Thumb-Tack Bike Rack
For the final project of Mechanics of Solids and Structures in spring 2013, I worked on a team of three to design, prototype and analyze a bike rack solely supported by thumb-tacks.
One of the constraints of living in the dorms is our inability to drill holes in the walls. For a few students, including myself, it was inconvenient to not have an indoor bike rack. We wanted to hang our bikes in order to maximize floor space and store our bikes elegantly. Wall mounted bike stands usually require many screws and metal support bars, but given our constraint we were determined to use only thumb-tacks to support the rack. We tested the force which common thumbtacks can support in drywall at various angles and used this inform a new design. Our bike rack design can fully support a bike using only 4 thumbtacks in a wall. The tacks are subjected to shear force, which allows the tacks to withstand high loading. A copy of our report can be found here.
One of the constraints of living in the dorms is our inability to drill holes in the walls. For a few students, including myself, it was inconvenient to not have an indoor bike rack. We wanted to hang our bikes in order to maximize floor space and store our bikes elegantly. Wall mounted bike stands usually require many screws and metal support bars, but given our constraint we were determined to use only thumb-tacks to support the rack. We tested the force which common thumbtacks can support in drywall at various angles and used this inform a new design. Our bike rack design can fully support a bike using only 4 thumbtacks in a wall. The tacks are subjected to shear force, which allows the tacks to withstand high loading. A copy of our report can be found here.