2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Taco Holder Laboratory Project

In this project, students used manufacturing processes to produce a taco holder with three 60-degree bends. The taco holder was made from 22 ga. (0.031 inch) stainless steel sheet metal. The taco holder measures 10 in. by 4 in. and it has three evenly spaced bends, with each bend spaced 2.5 inches apart. The purpose of the student project was to design a laboratory to bend sheet metal into the desired taco holder shape and allow this process to be replicated for undergraduate mechanical engineering students.

To accomplish this, students modified a 60-degree press brake attachment including a V-punch and die. The die was cut to 1 ft length to fit the hydraulic shop press. Students modified the design of the bottom tab of the die and drilled mounting holes in the base plate to ensure that the die could be securely attached to the press. This was helpful for students in creating bends that have consistent shape.

Once the die and base plate was attached to the press, an Imada digital force gauge was attached to the punch and die assembly. The gauge was used to measure the applied force during the creation of each V-bend, which is critical for achieving the correct bending angle while accounting for material spring-back. From calculations, students determined that a bend allowance of 0.9 in. was required for each bend accounting for the stretching of the material during the bending process. For each bend, the calculated force required was 2,384 N for 22 ga. stainless steel sheet metal to achieve the correct bending angle.

One challenge that students encountered during the design phase was determining the proper order in which to perform the bends. Since the taco holder will feature three bends that are close together, it was important to have sufficient clearance to ensure that each bend was properly executed. After evaluating different designs, students decided that bending the sheet metal starting from one end and working towards the other end would allow sufficient clearance for all bends to be completed.

Students modeled the taco holder in SOLIDWORKS and simulated the bending process from the flat stainless steel sheet metal using Ansys Mechanical and the Static Structural Analysis System. A detailed tutorial from Ansys simulations together with the new laboratory manual developed by students in this project are included as appendices to this paper. Experimental bending forces were compared with Ansys simulations and theory for V-bending. This paper will also include a description of student outcomes, student involvement and response and an assessment of the student learning procedure.