Project 1
Wooden Bike
The goal of this project was to design a wooden frame bike that would appeal to college age adults looking to casually ride a bike through campus. See video below for manufacturing process!
User Centered Research
A Google Form survey was sent out to a random group of college age students. A total of 50 students completed the survey with an age range from 18 to 22 years. The survey had 7 questions about qualities of a bike in order to determine the users wants. The questions contained a variety of styles such as multiple choice, check boxes, and short answers. The wants in Table 1 reflect the data collected from the “Wooden Bike” survey. It was determined that 74% of the students participated in casual bike riding, and 74% of users have an average riding speed of 10 mph. When asked which weight the users were most comfortable lifting for a bike, 58% of users responded 30 lbs. Users were given a chance to select the two most important qualities of a bike. End users believe that comfort and durability to be the most important factors in a bike.
Wants/Constraints
Constraints were given by the requirements in the Design Project Summary for the Wooden Bike Frame project. The wants were generated and prioritized based on the data collected from user-centered research and the benchmarking process. The wants and constraints are described below, along with the metrics and target values.
After using a weighted matrix to determine the best concept during the concept selection process, the Classic Wooden Beach Cruiser was selected.
Classic Wooden Beach Cruiser
The Classic Wooden Beach Cruiser encompasses all of the user's wants from the user centered research along with the constraints of the project as shown in Table 1. This simple design follows a cruiser style bike frame, which allows for a comfortable ride. Since the top priority for the users is comfort, the bike will also be able to accept 700x38c tires to increase the comfort of the ride. The bike will be made from lumber and plywood giving it a low cost. The use of geometry in the design increases the durability and safety of the bike frame. Based on the sleek design of the frame, the bike contains elements of style and will also be painted to increase the appeal.
Before modeling the concept in SOLIDWORKS, a manufacturing plan, bill of materials, and cut plan for the quarter scale model were developed. Engineering calculations were also performed by hand at different sections of the frame to determine the FOS.
When receiving our quarter scale model, the team performed a structural testing experiment is to confirm whether the bike frame could hold a load of 25 lbs without failure in order to meet the strength constraint of a FOS > 2.
Results
After the quarter scale model frame was loaded with the 30 lbs, data was collected on the structure. No cracks or breaks were detected in the frame. There was no point at which the scale model fails. The test was performed for a second time in order to ensure the strength of the frame. Based on the collected data from both trials, the frame successfully has a FOS > 2 , and confirms the strength constraint.
Design Validation
All design validation tests were based off of SOLIDWORKS, user feedback, and designed experiments. Surveys were sent out to the end users in order to collect data on the final product. As a final result all metrics met the target values.
To see the manufacturing process watch the video below!
Role /
Lead Builder/Designer
Purpose /
School Project
Year /
2020
