Last Minute Woes

Ben and Anna discussing how to fix the grater

Having spread out all our tools and materials in the backyard of the guest house, we hoped that today everything would come together, but we ran into a big problem: there wasn’t enough interaction between the head and the shaft, which caused the new graters to rattle significantly. After discovering the problem in the morning, we spent the rest of the day trying to devise a fix with whatever we had available. As the hours went by, hopes were fading, but thankfully we found a working combination of parts that we could use for a non-chattering machine. By the end of the night, we had the sealant drying and the grater ready to go. Contrary to its successor, Auntie Akosua’s grater gave us no problem as we finished its repairs. Before leaving for the follow-up village trip, we will grate some cassava to break in the two machines.

Jianhan filing down the head

Unexpected design consideration: After applying shea butter to lubricate the chute, dozens of ants swarmed to investigate, yet a few hours later they left without a trace. 

We created a makeshift yet effective grater head level and used it to determine where the head needed more weight.