Pizza Cutter Redesign

1. Product Introduction
A pizza cutter (or pizza wheel) is a tool used to cut pizzas in smaller pieces. It was invented by the Italian Silvio Pacitti in 1708. It is curious to notice that the pizza cutter was invented way before (almost two centuries!) the first pizza was made (by Raffaele Esposito, in Italy, in the late 1880s) This tool is preferred to a straight knife or scissors, because it makes more precise slices of pizza with less effort. From a physical point of view, the knife requires a horizontal back and forth movement of the hand, which causes a high kinetic friction between the blade and the pizza dough. The pizza cutter instead uses a circular cutter. The person applies a down vertical pressure on the cutter, causing the wheel to move forward, because of the relation between centripetal force and velocity Fc=mv2/r (Fig. 1).

Fig.1 - Kinematics on Pizza Cutter (1)

Even more, the rolling friction between the wheel and the dough in the cut has a much lower value than the kinetic friction that is present using the knife. Applying less effort in cutting has the benefits to increase the life tool, obtain a more precise cut but most important it reduces the internal stress on the wrist of the person cutting the pizza. This is very beneficial for people working in pizzerias, who have to repeat the movement several times per day.

1.1 Desired Product Specifications

The desired product specifications are: Light weight (below 300 grams) High quality stainless-steel cutter to guarantee sharpness and strength Light weight non slippery handle, plastic materials preferred (polypropylene or polystyrene based resins) Relatively small dimensions (8-10 cm for the cutting wheel, max allowed dimensions 18x16x2 cm)

These dimensions will be the basis for the redesign of a pizza cutter.

1.2 Improved Product Specifications

The biggest limitations of common pizza cutters are: Safety risks related to the absence of protections around the blade (the hand could slip if the handle is becoming oily after many uses and deposits of pizza ingredients on it); Common handles dont allow the down vertical pressure that would be ideal to reduce the cutting effort; Hygienic issues: the normal handle doesnt avoid the hand touching the pizza, especially for small angles between the handle and the pizza.

Changing the handle and adding security barriers are elements which can be added to the design of an improved pizza cutter.

1.3 Market research

The price range of pizza cutters on the market for the final consumer is generally between 5 and 20$, excluded some high quality products which can cost up to 30$. Some of the brands that manufacture pizza cutters are: American Metalcraft Dexter-Russell Pylones KitchenAid SoftWork

Here are some models found online (2):

SoftWorks Pizza Wheel

Price: $7.99 Product Features High-quality stainless steel blade means sharpness and strength Non-slip handle absorbs pressure, putting less tension on hands Oversized handle reduces stress Dishwasher Safe Product Details Product Dimensions: 4 x 1 x 9.5 inches Shipping Weight: 1 pounds

Fig. 2 - SoftWorks Pizza Wheel (3)

KitchenAid Pizza Cutter Price: $15.34 Product features Colour: Red Stainless Steel blade Finger guard Durable ergonomic handle Product Details Product Dimensions: 1.2 x 3.5 x 8 inches Shipping Weight: 1 pounds Fig.3 - KitchenAid Pizza Cutter (4) Zyliss Pizza Slicer with Crust Cutter Price: $11.66 Product Features Pizza slicer with crust cutter Innovative "crust-cutter" easily slices thick and crispy crusts in hard to reach corners Perfect for cutting pizza, lasagna and other baked goods Ergonomic handle designed for comfort and leverage Snap-on blade cover for safe storage Fig.4 - Zyliss Pizza Slicer with Crust Cutter (5) Product Details Product Dimensions: 8 x 1.2 x 3.8 inches Shipping Weight: 1 pounds

The production of pizza cutters is mainly made in China (6). The production can be highly automated, so a production of around 5000 pieces per day can be achieved, reducing also the production costs. The high production volumes can bring the cost from 2 to 6$ per piece, depending on the complexity of the part.

1.4 Manufacturing Processes

The following manufacturing processes are used for the main parts of the pizza cutter: For the wheel: o automated stamping process; o tempering (to obtain balance between strength and durability); o rectification (to obtain right dimension and shape). For the handle: o automated stamping process; o polishing (to obtain final surface finishing). After the final assembly: o washing; o blade sharpening.

1.5 Potential Useful Life and Recycling

Stainless steel can be recycled, as well as polystyrene resins to produce new products, avoiding waste. The potential useful life of the product can be around 1-2 years for frequent daily uses (for pizzerias); much longer useful life can be reached for occasional private domestic users.

2. Photo of Product

Fig. 5- Front View of the WMF Pizza Cutter

Fig. 6- Perspective View of the WMF Pizza Cutter

Fig. 7- Lateral View of the WMF Pizza Cutter

The pizza cutter in the picture is made by WMF. The camera used is OLYMPUS FE-20. The original resolution of the first picture (fig.5) is 2048 X 1536 pixels, original size 765 Kb. The original resolution of the second picture (fig.6) is 2048 X 1536 pixels, original size 776 Kb. The original resolution of the third picture (fig.7) is 2048 X 1536 pixels, original size 771 Kb.

3. Drawings, Dimensions, Tolerances

The design of the pizza cutter has been executed with the software Ugs SolidEdge, which allows to create cad drawings from the 3d part, adding the desired tolerances with ease. Below are shown a 3d picture of the final assembly (fig.8), the drawing with the 3 main views and one isometric view (fig.9) and the same drawing with the main dimensions and tolerances (fig.10).

Fig.8 3d Pizza Cutter Final Assembly

Fig.9 Pizza Cutter drawing with main views

Fig.10 Pizza Cutter Drawing with main Dimensions and Tolerances The main dimensions of the part are 16x15.8x2 cm. They fit the maximum allowed dimensions requested in the product specification (18x16x2 cm). The materials added on the software for the components are: Stainless steel for the wheel; Polystyrene for the pin and the handle.

With these materials, the software estimates a weight of 0,298 kg, meeting the requirement of 300 g as maximum weight.

4. Forces, Stresses, Weights

For the design, the maximum allowed dimensions (defined looking at similar products) and the forces (fig.11) and stresses acting on the pin had been considered.

Fig.11 - Forces Diagram on Pin

The maximum force applied by a man using the pizza cutter is considered to be Ftot= 100 N, so on each side F= Ftot/2=50 N. Other data used for the design:

Safety factor X = 3 max (polystyrene) =43,436969 MPa shear stress = max/2= 21,7184845 MPa

The minimum desired c.s.a for the pin is given by:

(eq. 1) The designed pin size is c.s.a = 200 mm2 > c.s.amin , so it should easily tolerate the stresses required, and it has been also over-sized to guarantee a longer tool life. The variation of stresses while varying the force on the designed pin is given from the following tables (T.1 and T.2) and graph (G.1):

T. 1- Geometric Data

G. 1 Shear Stress Variation on Pin increasing the Force T. 2- Forces and Stresses

5. References
(1) circular_orbit.gif [Online Image] Available at <http://dept.physics.upenn.edu/courses/gladney/phys150/lectures/lecture_nov_22_1999.html> Last accessed 30 Mar 11 (2) Amazon http://www.amazon.com Pizza cutter last accessed 30 Mar 11

(3) - SoftWorks Pizza Wheel [Online Image] Available at < http://www.amazon.com/SOFTWORKS-80751-SoftWorks-PizzaWheel/dp/B000066OIJ/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1301686190&sr=8-7> last accessed 30 Mar 11 (4) - KitchenAid Pizza Cutter [Online Image] Available at < http://www.amazon.com/KitchenAid-Cooks-Pizza-WheelRed/dp/B001POYYCA/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1301686190&sr=8-11> last accessed 30 Mar 11 (5) - Zyliss Pizza Slicer with Crust Cutter [Online Image] Available at < http://www.amazon.com/Zyliss-Pizza-Slicer-CrustCutter/dp/B002HZ2YZK/ref=sr_1_17?ie=UTF8&qid=1301686190&sr=8-17> last accessed 30 Mar 11 (6) Alibaba http://www.alibaba.com Pizza cutter last accessed 30 Mar 11