January 24, 2004

By: Alex Gore
Website: http://www.1st-in-toys.com

Toy innovators use SolidWorks to expand company focus and create consumer health care breakthrough

One of the world’s leading toy invention, design, and development firms has used SolidWorks 3D mechanical design software to broaden its customer base and bring innovations to the consumer health care market.

Rehkemper Invention & Design of Chicago has created a revolutionary dental care system that incorporates a toothbrush, tongue brush, and oral irrigator in one device. The AquaSonic WaterJet ä Oral Care System, developed for Altitude Plus, went on sale at Wal-Mart and other stores. It requires no batteries or electricity because it works on air pressure similar to Rehkemper’s toy plane designs. The device holds two mouthfuls of water or mouthwash and sprays for 30 seconds after pumping.

We designed everything in SolidWorks right down to the bristles, said Steve Rehkemper, CEO of the company behind blazingly fast yo-yos, the world’s first radio-controlled toy helicopters, and affordable air-powered planes. In fact, we’ve used SolidWorks to design all our products and have seen instant payback from the start. It was easier to see what we were designing with SolidWorks’ 3D models than with drawings, continuous mockups, or the cumbersome 3D models from other computer-aided design packages we tried. SolidWorks has reduced our time to production by more than 50 percent and has basically fueled our company’s growth over the years. The risk/reward ratio was highly favorable compared with the expensive design packages like Pro/E.

SolidWorks’ ease of use and efficiency were key factors enabling Rehkemper’s manufacturing partner to get the AquaSonic WaterJet ä on the market quickly and keep development costs low, savings that go right back to the consumer. Rehkemper says the same efficiencies have also helped the company develop:

• The world’s first radio-controlled helicopter that is simple, safe, and affordable enough to be called a toy. It retails at major toy and department store chains for only one-third of the cost of the least expensive hobby grade radio-controlled helicopters, and is much more durable.

• An air motor the size of a sugar cube that will soon be on store shelves in the world’s smallest air-powered planes. It will also go into four-inch-long, record-small air-powered cars capable of traveling the equivalent of a quarter-mile at its scale in three seconds. The company is sponsoring the Interdisciplinary Product Development program at University of Illinois at Chicago to research, identify, and develop new product applications for the mini air motor in fields of use other than toys.

• Yo Baby! yo-yos, including the Yo-Air, whose open-frame design gives it a 34-percent higher energy-to-weight ratio than standard designs.

Toys present some extremely compelling engineering challenges whose solutions can be extended to other important industries, said SolidWorks Vice President of Marketing Ilya Mirman. And of course, making toys safe, fun, and affordable to kids is important all by itself. As is apparent, SolidWorks is the 3D mechanical design software of choice for an astounding range of industries and applications, and its flexible design capabilities help companies like Rehkemper demonstrate their versatility in dramatic ways.

About The Author:

Alex Gore is a successful author and regular contributor to http://www.1st-in-toys.com.  Find all the toys you wish you had as a kid. Fun and educational toys found here.