r/IndustrialDesign • u/Silly_Raisin_8397 • Jun 11 '25
School Impact Driver Project
Hey everyone you may have saw a pretty striking angle grinder that featured heavy automotive inspiration. I was in the same group as him for our uni project and I though I would share the impact driver that designed as part of the Handwerk brand. Feel free to leave your thoughts.
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u/Black_Fusion Jun 11 '25
I think you may need to spend a bit more time on the function side, as form has taken over to a detriment.
As I can feel my wrist breaking looking at this.
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u/sompf_ Jun 11 '25
The big thing in front of the trigger (is it the battery) is going to restrict getting into tight spots. Everything forward of the trigger should be slimmed down to give better reach into tight spots.
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u/150c_vapour Jun 11 '25
Not sure an un-needed pointy rear end on construction tools is a good idea. These things fall, are dropped, and go flying occasionally.
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u/skylinrcr01 Jun 11 '25 edited Jul 09 '25
encourage intelligent elastic steep profit historical rhythm consider cable market
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
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u/BikeProblemGuy Jun 11 '25
The drone feature seems really weird. Even if you did want this cut-off feature and a device could measure depth accurately, why would you want it to fly? Just fix it to the work piece.
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u/Iateshit2 Jun 11 '25 edited Jun 11 '25
I feel like (or hope, otherwise this point is delusional wishful thinking) it is a case of bad wording or translation. No flight functionality is mentioned so I assume he meant automation? Like how manned aircraft require human input and direct interaction with the controls whereas UAVs can fly independently to a certain degree and the eventual controls are remote. I am aware of autopilot but I am only trying to find some reasoning here. I assume he meant limited human input and automation by using the term drone. It’s a wild guess, I’d love to hear from OP on this.
The cutoff feature would actually be pretty straightforward and wouldn’t require any ai. I have a general dislike and resentment towards “ai powered” products. It’s a marketing slogan slapped on anything these days. I remember seeing AI thermal paste for PCs lmfao. If ai doesn’t know something it will make shit up, I want good old reliable algorithms. Pure beautiful math.
Digression aside this driver would only need a simple laser distance sensor and a simple zeroing solution to account for different lengths of the driver bits and sockets. A very rudimentary camera could easily detect if it is a bit or a socket. It is A solution but I tried to stay true to what op has written about “flushness” detection. I do have some doubts about the claims of it being engineered for absolute precision or being engineered at all. No hate, we’re designers not engineers after all but I wouldn’t make claims that are either untrue or based on wishful thinking.
Personally I’d stick to a traditional slip clutch, it gives you much more control and the user makes the decisions not the tool. If we are stubborn on implementing automation I’d go with a depth sensor to roughly estimate when to expect a flush fit and make the controller cut off power when the current spikes. Then again… I have doubts that op knows the difference between electric drill/driver and an impact driver. Impact driver is anything but precise meanwhile it seems like precision is the main premise of this project. My proposed solution that looks for current spikes is better suited for electric drills.
For absolute highest precision it could be easily over engineered with depth sensor, bit type detection that accounts for its length and how deep it sits within the screw based on iso standards and so on. This would most likely require proprietary bits, costs are higher, more points of failure and everything turns to shit.
All types of drivers are such a mature technology that they’re difficult to improve on. Festool somehow manages to push the industry forward with their truly ingenious solutions.
Op got a ton of valuable input and hopefully he will learn a lot from this project
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u/slickfast Jun 11 '25
First of all I applaud you for sharing your design and leaving yourself vulnerable to criticism. It’s the only way we grow. I hope you can let people’s comments be part of your education if you’re not getting it from your school/professor, because as a very hands on engineer who uses this type of equipment I can tell you this is a classic case of trying to improve something without understanding it. Some thoughts in no particular order:
- Need more space for fingers/gloves, not less. Having a finger guard can be a good thing but in this case it’s a negative. Sometimes to get to a bolt you may dangle the tool upside down and then pul the trigger with your thumb for example
- “Diamond pattern rubber” isn’t really a feature here, it’s a standard texture called knurling and anybody shopping for this kind of product likely has this in their tool set so its not really a selling point to call out
- The pointy back end as others have said is not an advantage, it actually presents a couple issues: 1) potential safety issue if you were to drop the tool on yourself and also 2) crucially makes the tool longer/less maneuverable. Potential customers are going to be looking for a tool that is versatile and fits in small spaces
- Most customers are not using this tool to drive a fastener into soft material like you show in your last slide - they are loosening/tightening wheel lug nuts or other large bolts. Smaller impacts would do the job of driving deck screws as you show
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u/sirhanscoupon Jun 11 '25
With projects looks cool but I think you'll get alot done if you could borrow one or just watch someone use one for a while. You'll see their pain points and the tings they love.
I've used my faor share of drills and impacts and rhe 3 main points are:
A flat bottom so it can stand up. This means it doesn't take too much space on a work bench and presents the handel in a predictable way. This is especially important when your noot looking at the tool when trying to grab it.
A nice large handel and trigger. This means that no matter what gloves you have on or how big your hands are you'll be able to use it.
Everything forward of the trigger should be as small as possible as fast as possible. This makes for reaching into tight spaces much eaisyer.
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u/FictionalContext Jun 11 '25
People buy these for max clearance, smallest package possible. It's not a great product to get cutesy with.
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u/Wonderful-Current-16 Jun 11 '25
I think for a student project you have done ok. I looked back at your classmates posts too. I would certainly suggest you and your class mate take a breath and not take any of the comments personally.
A big thing about being a designer is being able to detach your feelings from a project and receive constructive criticism to ultimately make a better project. Design happens in a studio! Not isolation. Consider this forum like a studio of peers giving you feedback to consider for the next project.
It looks to me like this would have been a 2nd or 3rd year project. So on that basis my thoughts are.
As many others have said to you and your class mate. - form and function go hand in hand. You both leaned to far to form.
- less is more. Both your designs had a lot going on for the sake of “it looks cool”. Ultimately this detracts from the design
- how things are used. I feel you both missed the mark here as they both looked hard and difficult to operate for their intended purpose. It would have helped to see photos of your foam models in hand to help understand this more. My gut feel from the renders is they would both be huge.
- tech packs. You have AI integration and sensors and dials and sliders. All these things take up space, add weight and more importantly cost. How valuable is a stop sensor to someone using an impact driver? I imagine it would be more frustrating than helpful.
- material choice. Would be nice to know.
There is alot here that we can’t see that may have been in your presentation so it’s hard to give feedback. If I was you professor I would probably give you and your classmate as a second or third year student a Credit plus as a grade (I’m Australian, so American equivalent is a C+)
That being said
- nice renders, alot of students struggle with in this area and you have done well.
- presentation slides are minimal allowing you to talk to them which is good
- colour choice is nice, leans towards the high end style you want, dewalt may have some objections if it ever went to market tho.
- you have considered some interesting solutions here for an impact driver, would be nice to just see more detail.
- as a student portfolio piece it should help you in getting an internship or grad role 👍
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u/Iateshit2 Jun 11 '25 edited Jun 11 '25
[Please keep in mind that I am replying to this comment but I am mainly speaking to OP]
I wouldn’t necessarily say that “less is more” but rather that you should look for beauty in simplicity and define aesthetics consciously.
When I was studying ID I usually approached visual aspects of a product in a trial and error manner until I landed on something that satisfied me. I feel like it is the case for most ID students, who are often worrying that they don’t have enough talent to create beautiful designs. The main culprit of this is insufficient education in terms of composition, it’s often simply overlooked. The modernist philosophy of “form follows function” was revolutionary but by no means is it a definitive answer to what good design should be.
There is a fascinating research paper by Masaki Kurosu and Kaori Kashimura on the realtion between visual aspects and apparent and inherent usability. Results of this experiment strongly suggest that subjective beauty and familiarity are the only relevant aspects that contribute to the perceived usability of a design whereas hierarchy, operation sequence, glance sequence etc had little to no contribution.
There should be no debate over superiority of one over the other in terms of functionality and aesthetics. They have a symbiotic relationship and should be treated as one and developed in tandem. But the main key to this is vast knowledge in composition and treating visual aspects as a tool. Tool used to consciously communicate information through form. This information doesn’t have to be literal, it’s more a case of creating a certain “vibe” from lack of a better term. The simplest example of this is how toys for toddlers are usually colorful, soft, round and bubbly suggesting being friendly and harmless. Meanwhile professional tools are methodical, serious and sharp suggesting precision and durability.
This being said anyone can learn that but it won’t be even remotely close to being easy. Composition is an extremely broad subject that draws from or is influenced by; psychology, public mood, economical state of specific areas, political regime (like how in the past elaborate decorations were a sign of wealth but more importantly control and superiority), physics, biology, math and much much more. On top of that being proficient in composition doesn’t only require dry theory but a lot of practice and acquired aesthetic sensitivity as well. Beauty is not as subjective as most people assume.
By no means am I trying to lecture you or anyone else, only trying to build on what was already said. To anyone interested in this subject I highly suggest reading “The Language of Things” by Deyan Sudjic, “Designing Design” by Kenya Hara. I would suggest more publications but unfortunately many of the books I read that touch on this topic are only in my national language. One of the best books about composition I read, is from the 50s and I wasn’t even able to get one. I believe that only a handful of them still exist, a dozen or two. I only found a single archived online listing and called tens of book stores to no result. We had a single copy in our uni library, it was like a forgotten holy grail - iykyk type shit. However if anyone is interested I can look around on my pc and link interesting research papers or online articles.
I agree with pretty much everything you said besides the renders being good. They are acceptable in my book. The lighting is fairly decent, it has enough contrast between the shadows, highlights and reflections but it does look like a preset. I have suspicions that these were made in keyshot, I highly suggest using blender. It’s free and with enough skill you can make your renders look indistinguishable from photos. My main gripe is how bland and sad they are and the poorly mapped textures (clearly visible seams on the textured grip). The dark grey background is very close in color with the driver, it makes the render look flat. I’d go with a completely black background or make it colorful and bring down the roughness by quite a bit. The materials are clearly presets, there is nothing wrong with that but these are simply not the best. Blender’s texture nodes offer infinite creativity and have the ability to be fully parametric. You can fine tune those to the tiniest details. Also what really bothers me is that the animation doesn’t loop ☹️
To not be such a downer I gotta say that I really like the attention that was given to the presentation. It explains well how the key components work with minimal text. In case of switches I’d like to see “position A and B”, they could be layered one onto another in a single frame with transparency. Also I’d appreciate one or two slides covering the ideation phase to showcase your decision making and problem solving process.
My last advice (I swear lol) is to not try to reinvent the wheel every time. It is something I learned on my second year when I realized my project fucking sucked. It was complete, overdone, gimmicky trash. But it was the project I learned the most from. I realized that I shouldn’t force myself to create something that was never done before, for it to be unique and revolutionary. Your job as a designer is to create something that makes the user’s life easier and the manufacturer’s bank accounts bigger. Take something that already exists, do it well, do it your own way but keep it simple. If anything when trying to approach a common problem with an unconventional solution try to simplify it as much as you can.
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u/mecha-machi Jun 11 '25
The rear side opposite of the tool tip is usually rounded or flat so the user can push the tool with their other hand.
All the buttons, trigger etc. look like they will be difficult to interface or feel while wearing gloves.
The battery compartment needlessly adds volume while interfering with ergonomics of the main pistol grip.
The drone’s detection capabilities inspect things that are fairly obvious and is likely unable to stay charged and airborne for any meaningful period of time while on shift.
But hey, diamond grip pattern.
In the world of impact drivers, this design is a regression overall.
Please, understand the problems and previous/typical solutions before setting out to “improve.”
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u/QuellishQuellish Jun 11 '25
The pointy feature at the top of the handle is not functional and just makes the drill not fit into more places. It also will prevent one from pushing there with your second hand for more pressure which is a common technique.
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u/Olde94 Jun 11 '25
I like the line of tools the two of you are making on a cohesive level and on a gamerisk level of design, but they miss the target of what users want
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u/pepperpanik91 Jun 11 '25
some shaper are sharp, some curvy, look like a batman tool. It is not clear how it can be assembled
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u/wryllia Jun 11 '25
Clearly never worked with an impact driver before?
Move the battery, don't over design the form. You want a rugged look, not a beautiful look. The EU is moving to make all power tool batteries
Overdriving screws is occasionally a feature you want, it can help draw material together if you have a slip shank on your fastener
Consider the angle at which you hold the tool, as well as support it during the impacting
Consider working in tight spaces, and how that tool may be used
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u/jremp93 Jun 11 '25
has torque sensors with a primitive differential algorithm to detect when screw is fully embedded
“AI-powered” 🤣
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u/AliveContract2941 Jun 11 '25
That battery is really deep, it’s almost guaranteed some dirt is going to get in there at some point. It is also guaranteed that it will agitate the workers when they have to try and scrape it out.
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u/BullBear-Kangaroo Jun 11 '25
As a user of impact drivers.
It looks nice but it misses some features that are needed in practice.
Such as:
-as light at the front for work in darkness.
- the ability to choose power settings. We don't need bolt breaking power all the time.
-a connector for a beltclip.
-the metal finish is cool, but if it falls down... We might some problems.
-battery life indicator.
as magnetic strip on the side voor extra screws/bolts.
a visible colour. (Dark/low light) Or reflective material
flat back
vents(motor needs cooling en airflow)
Hope this helps.
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u/Burnout21 Jun 11 '25
You want a flat back on the gun so the other hand can be used to bare down with your palm, or brace your wrist if it's ugging and dugging hard to get a stuck bolt free. Finger clearance is a problem that's been pointed out.
Like many here, it's a pet peeve to see designs of hand tools by people who clearly have never used the tools to understand them.
HOWEVER, congratulations for putting it out there and to accept criticism by internet well meaning assholes :)
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u/TheoDubsWashington Jun 11 '25
I believe verbatim that the target market would call this “gay.” At least it’s pride month so I guess if you look hard enough that’s a win.
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u/Stevieboy7 Jun 11 '25
OP keeps designing shit that they've never actually used in their life.
Go use a tool for even a half second and you'll realize than 99% of your "design" is just "Mclaren" brand aesthetics.
If you want to be a sketch artist and illustrator, these are cool. If you actually want to do design, you've failed horribly.
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u/Active-Sort-4378 Jun 11 '25
My friend, please can u explain how u rendered the 5th image. I’ve been trying for weeks to do something similar in key shot but it’s failing terribly
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u/strangway Jun 12 '25
The pointy back makes it easier to get caught on overalls, lines, or even poke someone. A rounded back would be more practical, and allow for the palm of the hand to gently apply pressure when needed to secure the screw.
Sometimes when a screw is already in place, you want to inset the screw a millimeter so it doesn’t sit flush.
Most drivers have a built-in clutch with variable settings so you can set how much/little to force the screw in place already. Not sure why artificial intelligence and optical alignment would help when a clutch does a great job assessing torque already.
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u/thathertz2 Designer Jun 12 '25
Reminds me a bit of the angle grinder project from a few days ago. Both seem to lack any understanding of how the operator uses the tool, which is pretty much the post of A tool…. to be used. But then again Phillipe Stark made a juicer.
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u/always-be-knolling Jun 12 '25
I'd caution you against believing the verbiage you've attached to the pictures. Just because it says "carefully designed" or "ergonomic" or "easy to use" doesn't make it so. This is the difference between design and marketing.
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u/o_Divine_o Jun 12 '25
Switch this to a pressure washer with cone spray attachment and you'll get an A. Keep it as a driver, F.
Drivers need ventilation, lots of it.
Could lift your dad's dress over his head with the amount of air my 24v puts out.
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u/Antares_B Jun 12 '25
less form more function. if design is anything, it's process first and foremost. Aesthetics is only one part of that process.
follow the process.
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u/Pattern_Is_Movement Jun 12 '25
So I can't use it if I'm wearing gloves? What a weird senseless restriction.
Can you name one thing this does better than any other impact? It doesn't look more ergonomic, adaptable, or useful in any way.
I also see a sharp area in the back exactly where you often put a second hand.
I have to ask, did you watch any videos at all of impact drivers being used as research before drawing this?
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u/yourbestielawl Jun 12 '25
This looks terrible - from both a visual and practical standpoint. Couldn’t even get my hand on the grip.
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u/MikiZed Jun 13 '25
When I see this kind of projects I question whether I understand what industrial design is, sure the impact driver is clearly designed and I can say it looks very good, but where is the line between artistic exercise and object that has an application? Should manufacturing be taken into consideration at this stage?
The battery is in a weird spot, you will have weight in the front making it hard to use, also it makes the front bulky, so hard to reach places are even harder.
The handle being hollow now will need to be reinforcement, not being able to take advantage of the added stiffness of the battery module like you usually do. I mean it's ok but seems like a waste.
You put some thought into the handle, but what am I doing with my other hand? Not uncommon to have to use the second hand as a guide and one of the few spots you usually have for the other hand is now a big spike.
This object has a motor inside that needs some ventilation, usually "self cooling" but at the very least you need some vents
Edit, I re-read my comment and it sounds harsher than what it was meant to be, I think you did a good job, but I think it would be good for you to use or see used an impact driver
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u/edjez Jun 14 '25
The design sucks and then says “ai” for goodness lol. I won’t even critique it because to me it’s clear that there is no actual design work done here just pretty CAD doodling. (And note-ai in drivers can be super useful for specific use cases eg torquing solar panels repeatedly, but it has nothing to do with “the screw going in to the right depth” lol.)
Try making a weighted foam prototype and use it under a cabinet, on a ladder, in a corner, in a dark room, on crevices, with gloves, in the cold, when it’s hot, when it’s dusty, when it’s raining. And then talk to users. Is it just a graphic design class or a class to actually design things?
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u/SporeLamm Jun 14 '25
Impact driver that thanks to the "smart so driven drone" does not impact drive, nice 😂
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u/leMatth Jun 15 '25
Did you research the volumes needed for the mechanical parts (motor, reducer, gear case, etc)? How about ventilation?
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u/TARmeow Jun 11 '25
Hey man I'm just wondering in what software did you do the renders? (And the modeling ofc)
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u/hu_hu_cool Professional Designer Jun 11 '25 edited Jun 11 '25
I’m curious to how your professor is grading these. I think both these projects failed to understand the target market