Craig Fox
Website:www.fwengineering.co.uk
Job role:Director / mechanical design engineer
Skills:CAD model development, technical drawings, prototypes, 3D printing, photo realistic renders, contacts with manufacturing companies
Hi, I’m Craig and I run a design and engineering consultancy. My background is in mechanical design and development engineering and I have worked on products ranging from race cars to large diesel engines to health and safety equipment. I’ve always loved getting involved in STEM support with schools and this looks like a great initiative where I could share my design and engineering skill to help bring some amazing inventions to life.
Recent blog entries
Today I went out for a walk with Reuben the Labrador and used the Leashy McLeashy 2000 to charge my phone!
Take a look at the pictures and see what you think.
I'm extremely pleased with how it's turned out which is a credit to how brilliant the original idea was.
A common and sometimes frustrating part of developing an idea is that the first concept doesn't always work as expected!! That's what has happened here; the first prototype of the Leashy McLeashy 2000 worked well for a little while, then it started being a bit noisy, then with one huge pull on the lead from my dog, the generator broke and the lead stopped working!
There's 2 ways to look at this:
(1) It's annoying! It meant I didn't have a finished prototype of the Leashy McLeashy 2000 that I could send to Lilli on time and the quality of the prototype wasn't good enough.
(2) We know how to make it better! Failing a prototype can be a great thing in product design. I was able to identify that the gearbox in the generator I was using just wasn't strong enough for the power of a Labrador. It also gave me the opportunity to make a couple of other parts of the prototype a bit better.
So, I've been back to the drawing board. Here's what I've done:
- Redesigned the connection from the lead to the generator, so there are now no gears that could break.
- Changed the generator to a type that turns much smoother, so now the generator turns almost silently.
- Included a powerbank. In the first design, the phone could only be charged whilst the lead was moving. Now the phone can charge constantly from the powerbank, and when the lead is moving it puts power back into batteries of the powerbank.
- Redesigned and 3D printed a new case which better holds all the components; the generator, an LED (light), the powerbank and all the internal wiring.
The result is a much improved version of the Leashy McLeashy 2000; it's stronger, it sounds better, it works better and it looks cooler. Keep an eye out for some videos of it being tested with my Labrador, Reuben.
The 3D printed section which holds the dyno generator needed a bit of re-design, so that's changed shape slightly and now includes a lid to hold the dyno in better. This now securely holds the generator in place whilst the lead turns it to generate power.
I've assembled all the parts together, which meant I could get my trusty assistant involved for some testing; Reuben the Labrador! He helped me do several tests of pulling the lead out to generate power. As Reuben pulls the lead out it rotates the generator in the lead, providing power to the USB port. A little red LED also lights up so you can see when Leashy McLeashy is working. A normal phone charging cable can then be used to connect the USB port on the generator to your phone, giving you some extra phone charge when out on a walk.
