The Behind Story

Challenge: Hinge Design (Critical Component)

Solution: Communication, mentoring, and research led to a hidden bearing design perpendicular to the dorsal plane

After designing the overall shape and form factor, the persistent issue was ensuring a functional and manufacturable hinge design – my critical component. Each week, I researched and proposed a new hinge design for my piece. I wanted the hinge to be seamless, inconspicuous,and manufactured into the piece. However, aesthetics alone are challenging to design but ensuring that features can be cast is another issue; casting does not allow for perfectly vertical surfaces in creating the mold. The initial design of an exterior hinge created many vertically flat surfaces in my piece that could not be resolved. Additionally, the design of my piece had a lot of overhang with the shell, which dictated the parting line and made most modeled hinges incompatible. Ultimately, this led to my growth in learning how to model movements and hinges in CAD, confidence in editing/revisiting my design on CAD, designing for manufacturing, and familiarity with the PRL (Product Realization Lab) community because I consulted with many manufacturers for design advice.