The KnifOne
A concept study in digital prototyping, a smartphone case that carries a tool module in the manner of a Swiss army knife.
Final thesis by Christoph Reinhold Berger at the Werkmeisterschule for Mechanical Engineering and Plant
Technology (WIFI Linz), 2015. Constructed in CAD and presented here as an interactive
3D viewer. This page needs JavaScript and WebGL; the thesis itself is readable without both.
The design
A two-part frame holds a Samsung Galaxy S6 and carries a tool module: large and small blade, metal saw,
combination pliers, can opener, bottle opener and Phillips screwdriver fold out on rivets. The back holds a
kickstand for portrait and widescreen use with a USB stick inside it, a sliding mechanism for fisheye lenses,
a mirror, a ruler, a ¼-inch Whitworth tripod thread and a plug-in set with stylus, ballpoint pen and tweezers.
The viewer
34 configurations from the original construction, every motion derived from the CAD data: fold-out tools,
kickstand, disassembly, the exploded module and the plug-in set, a part list with bill-of-material references, eleven lighting presets,
ten metal finishes and five for the frame, a guided tour, the thesis and a gallery of renderings, blueprints and construction photos.
The thesis
Digital Prototyping eines Multitools – Das KnifOne (German, 62 pages, PDF)
Digital Prototyping of a Multitool – The KnifOne (English translation, PDF)
© 2014-2015. All rights reserved. Constructed in SolidWorks, presented with three.js.