The Trulok Grip Gauge is a hand-held wand style measuring tool for aircraft fuselage assemblies. The tool transmits its data via bluetooth to a tablet worn on the belt of the worker. An engineer then has access to all the depth data. This makes tool makes the aircraft assembly process further streamlined. This tool is to be built with injection moulding. 100% of the internal parts are built in the USA.
I acted as industrial designer and ergonomics lead. The wand had to be balanced and comfortable in-hand, and the user able to hold the wand without slipping in any position.
Rhino 5 / T-Splines
The exterior structure was built in Rhino 5 under T-Splines. All surfaces were exported as .STP's for assembly in NX 7.5, which worked perfectly. Much of the mechanical internals existed, and I modeled around that substructure.
Sketching Concepts vs. Modeling Concepts
Often times instead of sketches for industrial design work, I'll just speed model the concept, and render everything in plaster. I might do this in 3ds Max for the trial 'throwaway' run, where I practice building the surface and identify the problem areas, and develop the concept further. This gives the client the option to 3d print (SLA) any of the concepts for ergonomics or aesthetics testing. Not that I'm against sketching, but this moves the process forward faster. Seen below is an array of tests as described above.
