You are working for a company. Your task is to improve a tool or appliance from your daily life. Pick a tool or appliance from your daily life or home and redesign it for better functionality, reliability, and cost. You are required to create a prototype. What steps would you use to complete the redesign and prototype? We'll explore this further in our discussion this week.
Today I will be redesigning my Horizon 7.4 AT treadmill. The heart rate monitor handles in particular. On this unit there are 2 handles that house the heart rate monitor that sit at an angle that for me is not usable while running. I like the speed and incline adjustment wheels and want to ensure they stay functional with this redesign. The main issue I have with the heart rate handles is I am too tall for the angle they are set at. I am required to hunch over to hold onto them properly so the treadmill can read my heart rate. As you can imagine this is difficult to do while in motion at anything other than a walking pace. My redesign will incorporate a knurled shaft and receiver that is tightened with the mounting bolts used to attach the current handle bracket to the main body of the treadmill. This will allow the user of the treadmill to adjust the handles to a more comfortable angle without sacrificing the rigidity of the handles. The steps I would take to test and prototype this change is first, create a 3D model of the design in SolidWorks. With the digital model I would be able to ensure all components are able to be properly mounted together without interference. I would then utilize 3D printing to create a physical prototype of the 3D model that can be used to test the fit and function of the proposed design. Once the proposed design has been proved functional by the 3D model, I would commission a steel version of the handles to be made. The steel version would then be tested for durability and wear over time. Assuming no issues were found in the steel version I would proceed to sourcing components. The revised version could be manufactured cheaper than the original by removing the weld op that is currently used to join the handle to the bracket. There would need to be an added knurling op, but this can be performed by less skilled labor meaning lower cost to manufacture. I would like to incorporate a more robust locking mechanism with tessellated shaft and receiver design but that would increase the cost of the assembly quite considerably. The increased ergonomics and rigidity of the tessellated design could be used to justify the cost increase of the unit.
Please note I removed the handle tube from the top view.