Professional Documents
Culture Documents
CHAPTER 1
People living in the rural areas of Botswana face many problems when it
comes to cutting their hair. To be very specific, the proposed product will
primarily function to cut head hair, but other hair in the body would be a
secondary function of the product. The targeted potential customers
include all females and males, of all ages. They are excluded from
enjoying the benefits of having to cut hair easily and affordably. In the
remote areas, there is no electricity, most machines or any other high
quality hair cutting product use electricity to function. At these faraway
places in Botswana 90% of people living there are very poor or earn
minimum wages if they find a job. Buying a high quality product to cut
hair would be luxurious.
Now the proposed manual hair cutter is going to use human power to
move. It is a hand held device, which does not use batteries or electricity,
but human movement in terms of fingers to the wrist of the hand. It
incorporates the green design concept where the energy used does not
pollute the environment. The proposed product will cut head hair evenly
and safely. It will incorporate an innovative feature, the buttons that
move the linkages to move the blades. Existing products in the market
have not designed the mechanism yet.
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MINOR DESIGN AND MAKE PROJECT REPORT
CHAPTER 2
People in the rural areas use razors, hand clippers and scissors to cut
their hair. These products do not cut their hair evenly like high quality
products in urban areas. They share razors, and this is dangerous as
transmission of diseases is very high nowadays.
2.1Problem scenario
Pic 2.0
The brief is to design and make a product that will be used by people who
are poor and live in remote areas. The brief is addressing the key point of
function. The proposed product is going to cut hair evenly, hence solving
the problem faced by the rural people.The proposed product is going to
address the issue of sharing blades amongst people. It will address the
issue of durability that potential customers feel should be addressed.
Pic2.2
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MINOR DESIGN AND MAKE PROJECT REPORT
The brief has expanded to address the issue of innovation, where the
product is having some innovative feature. The buttons and linkages are
some of the innovative features that have been incorporated.
Existing products in the market do address some key points of the brief,
but the affordability and accessibility makes them to fall back in the
market that the proposed product has entered and penetrated.
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From the analysis above, it is evident that the existing products have
flaws in design and market opportunities are not exploited in the rural
areas. Leading manufactures have shifted focus from manual hair cutters
to electric and rechargeable machines. The proposed product has a
chance to make sales in the rural areas.
electric machine 78
rechargeable machines 67
hand/manual machines 34
100%
90%
80%
70%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
1 2 3
The table above shows sales from Botswana suppliers of hair cutting tools or
devices. It shows that the market is open to be exploited because there is no
stiff completion on manual hair cutters.
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CHAPTER 3
Background information
Is there a need to have a product that cuts hair in rural areas whereas
people are facing difficult problems?
Hair cutting is a simple ritual that people do and sometimes realise that
they need when their starts to give them problems, it is just like
dentistry, people realise the importance of teeth when they have a
toothache. Besides, from being put in the spotlight with big hair, diseases
and other hair related issues arise. People in the rural areas seem to be
forgotten by the urban society when it they design high quality hair
cutting products.
Function
-the function of the product is to cut black African evenly in rural areas
where there is no electricity.
Performance
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Environment
Materials
The target-selling price for the product is between P40 and 80.This
is to allow target users to buy the product affordably.
Ergonomics
The product should take into account hand sizes to allow easy
handling.
Any buttons should be well rounded to allow fingers to fit.
Body of the product should be easy to grip so that it does not slip
from the hand.
Buttons should have serrations to allow fingers to grip firmly.
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Customer needs
Potential customers felt that they need a product that will cut their
hair evenly.
It should be reliable to be used for a long time. The customers also
felt that it should be easy to use but still have quality
craftsmanship.
Maintenance
Market
Manufacturing
Packaging
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CHAPTER 4
Two methods were used to gather information about the feasibity of the
manual hair cutter in the market.
Questionnaire method
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MONTHLY 5
WEEKLY 2
NEVER 3
Summary
The results above show that people in the rural areas would like to
have clean and well-managed hair. The shortage of hair cutting tools
makes it difficult for them to cut and manage their hair. Barbershops
and salons in town are very expensive and far. Some have decided
not cut their hair at all.
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MINOR DESIGN AND MAKE PROJECT REPORT
HAND CLIPPERS 1
ELECTRIC CLIPPERS 0
RAZORS 5
SCISSORS 4
DOUBLE-EDGE CUTTERS 0
1 5
Summary
The above information from the stacked pyramid shows that people in
the remote area struggle to cut their hair. They use tools that do not
cut hair evenly. Some of the tools are very dangerous to use, for
instance the razor that is preferred a lot.
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The chart below shows results about the sharing of cutting tools in rural
areas.
YES 8
NO 2
Summary
Comment
“we share hair cutting tools ,but nowadays it is scary because of HIV”.
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Q.6 Do you there is a need to design a new hair cutting device for
you?
The chart below shows the need for a new product results.
YES 8
NO 1
DO NOT CARE 1
9
Summary 0
YES NO DO NO
The need for a new hair cutting is very high, the chart shows that
people in the rural areas are struggling to cut their hair.
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Q.7 Do you feel like you are left out, when it comes to designing of
hair cutting products for areas like yours?
YES 8
NO 2
YES
NO
Summary
It clearly shows from the pie chart that poor people in rural areas are
not catered for in terms of quality products that can cut their hair
evenly, therefore, excluding them from the mainstream society.
Q.8 Do you think the hair cutting tools that you use need to be
improved?
YES 9
10
NO 1
9
8
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6
MINOR DESIGN AND MAKE PROJECT REPORT
Summary
FUNCTION 10
MATERIAL 2
SIZE 5
SAFETY 7
ERGONOMICS 3
APPEARANCE 6
REALIABILITY 8
PORTABILITY 6
Summary
From the chart above, it shows that the listed elements of design
need to be changed or improved. Most people complained about the
functionality of the existing products. Most people also complained
about the reliability of the existing products used rurally.
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HAIR TYPES
The pictures above show the different hair types that exist in the rural
areas. The old and young share one common problem, cutting hair
evenly. Schoolchildren face the most pressure from teachers at school.ii
was observed that the big hair on children can develop lice and dandruff.
Dandruff is bad for health in children because they scratch their heads
and dandruff gets into their fingernails, which they can swallow when they
eat food unwashed.
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The above products were obtained from the internet. They were then
analysed to find their relevance to the problem scenario. Design ideas
were also gathered from these products.
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Ref:http://alibaba.com.
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CHAPTER 6
4.4 Modelling
The logbook was used to brainstorm some ideas; they were sketched
every time there was an inspiration. Modelling component of the design
process was continuous throughout the design process. Modelling was
greatly driven by research results and provided a means of visualising the
design, enabling it to be evaluated against the PDS and to get feedback
from users.
4.5 Sketching
Sketching the
ideas was done
in a short time to
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generate many
ideas.
MINOR DESIGN AND MAKE PROJECT REPORT
There was a problem with sketching the initial ideas because of using
isometric. Practice and guidance from Lecturer helped to generate
sketches in perspective.
4.6 3D modelling
CHAPTER 5
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Three concepts were developed, and these were close to the PDS
requirements. The form was explored from the modelling.
Concept 1
Concept 2
Concept 3
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Datum
Selection Concepts
Criteria
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Function-
cutting of hair
evenly + + + 0 0 0 + 0 0 +
Ease of Use + + - 0 0 - - 0 0 -
performance + 0 0 - 0 0 0 0 + 0
Compatibility + - 0 + 0 + + 0 + +
reliability + - - - 0 0 - 0 0 +
Ease of + - + 0 0 0 - 0 0 +
maintenance
aesthetics + 0 + + 0 + + 0 0 +
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Sum +’s 7 1 3 2 0 2 3 0 2 5
Sum of 0’s 0 3 2 4 0 4 1 0 6 1
Sum of –‘s 0 4 3 2 0 2 4 0 0 2
Net Score - -3 0 0 0 0 -1 0 2 3
Rank 7 11 5 5 0 5 8 0 3 2
Continue? ye no no no no no no no ye ye
s s s
the concepts generated after concept screening, concept scoring was used
to increase the objectivity of narrowing down concepts when using the
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The first concept model was The third was the most
the least preferred because preferred concepts. A lot a
the form is rigid.The generic potential customers like
shape does not enable easy the shape and form. It is
handling. easy to handle.
CHAPTER 6
Fig. Side view of final product Fig. End view of the final product.
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The above views show the final design in CAD design using solid works
and rendered with rhinoceros software. The views show the form and
different features added to the product.
6.2.0 Materials
ABS is also water-resistant and can be formed easily. In the PDS, the
designer recommended that the product should be waterproof so that it
cannot be affected by water.
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COMPONENTS MATERIAL
1.CASING ABS
6.2.1
2.BASE ACRYLIC
3.BUTTONS NYLON
4.MECHANISM ALUMINIUM
LEVERS
5.SPRING STANDARD
COMPONENT
6.COUNTERSUNK STANDARD
HEAD SCREWS COMPONENT
7.COACH SCREW STANDARD
COMPONENT
Components
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6.2.2 Technology
The product is to cut and trim African hair short. The blades reciprocate to
cut the hair. The mechanism is moved with the aid of the buttons.
CHAPTER 7
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The prototype is the actual size as the real product. The size is to be
determined by the size of the mechanism. The prototype is going to focus
on the functionality and aesthetics of the product.ABS is going to be used
to make the casing for the mechanism. The base is going to be made
from acrylic to allow it to increase the rigidity of the prototype. The
mechanism levers are to be made from aluminium to allow easy shaping.
The blades are going to be disposable on the real artefact. The blades on
the prototype are going to be permanently joined to the levers due to the
restriction of material to hold them temporarily. The arising issue with
blades is the accurate alignment to allow prototype to cut the hair.
The hair sizer will be fitted to prototype using screws in the actual
product, but on the prototype it going to be glued to the base.
A fully scale prototype will be made using CAD to fully explore the
features. The CAD design will allow observer to view the different
elevations of the prototype.
7.1 Review
Besides time as the main constraint, the prototype meets the need for
manufacture. It is a viable product to the society living in remote areas.
Potential buyers will benefit from this product after the main refinements
of the prototype.
APPENDIX
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