Problem
Today’s market of home lawn care products offers many choices for lawnmowers and line trimmers, yet there are no designs directed specifically towards the in-town homeowner. In-town living offers many attractive opportunities, but generally not that of a large yard. Most lawns are too small for a traditional lawnmower, yet too large for a line-trimmer. There is a need for a small-scale, residential use lawnmower, designed with a focus on ergonomics, storage, and ease of use.
Scenario
This product will be designed for in-town homeowners. These persons chose their home based on location and lifestyle. Most have had other apartments in the past, have lived in various places, and are thinking of staying in one location for the next few years. More often than not, being an in-town home, it is older and on a smaller lot than would be available outside the city limits. The homeowner(s) will invest money and time to remodel the house and yard. Current landscaping trends for smaller yards include an abundance of shrubs and plantings to make the space seem larger than it actually is. Usually this leaves a small amount of actual lawn to tend to.
The final concept combines the footprint of an upright vacuum with the triple blade pattern of an electric razor.
This project was my senior design project. The model is a multi-panel vacuum-formed shell, from positive molds created with a CNC router.
|
|
Sketches for lawnmower form.
Final model.
Final model.
Splitting the model into slices in Cobalt before exporting to AlphaCAM.
The quick way to check for interference before machining! The software now does this automatically.
Screen-shot from AlphaCAM, defining tool paths on surfaces.
"Zee roughin' bit"
Painted and unpainted vacuum-formed panels, before assembly.
|
