Guppies Group Inc. has been busy at work fixing our initial design from our Design Proposal. With just a few days we had before our first order, we had to fully develop our design to gain a better understanding of what exactly what we wanted to accomplish. The first design we had contained a full arm band and waistband that looked like this drawing:
Our first design was thought to be a good idea, but once Guppies began to discuss the actual functionality of the flotation device is when we decided to change our design. Our new current design does not include a full arm band with mesh, but instead includes an arm band that fits to the child’s bicep length wise as well as circumference. We decided this because in our customer needs the main concern was the comfort of their child and if the full arm band with mesh was made then the child would be uncomfortable due to lack of flexibility.
Guppies also had a discussion as to how the arm band will be closed. We decided to close our flotation device with snaps, but that had required an extra tool such as this from Home Depot. With the tool and snap fixtures we would be able to attach the snaps to the vinyl and neoprene to close our floatie, but the tools that we had looked at were slightly over our budget and served a lot more trouble then if we used a buckle instead. With a little bit more in-depth research we eventually found a snap that would only require a sewing machine and with our patience and time, Guppies will be able to get our snaps on the vinyl and neoprene. We liked the idea of the snaps because we could purchase a set of 10 snaps for around $3 so in the end would end up saving money by purchasing them .
With our design fully thought out, Guppies was then able to put in an order for materials to begin our first prototype and begin our first 3-D model on the screen. The 3-D model will be modeled on a program called Inventor. The program allows a person to model their design from the page to the computer screen and allows for people to visualize a more tangible product (Because it is 3-D) . Because engineering has been working with AutoCAD for the past 3 years, C.W and I began to model our design in class. We will continue our effort and in the following week will plan on ordering the rest of the material in order to actually begin to prototype our design. A few question before we begin our building:
How are sewing patterns designed?
How should GGI begin testing for our prototype?
StarPathDesign 
Leave a Reply