Chris:

In America, lots of people like to work on their cars, and they do that from their homes, from their garages.

Ben:

I really liked how this was a fantastic example of a classic industrial design problem.

Doreen:

It is a problem that not many people would think about unless you’re in that industry, but it’s a problem.

Karim:

So, this thing removes all the oil and debris off parts, and you can retain, I think it collects all the oil below, which is critical actually for our environment. So, I think it’s a really nice solution. It’s a beautiful product.

Steve:

Design is often about starting small, getting it right, and then scaling up. Now, this is a story about going the other way, shrinking down a technology to make it more consumer friendly, which I think is much more difficult. Hi, Julie. So, what do we have here?

Julie:

So, this is the CRC Smart Washer parts washing system. And Jake is just cleaning some dirty parts from the garage here. Inside this container, there are microbes living in here. And the microbes are eating the oil and grease that Jake cleans from the dirty parts. And they turn it into carbon dioxide and water so that you have a clean degreasing system the next time you’re ready to clean your parts.

Steve:

But this isn’t what we’re really here to see.

Julie:

No, this is not the innovation. This unit was actually designed for big auto repair shops and industrial environments.

Steve:

But not everyone has a huge garage and shop like this, like fancy Jake.

Julie:

There are a lot of DIY car enthusiasts with their own home garage.

Steve:

Right, right. So, you saw the opportunity and the gap in the market for the smaller guys.

Julie:

Yes.

Steve:

And girls.

Julie:

And girls, that’s right. So, this is what we came up with.

Steve:

Well, it’s smaller.

Julie:

And in concept, it was fantastic, but we had so many little problems with this first unit. This is a double walled unit, which is great, but you can see how shallow the basin is. So, when users will be cleaning their parts, they would get splash out.

And then the biggest problem we were having is this is a drying rack. So, when you finish cleaning your parts, the fluid is dripping down, and it’s supposed to drip into the basin. But what’s happening on this design is that the fluid follows a path to the back of the unit, and then you end up with a big puddle on your workbench.

Steve:

Oh, man. So, it leaks, splashes, and it’s difficult and cumbersome to use.

Julie:

Yeah.

Steve:

Well, at least you didn’t put this out in the market with all those problems, huh?

Julie:

Well, I wish we hadn’t, but we did.

Really, we’re an aerosol manufacturing company, and we knew we needed some help.

Steve:

So, then you realized you needed to engage a good industrial designer?

Julie:

Yeah, exactly. And that’s when we reached out to the BOLTGROUP.

David:

I’m like the perfect consumer, I discovered. Every time I’m under the hood of my car, part of that enthusiasm is feeding into my work as a designer. And so, for a project like this, it definitely made sense. And it was really, really exciting, once we were underway and getting started.

Will:

I love these sketches. There’s really rich ideation and iteration here, but also it looks like you’re really thinking through the engineering of this thing.

David:

As we kind of move through the design process, we’re trying to figure out all of the tasteful details that are going to really make this product sing and be really close to our original design intent. Ultimately, where we arrived was here. And so, with the end design, we had something that felt really, really tool-like and would feel at home in this garage environment.

All right, so one of the things that was really actually a huge challenge to solve, believe it or not, was just a hinge.

Will:

Of course. It seems so obvious. A hinge?

David:

Right. So, this is the closed position, but as it opens and inverts, it actually forms a perfectly closed area where water can actually flow downhill and actually drains through an exit hole right back into the main wall of the basin.

Here’s our BenchtopPRO unit. Let me show you how this works. Let’s open it up and turn it into our work area. And I’m gonna use this just as though I was washing dishes at home.

Will:

Here you’re cleaning a piston, but I’m sure some of these parts get a little heavy. How much can this thing hold?

David:

You know what? It’s actually really impressive. This basin can actually hold up to 100 pounds of weight.

Will:

Oh, wow.

David:

And our drying rack can actually hold 75 all by itself.

Will:

That’s cool. I understand one of the biggest problems that you had to solve was where does the fluid go?

David:

Right. For this product, we wanted to do something really new and kind of clever, actually. And that was to try and store all the fluid inside so that when you tipped it on its end, it would never spill out, and you’d never have any waste.

Will:

So. is there a chamber or something? How’s that work?

David:

You know what? It’s probably easier if I just show you.

Will:

Okay. David, I’ve never felt more manly. Look at this.

David:

Yeah, so all of this empty space all through here is actually where all the fluid is stored.

Will:

That’s so cool. And this holds what? A gallon?

David:

Actually, three gallons.

Will:

Oh, wow.

As designers, we’re often thinking about scale. The biology and technology that was used to clean up the oceans after oil spills have now been scaled down to be used in commercial settings and residential settings like this right here. All of these decisions, all of these materials, all of these processes working together to create a holistic and clean, intuitive piece of design.

The BenchtopPRO is a game-changer, making a technology proven in large industrial and automotive facilities more accessible for home garages and small repair shops. Learn more about how we designed it here.