Raffle Tumblers for Ducks Unlimited
When our friends at Duck’s Unlimited came to us for help in creating raffle tumblers for their stores, we “rolled” into action.
The Design Process
Taking their paper sketches and requirements, we created low fidelity prototypes to take our designs for a test “spin”. We faced many challenges along the way: tickets stuck to the tumbler walls so we had to add in a churning piece, the spinning system we originally used wasn’t smooth enough, the door hatch wasn’t user friendly so we moved it. Iteration after iteration, we found more ways to improve our designs until we came up with a feasible design.
The Engineering Process
Using scrap material, we “rolled out” the first high fidelity prototype. We performed tensile tests of yield strength and ultimate tensile strength to ensure the tumblers would be stable. The stand and turning system came next. Putting all three together and running usability studies, we felt confident we had come up with the final design. Ducks Unlimited had the final approval before we went to production.
The Fabrication Process
Our large capacity CNC Router was used to cut .25” acrylic sheets to make the outside tumbler wall. We then used our free-standing heating trays to soften the plastic at each of the eight bending points. We chemically bonded the plastic churning pieces to the inside of the tumbler walls to help “fluff” up the tickets as it spun. We created a new spinning mechanism using Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMW) for the tumbler rotation that glided like butter. We finally solved all the design challenges and created two different sizes. These final prototypes were just the “ticket” they needed.
The Final Product
We happily shipped off their tumblers, just in time for their calendar raffle on December 31st. Their calendar is a one of their fundraising effort that raises critical funds for DU's conservation mission and helps preserve their waterfowl hunting heritage for future generations. For more information on how to purchase a Ducks Unlimited 2023 calendar, including a raffle ticket for free merchandise all year long, visit https://www.duckscalendar.org