Over-Engineering an Egg Cracking Machine
Eggs are perhaps the most beloved staple of breakfast. However, they come with a flaw, they are incredibly messy to work with. Cracking in particular leaves egg on one’s hands and countertop, requiring frequent hand washing. This fundamental flaw of eggs inspired [Stuff Made Here] to fix it with an over-engineered egg cracking robot.
The machine works on the principle of scoring a line along an egg shell to weaken it, then gently tapping it to fracture the shell. A simple theory that proved complex to build into a machine. The first challenge was merely holding an egg as eggs come in all shapes and sizes. [Stuff Made Here] ended up settling on silicone over-molded with a 3D printed structure. After numerous prototypes, this evolved into including over-molded arms for added stiffness, and a vacuum seal for added rigidity.
After making two of these holders, [Stuff Made Here] added them to a roughly C shaped holder, which could spin the egg around, and slide the holders to allow fitting any egg shape. To this was added an arm which included a scoring blade and tiny hammer to crack the egg. The hammer can even be turned off while the blade is in use.
The over-molded egg holder
The mechanism runs off a sequence of score, hammer, dump, eject. It was attempted to run this sequence off a single crank, but ended up not working for a number of reasons, not least of which being some eggs required more scoring then others. Nonetheless, we love the mechanical computational mechanism used. Ultimately, while frivolous, the project provides a wonderful look at the highs and lows of the prototyping process with all its numerous broken eggs.
If you like over-engineered solutions to simple problems, [Stuff Made Here] has you covered. Make sure to check out this automatic postcard machine next!
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