Trader Joes Shopping Cart


Overview: I designed and fabricated a friction-fit shopping cart to hold my new watch! Through this project, I familiarized myself with CAD, laser-cutting, tolerances, and DFA.

Role: Individual Project

Responsibilities: Design, prototype, and manufacture final product

Skills: CAD, Rapid Prototyping, Tolerances, Laser Cutting, DFA, 2D Engineering Drawings

The Challenge:

Without adhesives and only one sheet of wood, create at structurally sound container that will withstand tesing.

Action:



  1. Concept Sketches

    • Originally inspired by car hoods!

    • To avoid adhesives, I decided to use friction fits.

    • Focused on DFA because sliding each wall in would require a specific order of assembly.

    • Considered integrating functionality of slots with aesthetics.

  1. Low-Fidelity Prototype

    • I prototyped with cardboard and tape.

    • Realized it would be easiest to assembly if the base piece had all tabs and the sides had all slots.

    • I learned that a quick prototype really helps to see proportions of a design, which help intuit possible failure or design issues.

  1. CAD Model

    • I wanted a more dynamic design -> added wheels and made a shopping cart!

    • Used parameters to ensure walls fit together.

    • Applied joints to visualize assembly.

  1. Tolerance Testing

    • Created test cuts to find tolerance ranges for my friction fits.

    • These compensate for kerf from laser cutting.

    • Adjusted parameters on CAD to match test cuts.

  1. Laser Cutting

    • I uploaded my design as a DXF file to Adobe Illustrator and added a Trader Joes engraving.

    • Cut my piece in the laser cutter!

  1. Final Product

    • Moment of truth… the pieces FIT!

    • Finally created a 2D engineering drawing.



Results:

  • I created a laser cut a functional moving container that could fit my watch.

  • I further developed my skills in prototyping and product realization through integration of tolerances and DFA.


Other Projects: