Hello Everyone, I am a product design freshman, my school is offering Undergraduate Scholarship through a contest. Below is a link describing the contest and topic: https://events-emea1.adobeconnect.c...2385310787&campaign-id=DEM a Database interno Since the topic is borders, Im thinking of designing a small entry-level walkman to re-introduce the cassette experience at an affordable cost since i think Cassettes are going to boom in the Indie market and beyond like the record player industry revival. (Im basing this of the growing sales of the National Audio Company and Techmoan's videos)(Also if i can make and sell a working model before Guardians of the galaxy 2, than I think the demand for cassette players will likely increase. ) In doing research of modern cassette players, I have found the result to either be conceptual (See Jonas's post about the ELBOW cassette player)or disappointing (ION tape 2 go, need i say more?). While I'd prefer if anyone interested just get vintage cassette player since they do sound better than the current modern equivalent, there are too many misconceptions about technology being old and sounding terrible. After dismantling a broken cassette player I had laying around, I think this mechanism should be used for a design rather than soft keys and logic boards, however I think for the best experience, it would favorable to make it transparent (to show moving mechanical parts) and if possible use mechanical keys (a piano key cassette player i think would be more aesthetically pleasing then soft keys, for example check out the "StereoBelt"). Since everyone in this forum has a better understanding and handling of cassettes than me, I'd like, if you all write/draw an ideal entry-level cassette player and justify why. If anyone has any ideas/suggestions/opinions/inspirations, please link them, I need to submit a project by the 5th of May. A web seminar is being hosted on the 20th, they'll describe the brief in depth, I'll keep you all updated. Have a nice day
A couple of questions. Are you supposed to make a model of your design and if so is it supposed to work ? Personally I think a Walkman is a poor choice. If you use an existing cassette mechanism (like the one you show) your form factor (size) is dictated entirely by that. Making your own cassette mechanism would be next to impossible, without spending $1000s on tooling. Look at the problems people are having making a replacement for one gear inside a Walkman. 3D printing is not up to the job. You could 3D print a case but I doubt if you could even do something like a cassette door. We have a £20000 3D printer at work and I have had to use the parts it produces. I think everyone would be surprised how much the tooling for even the cheapest market quality personal stereo cost. When they expected to sell tens of thousands that wasn't an issue, and getting the tooling designed and made in somewhere like Hong Kong made it even cheaper. As an alternative why not consider a Boombox. Then size isn't really an issue. In fact many people seem to regard bigger as better. You could also use wood /MDF in the construction. I believe both of these are made using CNC machined MDF. http://stereo2go.org/forums/threads/a-few-newer-additions.927/#post-7027 I was trying to think what could be done that is new on a Boombox, To start out I thought what has changed since the classic designs. The main thing is battery technology. If batteries hadn't advanced our cellphones would still be like a small brick. The other thing is loudspeakers. I have some Philips speakers which are smaller than a drink can yet sound pretty good. The rechargeable battery inside is about the same size as a Matchbook or After Eight mint. The idea I came up with which I don't believe has been done before is a modular design where each unit is powered by its own rechargeable batteries. Core units could be made for cassette, MP3 etc. For bedroom listening you could clip on a couple of speakers. For a Beach Party clip on four or more.. Has that ever been done before? The closest I can think of was a Philips 3 piece that had a speaker in the core unit as well as the two clip ons. If you have to make this you could do so by repurposing a few cheap Bluetooth speakers. Good luck in your assignment and let me know what you think.
I have bad news, the contest didn't clarify for which academic year, after asking it has since been clarified that it is only for those applying for the 1st year.... these Italians aren't precise. Nonetheless, I'm not deterred, 2nd year students get to use the 3d printing room. That means I have until the next academic year in October to make a working 3d model for fun, and profit. [_]
Interesting idea but as Longman said it is a very difficult task. It needs a lot of passion and dedication to make it happen. Marian (who is working on central gear DD walkman series) has been involved actively for several months or possibly even more than a year to make it possible and this is just for one gear and Marian is an expert when it comes to walkmans . So to make a walkman from scratch requires a big team of specialists in different fields . So I don't want to disappoint you but this is an extremely difficult task.
