, visible bulleted points for the viewers to see as we give more in depth analysis on each topic. Our final step was to take any questions and comments we received about our product and adjust some of the places that need change.

Abstraction/Synthesis

Our product is not a redesign of a current product, but rather a redesign of a current concept. We chose to take the current, three tool method of scribing and punching and combined it into one multipurpose tool. Our product achieves the following tasks.

Easy to use
Durable
Quick and efficient
Variable

Alternate Solutions

The current solution for the task of scratching lines on sheet metal is to have a combination square used with a scribe and holes are made using a punch and a hammer. This is very time consuming having so many different tools and it makes the user’s task difficult and inefficient. Our solution is revolutionary and new because it combines all these tasks into one easy to use tool that will change the way lines are scribed forever.

Background

When dealing with scribing lines on sheet metal as we do in shop, one great problem arises, actually scratching the lines onto the sheet metal. All we are given to create these lines is a scratcher and a combination square. The first problem that comes up with the use of this combination is that you are dealing with two different pieces. With only two hands and a total of three things you have to hold it can get really tricky. A weird grip has to be applied to both the combination square and the sheet metal with one hand to even make this scratch possible. Then after it’s finally all set up, you can only scratch a line that’s one inch long at a time due to the width of the ruler and so you must repeat this process many times until you get a full line across your piece of sheet metal. Now say you need to scribe at an angle that’s not 45º, you cannot do this with a combination square accurately. You would need to measure out lines, mark them, do some math, and only then could a correct angle be found.

Design Solution

Our final design solution calls for a mixing of everything regarding sheet metal that would could possibly think of. We felt this was necessary because it just makes the whole process have a lot less materials around you to keep picking up. First is the combining of the measuring and scratching device. Along the measuring device is a sliding scratcher that goes all the way to the end of the ruler, scratching ‘vertically’. Also, because of how the sheet metal gets held in place due to the overlap, a scratch can also be applied moving ‘horizontally’. This ruler also pivots on an axis allowing up to 45º in each direction. These degrees will be marked along the circumference of the tool and a drop-in locking system will keep the angle in place. This is huge in scratching because not every time is the designer going to be calling for a 45º angle. Another fantastic function this product can deliver is creating center punches. The actually scratcher itself will be made from very durable material giving it the ability to be hit with a hammer to mark a center. All one must need do is slide the scratcher to the desired distance, grab your hammer, and BOOM!

Materials to be Used

Hard high strength plastic for edge
Steel for measuring ruler
Plastic for scribe holder
Stainless Steel for scribe
Center bolt

Construction Procedure

Create a mold for the edge
Use the mold to create plastic edge
Attach the metal ruler to center point in on edge
Secure the ruler and edge together with center bolt
Attach the stainless steel scribe to the scribe holder
Slide scribe holder onto edge of ruler and secure at center 0
Test to make sure everything works smoothly

Conclusion

We feel that our product will greatly help the process of scribing sheet metal. Recommended for true machinists to shop students to even average Joe the plumber trying to make himself a nice toolbox at home, this products is way more than meets the eye. It combines merciless acts of measuring with the shoddy task of scribing into one easy to use device. A scribe is as easy sliding your hand back and forth, our product does the rest for you. You have an angle around 38 maybe 39 degrees? No sweat this product will give you the perfect angle every time. What makes this product even better is its ability to be used also as a center punch. With all of these different aspects involved in our product it’s no wonder hearing all of the clients shout for more.

AutoCad Drawings

Design Website:

Bibliography

Voland, Gerard. Engineering By Design. Second ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc., 2004.

Percentage of Contribution

Lucien Filip

Design
Initial Powerpoint
Written report
Final Presentation
Final Report
Engineering notebook
Website

Sean Keefe

Design
Initial Powerpoint
Written Report
Final Presentation
Final Report
Engineering Notebook
AutoCAD Drawings

Matt Baxter

Design
Initial Powerpoint
Written Report
Final Presentation
Final Report
Engineering Notebook

Aaron Alves

Design
Initial Powerpoint
Written Report
Final Presentation
Final Report
Engineering Notebook

Manuel Boria

Design
Initial Powerpoint
Final Presentation
Final Report