Not So Hurry-Cane

The Challenge for this project was to make something that is considered "Terrible Technology," or something that does its job poorly or makes people's lives harder. The design of my cane was meant to make it so that the cane you are using can barely support its own weight much less the weight of anyone trying to use it.

It was a fairly simple design and the largest part of the time was just 3-d printing as trying to get the 3D printed inserts to come out the right size took me a few tries.

What you'll need to make this, not that you'd ever want to, is a walking cane (preferably one that is no longer in use), some simple 3-d modelling software, and a 3-d printer.

Step 1: Working Order

I started with an old walking cane, brand name the Hurry-Cane.

It separated into three pieces so that it could fold down as needed; however, the cord that runs through the middle was missing and so I took several feet of bungie cord, cut it down and replaced what was missing so that the cane would operate normally so that I could then make it operate abnormally.

Step 2: Designing the Parts

The next step was to create some inserts that could go between each of the three cane parts that would prevent it from collapsing down and operating as a cane should.

I used tinker-cad because it was a simple design I needed done quickly. I took a simple cylinder shape and cropped it down to have a space for the cord to slide in and sit in the middle and then printed.

Step 3: Adding the Parts & Completion

The final step is pretty easy, I coloured the parts to match the color of my cane making them blend in more and then attached them to the cord so that my once working "Hurry-Cane" was no longer very good at its job of being a cane.