Finger Guard for an Electric Iron
Our client is visually impaired and wished to use her iron but was afraid to because of the risk of the hot bottom plate of the iron touching and burning her fingers. I designed a finger guard that keeps her fingers well away from the hot plate and allows her to use the iron safely.
The Challenge
Our client is visually impaired and wished to use her iron but was afraid to because of the risk of the hot bottom plate of the iron touching and burning her fingers.
The client had identified some commercial products that may have worked but these were no longer available. One of these was made by “Maxiaids” and consisted of a frame that somehow fixed to the iron and two slightly bent plastic rods that would sit alongside of the base of the iron and prevent the user’s fingers from getting too close to the hot base plate of the iron.
The plan was to make something similar but bespoke for her iron.
The solution
The client’s iron is actually an ironing station that consists of a base unit which holds water and creates steam and an iron which sits on top of it when not being used and is lifted off to do some ironing. There is a plastic transport clip at the front of the base which can hook over the front of the iron so locking it in place (the other end of the iron hooks onto two large lugs in the base) and the whole assembly can be lifted using the handle on the iron.
To keep the client’s fingers away from the hot plate on the iron, the plastic rods would need to go close to the front end of the iron but these would be in the way when the transport clip was used. Hence these plastic rods would need to be detachable.
I was able to borrow the iron for a few days which allowed me to design and fine tune the 3D printed assembly. A central platform was fixed to the iron using four 3D printed feet which were stuck to the iron with double sided adhesive foam pads. Each side of the iron then has an assembly of two parts (for ease of 3D printing and allowing some adjustments for best positioning): a support piece and the protective rod. These assemblies slide into the platform and are held by a ratchet; they can easily be slid out when necessary. A secondary requirement was not to limit the access to the steam button on the underside of the handle, hence the platform had to be as low as possible.
The benefit
Very simply – the client can now do some ironing for the first time since losing her sight. This is an extract from an email from the client:
“The ironing guard is working fantastically well. I can now iron safely without burning my fingers for the first time since … 6 years ago!
Putting the side bars on and off is straight forward and they stay on securely. I have not needed to make any adjustments to the height settings of the bars. The clearance between the hand grip and steam button and the guard mount on the steam chamber is fine and does not interfere with me using the iron and steam button. Overall the guard does exactly what was requested and it also looks elegant and well made.
Thank you so much for taking on this project and restoring a small element of my independence.”
- Skills involved:
- Issues Addressed:
- Activities Helped:
- Location:
- Solution:
