Jonathan Smith

Research - Brief: Maintain visual tie to CRAFTSMAN brand, develop functional, ergonomic, and aesthetically pleasing forms while meeting and/or exceeding newer multi-material screw drivers. Maintain and/or reduce current manufacturing costs via current processes or by using a minimal amount of new capitol. After receiving the brief we went to Murphy North Carolina to fully understand the current manufacturing process.

Understanding user behavior - A lot of the research that had been conducted covered many of the questions I had after seeing the manufacturing process and having great familiarity with the CRAFTSMAN brand. My father worked for SEARS for 20+ years and I disassembled or tried to destroy every tool he brought home. I did always put them back together, and it is still one of the many experiences in my life that has made me who I am today.

Patent research - During the development stages of this project I was conducting patent searches to learn what was patentable, what had been patented, and who was patenting ideas and design changes as it related to hand tools and screw drivers. During my research I met with a number of automotive professionals, a few engineers, a number of janitors, and also talked to students in my dorm to get a direct response from a market segment CRAFTSMAN was seeking to gain more affluence with.

Ideation sketches - During my initial examination of the first research phase, this included patent research, reverse engineering of competitor products, and anthropometric studies, I began to do some quick sketches. Of these sketches the client chose three for me to develop further. This phase of the development process included the fabrication of some rough form study models for visualization and anthropometric studies.

Prototypng for functional review - Images 1-3: These are images of the three options the client chose for me to move forward with. Images 4-6: This is me! I am in the wood shop building study models from urethane foam and ren shape I am also slicing models in half. Image 7: These are a few of the models I developed during this semester. The models with red on them are made of ren shape, and the other models are made of urethane foam or a type of modeling foam that is safe for use on wood shop tools.

Prototyping of Final Prototype - Image 1: This is an image of the ren shape models I made. Image 2: The 3D data from these files were used to build SLA prototypes at a local auto performance shop in Auburn. Image 3: I then built boxes that would allow me to suspend the plug. Image 5: This is me! Again! I am injecting a two part epoxy into the molds, basically simulating the injection molding process on a small scale. Image 6: This is a pressure cooker. Image 7: Final models ready for prepping.

Packaging solution and fabrication - Image 1: It's me again; blah. I am prepping the vacuum former by sealing the edges with tape. Image 2: This is the plug I made from sectioning handles made from ren shape and gluing them to a piece of MDF. Image 4: This is a CAD rendering of the final packaging and graphic card inserted into it. The packaging is designed to allow the user to grab the handles of the drivers, thus allowing them to feel the soft over molding and user focused design features.

Final Solution - The handle has a soft rubber over molding, shown in red, which reduces slipping and is a key attribute consumers look for on driver handles. A hole at the back of the handle enables the user to insert another blade into it in order to increase the amount of torque they can apply to a screw. The butt of the handle has been flattened to reduce the pressure normally felt in the palm of the hand as one tries to apply pressure when attempting to remove a frozen screw.