One of the main reasons why I had decided to pursue engineering, or even STEM in general, was because it has always been my goal to use science, technology, and mathematical principles in order to help and assist others. So, when I heard that my team and I would be getting the opportunity work with a real client, I felt extremely honoured to partake in this project.

 

In general, our client has a huge passion for painting, but due to several conditions that she faces, it is difficult for her to do so comfortably or without pain, especially when it comes to using paintbrushes with smaller diameters. Our team decided to tackle this issue with a device we had called "The P-Awesome Bear Paw," simply because when we were designing it, the main handle greatly resembled a bear's paw. Basically how our device works was that the client would insert the paintbrush into the main insert, and screw it in place with the large knob at the bottom. The client would then grip onto the attached handle, which would allow her to continue her passion with more ease. Our process for coming up with this exact process can be followed with the above team documentation.

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Throughout this project, we had some main objectives, all of which were centred around our client's needs. These objectives were comfort, safety, durability (in case her children got a hold of it), decreased weight (since she is restricted to lifting only lightweight objects), and cost-effectiveness. With the help of Autodesk Inventor and an FDM 3D printer, we were able to make a device that fit all five of these objectives.

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As convenient as it was, the use of additive manufacturing allowed us to hit all five of these objectives. Thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), which is a soft, flexible polymer, was used for the majority of the parts in order to increase the comfort, make it safer, and make it more durable. This polymer, as well as polylactic acid (PLA) that was used to manufacture the knob, are also very lightweight plastics, as our device, just including these plastic parts, weighed approximately 20 grams. It also costed approximately $0.85 to manufacture these parts. Fillets were also incorporated into these models to reduce the amount of sharp edges, thus optimizing safety before being printed.

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Alongside with the comfort and safety, we also incorporated padding made out of needle felting foam. Since one 7x7x1.5 inch block costs approximately $5.30, and we only needed approximately one eighth of it, the padding in total would only contribute roughly $0.67 to the cost of the device, further meeting our criteria. This foam is also very lightweight.

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Because there were so many other groups of students tackling the same problem for the same client, our device unfortunately did not get selected to be used by her. But nonetheless, this project was very fun and definitely a great learning experience. This project not only emphasized what I could do, but also highlighted areas in which I needed to improve on. Understanding that there is a whole realm of approaches that one could take to tackle a problem inspires me to continue learning, and drives me to acquire new skills outside of the classroom, to further help me expand my idea bank for future projects.

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