Here are the pictures from Marie and Mikaela taking apart a combine:
Taking things apart
(Sorry for the formatting issues; I don’t have the ability to edit Marie’s posts)
Marie and I were tasked with taking apart a combind, which is a printer-like device that spiral-binds stacks of papers together into book form. The pictures above are largely in sequential order, beginning with the initial combind before we began dismantling.
We found that the combind’s exterior consists of a large, plastic cover connected to a cast-iron base by several screws. We ended up breaking off the plastic casing by accident, as the screws had been largely sealed in place due to the angles of the plastic casing.
The interior of the combind consists of several key areas: a hole punching area, which has rows of sharp pieces of metal which we believe are designed to punch holes in the paper for preparation for binding. We found that one of these moving pieces was out of alignment, possibly suggesting why this combind had been discarded in the first place. We believe that the gaps in the hole-punching apparatus at the side are designed for paper to fit through; after the paper is fed into the slots on the side of this apparatus, the gear shaft spins to move the metal pieces through the paper, effectively creating uniform, rectangular holes inside of the paper.
This rotating motion is likely driven by the hexagonal gear shaft and gear system that we found further up in the body of the combind. We note that the hexagonal gear shaft is useful for guaranteeing that the gear cannot slip off of the shaft–regardless of the torque applied, the hexagonal-hole on the gear will not rotate on a hexagonal shaft (compared to a circular shaft). We also found a second, larger hexagonal gear shaft which we believe is connected to the handle on the exterior of the combind, and this second gear shaft is used to drive the rotating motion necessary for plastic-binding the punched pieces of paper. We believe that the various metal combs that we found in the upper parts of the combind are necessary for separating the plastic binding, and rotating the gear shaft moves the metal combs to spread the plastic binding apart and then reseal it through the hole-punched papers, effectively binding the device.
Attached also is a general report of our findings from the combind, including the tools used and material composition.