Matt allowed his tea to grow cold while he explained the engineering process involved in making a pedal-powered drill for use in developing countries. I didn’t drink my tea either as I grappled with the concept of creating a drill out of old bicycle parts.

In his second year at the University of Brighton, Matt is studying for a degree in Product Design Technology. In April 2008, his lecturer was approached by ‘Engineering Without Borders’ who were looking for students to design machines and devices from the bicycles that the company give to the developing countries.

‘The idea was that anybody could construct this drill and anybody could use it, whatever their physical strength,’ Matt said. He and three other students worked for four months to design and build the drill. Matt then created an instruction manual which used simple diagrams and no written words, so it would be understandable to anyone from any culture with any amount of education. Matt spent time consulting Merlin from ‘Engineering Without Borders,’ who has managed to design and make a pump using tennis balls. The manual is twelve pages of picture diagrams. There are even templates to guide the user to the size of the gears needed.

So how do you make a pedal-powered drill? Imagine the revs per minute that’s used for a spin on a washing machine. That’s the equivalent revs per minute the team had to achieve for the drill. Matt said: ‘We started off by turning the bicycle upside down to use the back wheel as a fly wheel to give continuous momentum.’ Then they used the gears and linked them together to increase the speed to 1200 rpm.

After that the gear assembly was attached to a hand drill which was clamped in a fixed position. There’s more: ‘We were instructed to only use bits that the community would have and we were told there would be plenty of car jacks around,’ he said. So the drilling platform was raised and lowered using a car jack.

At the moment Matt is doing work experience with a company that designs animations. But he’s been told that ‘Engineering Without Borders’ is looking for students for work placements. ‘I’m very keen to work with them. The idea of designing something that can be used to help people in developing countries really appeals to me.’

I asked Matt whether he has had feedback from the communities that are building and using the pedal powered drills. He replied, ‘I should hear soon and I’m really looking forward to finding out how people got on with them.’ At last he sipped his tea and unwrapped a biscuit.

For pictures and diagrams go to Matt James Herd Design Website and click the Drill project section.