Why carry heavy things when pulling them would be much easier? Sebastian Reiter, an enthusiastic amateur water sports enthusiast, asked himself this question as he was dragging his inflatable stand-up paddle board in his backpack from the parking lot towards the Ruhr on his way to stand-up paddling (SUP).
To make transportation much easier, the mechanical engineering student has now developed a practical roller solution from the 3D printer as a student research project at Fachhochschule Dortmund.
The handy little helper "SUP carrier" by Sebastian Reiter weighs only around one kilogram, created as a combination of 3D-printed plastic, stainless steel and galvanized cap nuts. Two wheels, each measuring just 125 millimetres by 35 millimetres, are connected via an axle construction. This can be inserted under the board in the so-called fin box - where the fin, which is reminiscent of a shark fin and serves as a tracking device under water, is usually located.
From the idea to the product
"My SUP carrier is designed for a load of up to 20 kilograms and is therefore suitable for most inflatable boards with the widely used US box fin box," explains Sebastian Reiter. For his student research project at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, he documented all the steps from the idea to the product, including the selection of suitable materials and layer-by-layer 3D printing based on the principle of additive manufacturing. "I tested the prototype intensively with a test weight on various surfaces," reports the student. Whether on forest soil, gravel or paving stones: "Thanks to the cross bracing between the rollers and the high-quality material, the SUP carrier can withstand the mechanical stresses."
Additive manufacturing(Opens in a new tab)
Counseling at the start-up service
Sebastian Reiter's coursework also included thinking about a possible marketing and sales concept for his product. Here, too, it is not just about theory: He has already sought counseling from the start-up service at Fachhochschule Dortmund, got smart about business administration and law - and is now in the process of launching an online store for his SUP carrier alongside his studies and water sports.
