This project was instigated by a colleague asking if it was possible to design a bowl holder for his rescue dog to be able to feed as it had a permanent disability resulting in not being able to bend its neck to eat.

My first thoughts were that this would make a good project for any school. Introducing the subject of disabilities and how designers manufacture products to help overcome the disadvantage.

It also spawns cross curricular issues to citizenship.

The first step was to establish the brief. The owner had built a cardboard contraption and had discovered that 18" or

460mm. was the perfect height for the bowls. The bowls would sit in holes 9 1/4 inches or 235mm Diameter.

To keep neck stretch to a minimum the top needed to be within 50mm of the edge of the bowl.

Allowing for the fact that this unit was most likely to be in the house probably in the kitchen I selected 12mm Ply over the MDF as it can be stained as well as painted.

My CAD/CAM manufacturing philosophy of good design followed by assembly is again endemic to this project.

Furthermore as designs become more complex I am taking the time to make a laser cut model. In the early designs this model stage was missed often to the detriment of the project. Laser cut MDF models often seemed to be very dirty due to the char that built up on the cut. I have found that you can reduce this to almost insignificant levels by switching the laser over to DOT mode. The intermittent nature of the resulting cutting beam reduces the flame and he depth of charring and although there is more smoke the temperature is far more even and there cut is much cleaner.

The full size drawing was designed for 12mm Plywood or MDF.

A prototype was designed and scaled down to 25% of the original then laser cut in 3mm MDF.

Model in Close-up

The Model and the Final Artifact

Download File 2D Design- Download

Model Download File 2D Design- Download