By Collin Hill TECH 4945 F23
Hay hooks are not designed with the user in mind. They put pressure on the user’s wrist, which may cause sprains during use. The design of this hay hook has taken what is already there and improve on it by dividing up the load from the user’s wrist and channeling it onto the forearm via a lever arm. This result supplies more comfort for the user. The hook has a focus on safety, the tip of the tool is rounded to reduce injury from falling on the hook. It has also been overdesigned as to ensure a safety factor in case of improper use.
The hook has been designed based off standard machining practices as well as standard specifications of steel and dimensions. A major part of design and manufacturing is repeatability and availability. It is frequent practice to design things based off available parts and standard materials. Common machinery techniques were used in the design and manufacturing of this hay hook as to ensure it can be reproduced in the future.
Although without its downfalls the production process of the hay hook was simple due to the plan development during the design phase. The hook was designed with standards in mind so there was little need to create tooling other than for a specific bend. During the creation of the tooling for that bend there were many hangups that resulted in delays and issues. However, after a few workarounds, the tooling was made, and the hook was completed on time.
With some minor design flaws the resulting hay hook met all goals that were set out to accomplish as well as had a nice aesthetic factor. It was able to lift the hay bales as designed and felt comfortable to the user. There were some minor issues with the hook section being too stout leading to the hook being overdesigned. It was finished with a nice powder coat making it weather resistant and aesthetically pleasing.
See videos of the project here.
