April - June 2017
Methods: Milling, Lathing, Woodworking
Materials: Aluminum, Steel, Maple Wood
This is a project I completed for a class at Stanford called ME203: Design and Manufacturing. It is a modular hole punch meant to punch holes in signatures for bookbinding more efficiently and consistently than can be done by hand.
With the exception of some needles and screws, I designed and machined all of the parts myself, which allowed me to quickly pick up news skills in milling, lathing and woodworking.
MODULAR BOOKBINDING HOLE PUNCH
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INITIAL CONCEPT
The first week of the class was spent brainstorming potential projects that could solve a problem in a unique way. I ended up using my roommate as inspiration, since she loves bookbinding, but finds the process of making signatures (a small group of pages with holes in them that allow the book to be sewn together) tedious, since it normally requires accurately making hundreds of small holes by hand with an awl. I thought a modular hole punch where awls could be placed in the correct locations allowing the user to repeatedly make multiple holes in signatures at the same time would make the process easier.
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Functional Prototype
I first created a basic prototype using laser cut and 3D printed materials to experiment with the functionality of my concept. The two main things I wanted to test was what needle size would pierce well without bending or snapping and what type of holes should be on the base of the punch so the needle could go all the way through the paper without bending the needle or warping the paper.
To do this I first tested various needles. Once I settled on a needle, I modeled and then 3D printed a needle holder and shaft to support the needle. I used a laser cutter to cut a variety of holes of different shapes and sizes on a sheet of acrylic and then bent it with a heat gun to get my desired shape. I repeatedly punched holes in paper on different parts of the base to test which hole was most effective. To my surprise, paper was not badly warped by a channel at the midpoint of the base as long as it was relatively thin so I selected that hole design since it was easy to aim a needle into.
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3D Model
I modeled the product in SolidWorks to finalize my design and then used the model to create an engineering drawing that I could reference when machining. Because my design had multiple moving parts modeling how everything would fit together was extremely helpful.
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Rough Assembly
I used a mills and lathes at Stanford's Product Realization Lab to machine the metal parts I needed. Once I had all the necessary parts, I assembled a rough version of the product to find out if I should change anything. I ended up needing to get different springs and slightly alter a few of my measurements so the pieces moved smoothly against each other.
Final Assembly
Finally I crafted a wooden base and handle out of maple, and spent hours polishing all my metal pieces.