Outback Odyssey BBQ
The Outback Odyssey is an innovative look at how portable BBQ’s can be used with a mechanical folding system that allows the BBQ to remain large enough to feed plenty whilst always being ready to get to the next party!
The brief…
This project was set during the tail end of the pandemic when people were only allowed to socialise outside, during this time there was an increase in demand for portable BBQ’s as it seemed the best activity to do with a group of friends. The increase in demand meant there needed to be an introduction of more portable BBQ’s into the market.
It was important for me to again choose an appropriate brand and make sure my product fitted to their style and ethos. This project offers a look into how I am able to implement a more mathematical and mechanical approach to certain aspects of my design with my folding mechanism.
The Odyssey…
As discussed previously the inception and development of the Odyssey BBQ was largely focused on a more mechanical look at how I wanted to best tackle the folding element. I took inspiration from how an ironing board is able to fold into a flat base and saw that as a way of potentially being used as a trolley to aid the portable aspect of the BBQ. The mathematical aspect was aided by some Adultdata measurements to understand at what height the BBQ should sit at, this working out can be seen here…
After working out how the mechanism will work it was time to put the dimensions to test whilst always considering where the centre of mass will be and how stable the product will be. As this is a large product it was much more time effective to produce a visual CAD model and use this against a mock human model. This was a very effective method and also allowed me to consistently check the centre of mass and proportion of each model. These models can be seen right here and the final product down below…
