Journal of Design for Sustainable and Environment, Vol. 2 No. 1 (2020) p.

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JDSE Journal of Design for Sustainable and Environment

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e-ISSN : 2682-7441

Innovating Fish Scale Remover using Automated Tool

Mohd Fahrul Hassan1,a*, Mohd Hafiz Ali2,b, Mohd Ayasir Jamaludin3,c

1Faculty of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering,

Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, Parit Raja, 86400 Batu Pahat, Johor, MALAYSIA
2Department of Mechanical Engineering,

Politeknik Kota Kinabalu, 88460 Sepanggar, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, MALAYSIA

3Nas Sutera Engineering, No. 9 Lorong Kurnia, Batu 13 Jalan Kluang, Parit Raja,
Batu Pahat, Johor, MALAYSIA

*Corresponding Author

Email: afahrul@uthm.edu.my, bmohdhafiz@polikk.edu.my, cnassuteraeng@yahoo.com

Received 05 January 2020;
Accepted 15 February 2020;
Available online 10 March
2020
Abstract: Scales are layered flaky skin on the surface of the fish skin that functions as a tool of
defending them from their enemies. The process to remove the scale is troublesome especially for
restaurants. Attempts made so far in development of scale remover tools have been only partially
successful and not effective in replacing manual methods. However, the existing machine is
expensive and it is difficult to be handled. Therefore, this project is intended to overcome the
stated problem by designing and developing a fish remover scale machine. The designed machine
has following a basic design process started from identification of needs, conceptual design,
embodiment design and detail design. Meanwhile, for proof-of-concept testing, the proposed
machine concept has been developed to test the functionality and capability. Several activities
have been included in discussion. As a summary, the fish scale remover machine has been
successfully designed and verified based on the proof-of-concept testing. This machine can be
used to remove the scales from the fish in large quantity and suitable for home or individual
purpose.

Keywords: Fish scale, product design, design for functionality

1. Introduction
Generally, Laksa, sata and fish ball is a fish based food.
Fish belong to groups of cold-blooded animals. Fish lives in
water, breathe through gills and use fins to move. According
to the dictionary, scales are layered flaky skin on the surface
of the fish skin. Scales function as a tool of defending them
from their enemies. Hardness of fish scales are different
depending on the types of fish being used for production [1-
2].
In Bentong, Pahang, Achik’s Corner is so familiar among
Bentong resident. Mr. Razali Bin abdul mutalib, 55 had
started his business since early 1997 with fully support of his
wife Norhaini Binti Jantan, 50. Mr. Razali sells a variety of
food and items, like mee bandung, laksa, hot dishes and also
stationery. Much food at Achik’s Corner is based from fish
and we got the idea to create a fish scale machine through the
problems faced by him during cleaning the fish.
Daily activity of Mr. Razali is taking fishes from a
supplier and brings it to the store to be cleaned. Cleaning
process including the removing fish stomach and it scale. This
process is carried out in large quantities. He will be doing the
cleaning process by standing at the sink with a knife to
complete this process. The knife may hurt his finger.
Restaurant operators or fish traders also use a knife during the
fish cleaning and they also faced the same of problem. There
are some new tools such as sharp toothed brush on the market
but it is not a much help in the process of handling fish
especially in large quantities [3-5].
Achik’s Coner Enterprise was operated since year 1997.
The customers seem to visit oftenly day by day. Today, Mr
Razali needs to prepare much more food to fulfill the
customer needs. We observed that Mr Razali waste his time
only at the fish cleaning process. For the conventional fish
scale removal machine, it was designed to remove the fish
scale by using tank or container to store with water, and
sometime the design of the product is not suitable for variable
size of fish. The vibration produced by conventional fish scale
machine will disturb the removing scale process [6-7].
Usually, Mr Razali use fish scrapper or knife. Thus, we try to

*Corresponding author: fahrul@uthm.edu.my

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 Sapuan, S. Z. et al., Journal of Design for Sustainable and Environment, Vol. 2 No. 1 (2020) p. 1-6

design something new that is more ergonomic to Mr Razali.
There are few products used to remove the fish scale such as
shown in Figure 1.
Conceptual Design -Component decomposition and
function analysis
Component decomposition diagram will be developed in
this section and the purpose of the diagram is to get the initial
visual of what exactly the design will look alike. Also, it can
help designer to figure out the assembly of the assembly of the
component and relation between all the components [6-10].
The product decomposition diagram of the flour sieve
machine is as in Figure 2 and function analysis in Figure 3.

Fig. 1 - Kitchenware that Mr. Razali usually used to remove

the fish scale (knife, scrapper and fork)

Existing Product Identification

Benchmarking can be simply defined as a continuous
process to find and implement best practices that will lead to
superior performance. There are many products available in
the market, but, in this project, three existing products have
been reviewed to be benchmark for the future solution. Table
1 show the Benchmarking of Product Specification available
in the market

Table 1 - Comparison of existing products

Product Fish scale Portable Fish Scale
Category machine Fish Scaler Grinding
Machine Machine

Fig. 2 – Component Decomposition

Capacity (ton) 100 8 8

Weight (KG) 500 kg 22 kg 10.2 kg
Stroke (mm) 178 mm 125 mm 75 mm
Operation Semi auto Semi auto Semi auto
Price (RM) RM 6000 RM 3000 RM 2000
Bearing Bearing
Function Bearing puller
puller puller
Pressure 1000 bar 700 bar 825 bar

Jaw length N/A 252 mm 270 mm

Stainless
Material Cast Iron Stainless steel
steel
Hydraulic
System Hydraulic &
& Pneumatic
transmit Pneumatic
Pneumatic
Power
N/A N/A N/A
transmit
Motor type N/A N/A N/A
Fig. 3 – Function Analysis of Dried Chili Seeds Separator
Adjustable Adjustable
Clamping type Slot
hook hook

Concept Selection
Based on the existing products, most of the inventions After the process of identifying the components and
are focusing on heavy-duty application and using high tech related function for operating the machine, selection for the
device, which may cause the cost of the product, is expensive. suitable concept for each function is made. Table 2 shows the
final concept selection for our product.
2. Proposed Design of Fish Scale Machine
Embodiment Design -Product Architecture
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Product architecture is the arrangement of the physical Screw/Bolt 22

elements of a product to carry out its required functions. Coupling 1
Product architecture begins to emerge in the conceptual
design phase from such things as diagrams of functions, rough
sketches of concepts and perhaps a proof-of-concept model Table 4 – Standard Modules
(Figure 4). Part Quantity
Table 2 – Concept selection Toggle switch 15A 1
Function Specification Selector switch 01 2
Supply power Electricity Motor 2
System transmission Motor
Switch button Have a lamp
Motor DC motor Table 5 – Special Purpose Parts
Power transmission Gear Part Quantity
Weight 30 kg
Hinge 1
Movement method Rotating
Blade 4
Speed adjuster Yes
Stainless steel net 5 meter
Product Design Portable
Shinkable tube 4mm 12 mm
Remove scale Water
Base shape Round
Detail Design - Detail Drawing
Remind stop machine Buzzer
A detail drawing is the most important drawing for
fabrication work. A detail drawing is a drawing of a part
giving a complete and exact description of its form,
dimensions, and construction. Detail drawing must be concise,
in that they convey only the information needed to create the
part, such as the size, type of material, finish, tolerance and
any special instruction. In other word, all information needed
to produce the part should be on the detail drawing. In our
project, the detail drawing as follows.
Part drawing shows the detail of part design in term of
its dimension and material. Overall, the Fish Scale Remover
Machine has 14 parts as shown in Figure 5.

Fig. 4 – Schematic diagram of Fish Scale Remover

Machine

Product Configuration
Configuration design is a form of design where a set
of pre-defined components is given and an assembly of
selected components is sought that satisfies a set of
requirements and obeys a set of constraints.

▪ Standard and special-purpose part

A standard component is usually an individual part,
manufactured in thousands or millions, to the same
specification such as size, weight, material, and others.
Meanwhile, special purpose parts are components that its
operations are limited to the acquisition of specific function. Fig. 5 – Exploded view of fish scale remover machine
The special purpose components are usually subsidiary
components. Table 3 shows the list of standard part. Table 4 A complete assembly drawing is presentation of the
shows the standard modules and Table 5 shows special product or structure put together, showing all parts in their
purpose part. operational positions as in Figure 6 for the proposed design of
fish scale remover machine. An assembly drawing is needed
Table 3 – Standard Parts for all products or inventions that have more than one part.
Part Quantity
Shaft 3

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Process Involved
Generally, each component may involve specific
process either a combination of various processes or just one
process and special machine also required. Table 7 shows the
process involved for each component.

Prototyping Plan
Assembly Manufacturing process is one of the process
including in established the prototype. Effective time
management is highly demand in this stages by make sure that
prototype of the project can be done in time. Table 8 shows
the prototype processes time duration.

Table 7 – Fish scale remover machine work processes

Component Process Involved Machine Involved

Metal cutting
Cutting
machine
Welding
Arc welding device
Grinding
Conventional milling
Drilling
process
Metal cutting
Cutting
machine
Welding
Sheet metal bending
Fig. 6 – Assembly drawing of fish scale remover machine Grinding
Hand grinding tools
Drilling
Hand drilling tools
Cutting Metal cutting
Final Product Design Specification
Welding machine
Once the design of fish scale remover tool confirmed,
Grinding Sheet metal bending
specifications of the product are listed as in Table 6.
Drilling Hand grinding tools
Metal cutting
Table 6 – Specification of Proposed Design Concept Cutting
machine
Welding
Items Specification Sheet metal bending
Grinding
Product Name Fish Scale Remover Machine Hand grinding tools
Drilling
Description A machine that can reduce manpower and Hand drilling tools
help users speed up the process of Metal cutting
Cutting
removing fish scales. machine
Welding
Significant of Removing fish scale automatically Sheet metal bending
Grinding
design according to the required specifications. Hand grinding tools
Drilling
Potential Fish-based product industry. Hand drilling tools
Market Metal cutting
Cutting
Special Fish scale remover machines with machine
Welding
Features reuse water. Sheet metal bending
Grinding
Hand grinding tools
Drilling
3. Prototype Development Hand drilling tools
A prototype is an early sample, model or release of a
product built to test a concept or process or to act as a thing to
be replicated or learned from. It is a term used in a variety of
contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and
software programming. A prototype is designed to test and
trial a new design to enhance precision by system analysts and
users. Prototyping serves to provide specifications for a real,
working system rather than a theoretical one. In engineering
field, prototype is the one of the first units manufactured of a
product, which is tested so that the design can be changed if
necessary before the product is manufactured commercially.
The prototyping model is a systems development method
(SDM) in which a prototype is built, tested, and then
reworked as necessary until an acceptable prototype is finally
achieved from which the complete system or product can now Table 8 – Process time duration
be developed. This model works best in scenarios where not
all of the project requirements are known in detail ahead of Component Process Involved Time (minutes)
time. It is an iterative, trial-and-error process that takes place
between the developers and the users.
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Measuring and
5 minutes
marking
20 minutes
Cutting
Welding and
25 minutes
finishing
Cutting
15 minutes
Measuring and
marking 5 minutes
Cutting 20 minutes
Welding and 25 minutes
finishing 5 minutes

Measuring and
marking
20 minutes
Cutting
20 minutes
Welding and
20 minutes
finishing
15 minutes
Drilling Fig 7 - Prototype of Fish Scale Remover Machine
20 minutes
Tapping

Measuring and 4. Conclusion

marking This case study, we want to design a machine that mainly
5 minutes
Cutting will benefits the company that we have visited and recognized
20 minutes
Welding and their problem statement. Therefore, the methodology used in
25 minutes
finishing this study is very important as we need to determine the patent
that have been registered and have the benchmark that we will
Measuring and use in this project. This benchmark will help us to design a
marking better machine for industrial purpose. Research is important
5 minutes
Cutting thing for new product created. These include stage of research
20 minutes
Welding and in terms of safety, material used to produce the product ability
25 minutes
finishing to function and the results that can be obtained throughout this
research. First, we do the research of fish scale machine to
Measuring and ensure the machines can withstand high vibration from the
marking 3 minutes motor that will be operating. It is because when the engine is
Cutting 20 minutes running, there is no part from the machine that should sway or
Welding and 25 minutes not working.
finishing 5 minutes This machine can help to reduce the time taken for
cleaning the fish scale and it capable to remove more fish
scale in short period of time. Beside that the machines
required less manpower energy and also will increase the
production of the production of the product. This machine is
3.1 Final Prototype designed to remove fish scales especially in a big quantity at
A final prototype of Fish Scale Remover is designed to one time. This machine is using electricity and motor by
test and trial a new design to enhance precision by system applying rotating concept. The main parts in the machines are
analyst and users. Prototyping serves to provide specifications their blade that totally follows the fish shape. We have been
for a real, working system rather than a theoretical one. Figure using principal component of stainless steel by following the
7 shows the final prototype product of Fish Scale Remover design specification for food processing. Using the concept of
Machine. “reuse water where we use the same water for fish cleaning
process. Water reservoir used to prevent fish scales getting
stuck on the serrated surface.
Recently, some trends have emerged that drive the
innovation process. Due to factors such as globalization and
outsourcing, there is an increased push to improve efficiency
and effectiveness of organizations. Organizations need more
than good products to survive; they require innovative
processes and management that can drive down costs and
improve productivity. In this project design, so many things
can be improved. We have been producing the fish scale
remover machine for small medium enterprise in Bentong
Pahang namely Acik’s Corner Enterprise. In order to fabricate
a machine, budget is the most important things in
manufacturing where the budget and profit to be gain must be
considered before manufacturing. Besides that, in production
view, there is much component that can be improvised. Safety
cover can be added at the top of the mechanism to cover the
blade because it seems vulnerable and can easily reach by
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children even the torque provided is low. For versatility, we

can add adjustable stage or blade size that can be adjusted
according to fish size or weight. In other hand, the shape of
the machine can be reduced for more solid shape compared to
existing product. Then, in future the shape of blade must
deformation becomes useful. This machine can easy to move
with apply the wheels on the bottom of the machine. All of the
improvisation can be done in the future. This product also
need a frequently maintenances in order to identify the
weakness of the product so that the improvisation can be
made.

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