Date: December 2011

Objective

This was my final project for a 3D Computer-Aided Drafting course I took at Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) when I was studying abroad in Fall 2011. The final project was to pick any object and redesign it using the CAD software of our choice that we learned during the semester. We were taught basic skills and general practices in Autodesk Inventor and SolidWorks.

Results

My team had four members including me. I considered our team to be the international team since most of us were students studying abroad and we were all from a different country (the U.S., Mexico, Hong Kong, and Sweden.) While most of the the other groups chose to design a stapler or a computer mouse, we wanted to do something different and stray away from the norm. We chose to design a multi-purpose vise.

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Our multi-purpose vise was designed for hobbyists to clamp small objects like Arduinos or microcontroller boards, jewelry, watches, ship in a bottle, etc, anything that will help liberate both hands so they can focus more on the repair, design and craft than having to worry about holding the object steady. The vise has an adjustable neck and head that spans 180 degrees giving the user flexibility in angle and height desired. We did not think much about the exact material the vise will be made out of, but our idea is that the base would be made out steel or a cost-effective alloy that is sturdy enough to hold up the neck and head. The neck and head would be a light-weight and sturdy metal such as aluminum or a strong alloy. The paddings of the clamp would be rubber or hard plastic that has similar friction and grip as rubber.

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When I look back at the project, this was something that I considered challenging. We had a total of 4 weeks of classes and practice using SolidWorks. It was my first assembled model I have contributed and designed in SolidWorks with a team. This was an excellent project as it helped me realize the effort, time and talent it takes to design and build as a team. We had different thought processes and design ideas, but we all had to agree, be on the same page and cooperate if we wanted to finish the project on time.

Of course looking back at the design, there would be things I would definitely change. For examples, perhaps the height of the rubber pads could have been shorter, and the edges and corners of the components of the vise could have been rounded. Overall, I enjoyed working on this project. This project, and class in general, allowed me to use my artistic instincts and maximize my creativity in engineering. This is when I realized this is something I would not mind doing as a career.

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The 3D model was created in SolidWorks, and the realistic rendering was created by SolidWorks add-in Photoview 360.