Design And Fabrication Of An Incense Stick Making Machine

The design and fabrication of a low cost pedal operated incense-stick making machine to alleviate the labor intensive work associated with the production of bamboo-cored incense sticks is outlined in this paper. The machine is based on the mechanism of extruding the incense stick paste over the bamboo stick. The main components of this machine include a foot-pedal a compound gear-train system rack and pinion system and an extruder. As the paste used is of a semi-solid nature and a high force was needed for extrusion a confined compression test using Universal Testing Machine was carried out to obtain rough estimates of the force required for the extrusion. During this experiment a known force was applied varied and exerted on the rack until the paste was extruded out of the die. Using this force estimate FEA analysis and theoretical calculations a suitable two-stage compound gear-train system and a foot-pedal was designed. The lever and gear-train system was designed ergonomically so that the applied force results in a minimal muscle fatigue for the operator.