Multi-Tool Research for Engineering Class Cont...

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=242674

Above is a link to the project my High School Senior Engineering group is working on. Please read through that thread and take the survey if possible.

Here is our final design which is we refer to as the Basic Tool. Attached are multiple drawings created in Autodesk Inventor. If you would change anything please comment with what you would change and why and how much you would be willing to pay for such a tool.

For further clarification, the tools displayed are all knives, however they will be able to be replaced with a multitude of "skinny-like" objects.

I would need to know what tools are included and what materials will be used before I can say how much it is worth to me. Right now it doesn't even look like it's worth $20, but if it worked well, had useful tools, and was made from something cool (carbon fiber, titanium) I could see paying $100+.

fitz11 said:

I would need to know what tools are included before I can say how much it is worth to me. Right now it doesn't even look like it's worth 20.

Click to expand...

I would have to agree. The way the tool is arranged looks like any other multi-tool on the market. You would have to have something different in the way of the "inserts" for it to be worth more than $15-$20 for me.

when you are making a multi-tool and you want it to stand out. make sure it's specific to the trade that is going to use it.

ie. a homeowners should have basic homeowner stuff, phillips, flats, knife, scissors, etc etc.

a mechanics should have things like strong cutters, serrated knife, cord cutter, crimper/stripper, strong jaws (think teeth cut design like a water pump plier for better grip).

an electricians should have strippers/crimpers, gauge sizers, good needle nose with strong cutters.



you get the idea. gotta make it as trade specific as possible, the one thing i hate about some of the stuff on my multi-tools is that they have junk i will never use. why do you put a 2 types of bottle/can openers and 3 different flatheads on a multi-tool meant for general mechanical use?


think ergonomics as well. the leatherman type that flip up and around are ok, but the final position of the closed jaws tends to be too far apart to make for strong gripping, and if you've ever used the ones that come togethre close, you can pinch the hell out of your hands.

the sides shouldn't be all aesthetics because that leads to having an uncomfortable grip, my most recent leatherman that i won does that. they didn't bevel the edges of the tools on the outside, so they literally dig into your hand when you use the pliers, not cool.


make use of space you didn't know you could make use of. think of alternate uses for things you wouldn't normally have. you could integrate a thread pitch/screw gauge into the handle of the tool without even losing any realestate. just simply creating a flip out tool multi-tool is what was done 30 years ago. need to get with the times and make a list of all of the useful things someone will need for a job, and try to get as many as possible in a functional fashion into a small area.

Thank you Kracin, that is generally the idea that our group was thinking of. We want to design a base tool that could then be changed depending on how people want to use it. We want to be able to offer people what they want.

This system would allow people to pick and choose what tools they want so that they only have the tools that they use. We are trying to come up with a diverse tool library that would fit different job types. This would allow people to decide what jobs they want to use their tool for, be it homeowner, mechanic, electrician, etc.

We would love to see what you guys think would be some tools that would work in a pocket size multi-tool that you would actually use.

Looks like a CRKT Guppie (or similar).