Sustainable Dorm Room Clothesline

The typical dorm room has very few options to hang clothes out to dry, meanwhile dryers require huge amounts of energy and time to insufficiently dry one's clothes. We set out to design a solution for colleges to make available to students to make it easier to hang up laundry in their dorms. This design is small, practical, and sustainable!

You will need the following materials and tools for this project:

• 2 tennis balls
• Rope (~14 feet)
• Sheet metal (scraps work great!)
• Metal bender
• Lighter
• Small knife

Optional:

• Fusion 360 modeling software
• Plasma cutter machine

What makes our materials sustainable?

• We learned that the Carleton College tennis team goes through hundreds of tennis balls each term because they wear down and lose bounciness after frequent use. A box of used tennis balls sits in the Anderson basement. Using these tennis balls makes our design more versatile in regards to where it can be hung, and also gives these tennis balls a new purpose.
• The rope was provided to our college for free from a company that relocates rejected items. The spool for the rope was damaged and therefore a previous customer had rejected it. Without programs like this, this rope would have likely ended up in the landfill.

Use a small knife to puncture an “X” on each side of the tennis balls. The length of each knife cut should be about the diameter of your rope.

Additionally, cut the rope to the desired length (about 14 feet, or long enough to reach across the target room).

Feed the rope through each tennis ball, and tie a secure knot at the end of each rope. Metal tubing is helpful in getting the rope through the hole in the tennis ball.

Use the lighter to burn the ends of the rope to prevent fraying. 

Using Fusion 360 software and the dimensions of the door to model the size of metal needed for the hook, as well as where the holes and groove should be.

Attached is the PDF of this design, with the dimensions indicated.

Once designed, send the Fusion 360 model to the Plasma Cutter to cut. Make sure to wear proper safety equipment for this step!

After the edges of the metal have been sanded down, bring over to the metal bender. At the indicated notches, bend in the proper direction to create the desired shape.

And there you have it!

At the Carleton College Makerspace, we are lucky to have access to CAD modeling software and plasma cutting machine which aid in the creation of this design. However, if you don't have access to these tools, you can still make this design! A metal bender is still required.

Once the measurements of the door have been taken, take a thin strip of recycled metal. First, use the measurements to indicate where the strip should be bent. Then use a metal bender to form the hook. Use a drill to create the notch for the rope to hang from.