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Product category: 3D CAD software
News Release from: SolidWorks Corporation | Subject: SolidWorks and CosmosWorks
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial Team on 19 October 2006

3D software helps realise prize-winning
design

Andrew Lang used SolidWorks software to transform his idea for domestic bicycle storage from a shape cut out of a Styrofoam cup into an award-winning product.

Visit a house or flat in any of the UK's cities and one of the first things you're likely to encounter is a bicycle in the corridor If not in the corridor, it might be halfway up the stairs, or next to the washing machine, or leaning against a wardrobe, or acting as a towel rail in the bathroom

Indeed, though more of us are buying and using bicycles, densely populated cities offer fewer opportunities for suitable and safe outside or undercover storage, forcing most urbanites to park their bicycles inside - wherever they can find enough space.

Product designer and keen cyclist Andrew Lang identified a need among urban bicycle owners for an attractive storage solution that would enable bikes to be kept indoors, on display but out of the way.

Andrew Lang is a commercial product designer with an MA in industrial design engineering from the renowned Royal College of Art and over ten years' experience working with a range of London-based design consultancies.

Now running his own design practice, Andrew Lang Product Design, Lang develops designs for both capital and consumer goods for a range of clients from concept to production.

In addition, Lang designs his own products from scratch, drawing inspiration from his own experiences and creating innovative solutions to real life problems.

Having established his own need for an indoor bicycle storage solution, Lang trawled the market for suitable products.

"There were plenty of industrial-looking hooks, rails and racks suitable for a shed or garage", he explains: "but, like many people, I have to store my bike indoors, and there wasn't anything that I'd be happy to install on an interior wall".

Lang took up his sketchbook and pencil, and began to think.

"It was playing with the pencil between my fingers that gave me the initial idea", he says.

"That was the Eureka moment".

"I realised that you only need one point to hang a bicycle from, as long as you have another point above to stop it rotating".

To check his theory, Lang cut a Styrofoam cup into the sinuous shape he imagined and slid his pen into it, just like the top tube of a bike.

The pen fitted snugly and securely into the cup, and Lang was on the first step to designing what would eventually become the multi-award-winning Cycloc.

Lang has used SolidWorks 3D CAD technology for the past ten years, creating the smooth workflow necessary to take his ideas from concept to manufacture, whether for his own designs or those of his many clients.

"SolidWorks is there from the outset of a project, from initial concept generation all the way to full resolution", he says.

So it was to SolidWorks that Lang turned to help generate the initial sketches for his new product.

Like most product designers, Lang likes to kick-start the design process with hand-drawn sketches, using SolidWorks to create an initial underlay to define the parameters.

"The SolidWorks underlay is like putting the first sticks down in the sand", explains Lang.

"I know what dimensions I need to work to and I can develop my ideas freely around those initial parameters".

In parallel with his hand drawn sketches, Lang developed his ideas in free form within SolidWorks, and was soon able to build a 3D model that captured exactly the distinctive curved cup shape that gives the Cycloc its elegance and style.

Although the overall concept of the Cycloc did not change during the design process, the product evolved considerably through several different iterations before Lang was finally convinced he'd got it just right.

"Initially, we planned to manufacture the Cycloc as a solid single skin plastic structure", says Lang.

"But it became clear that for mechanical and visual appearance reasons it would be better to make it as a double skin moulding, with a gap in between".

"This makes the structure more robust and creates greater surface area for the bike to rest on".

During the design process, Lang also made changes to the number of wall fixtures and the size of the holes used for attaching a bike lock.

"Although these were fundamental changes, they were easy to make in SolidWorks since the software automatically updates all the affected parts".

As a load-bearing product, the Cycloc needed to be tested for strength and durability, and Lang was keen to carry out some virtual analysis before committing to a costly prototyping stage.

"We used the CosmosWorks analysis software within SolidWorks to check that the Cycloc itself could support the weight of a bicycle and to ensure that the proposed fixtures would be secure enough to attach firmly to a wall".

By using the seamless interface between the two systems, eliminating the need for re-entering engineering data, Lang was assured of quick results and complete accuracy.

The prototyping stage was just as straightforward.

SolidWorks data was used to generate a round of prototypes to satisfy Lang of the Cycloc's appeal in terms of size, scale and overall appearance.

Once the design had been finalised, the SolidWorks data was then sent to the toolmaker.

"There was a final change at this stage", says Lang.

"The toolmaker wanted to insert a split line straight down the centre of the Cycloc, but this would have disrupted the curve of the product and reduced its aesthetic appeal".

"Using SolidWorks, we were able to convince the toolmaker that a split line could be created that followed the rotation of the shape, enhancing the look of the product and actually simplified the tool design by removing the need for one large component".

"This change has also helped make production easier".

Although a self-generated product, Lang was working to a tight deadline, aiming to launch the Cycloc just four months after his initial inspiration.

SolidWorks helped Lang to reach his deadline, and assisted him every step of the way: "I was able to use PhotoWorks to generate photorealistic images of the Cycloc for marketing purposes before the product had even been launched", explains Lang.

"This can really help to save time in the final stages of a project, and create noise around a new product before it's even reached production".

Cycloc was launched in 2005 and has collected a string of awards and accolades, including first prize in the D and AD product design category, first prize for the Matthew Wrightson product award, consumer product design of the year in the Plastics Industry Awards and Design Week Awards and a coveted spot at the British Council Exhibition in Milan.

The Cycloc has also won awards from the London Development Agency and Inspired Recycling.

So Lang has successfully solved one storage problem, only to replace it with another: where to put all those awards?.

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