Gebang leaf is one of Indonesia's natural wealth for various creative industries, such as handicrafts in bags, wallets, hats, etc. One area that is the center of the agel-based handicraft industry is Sentolo District, Kulon Progo, Yogyakarta. One of the handicraft craftsmen from agel fiber is Mrs. Sartini, with the business name Alfin Craft located in Giling Village, Tuksono, Sentolo, Kulon Progo, Yogyakarta. Mrs. Sartini can produce 300 to 500 handicrafts for one month. The average income earned by Mrs. Sartini for one month is Rp. 9,000,000.00.

According to Mrs. Sartini, if the weather is sunny, the drying process using sunlight produces 5 kg of gel every day. However, if cloudy or rainy, it takes 4-5 days to dry 5 kg agel. This condition resulted in delays in the production of agel, which affected the processing time of the craft to be longer than it should be so that the number of goods produced and the profits obtained decreased by 72%.

Based on these problems, the Student Creativity Program team in Science and Technology Application (PKM-PI) Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta (UNY) implemented a dryer with an automatic dye called the Automatic Agel Drying Machine. It consists of Aji Pamungkas (Manufacturing Engineering Department), Annisa Alimah Ufairoh (Physics Education Department), Laatifah (Physics Department), Khakam Ma'ruf (Machine Engineering Department), Hangesti Arum Nuranisa (Management Department), with lecturer supervisor Surono, S.Pd., M.Pd.,

This machine has an even heating system on all sides and an automatic rotating system to produce agel with actual dryness. With this drying machine, the drying time of the gel can be shortened, which is 2-3 hours. Furthermore, this drying machine is also equipped with automatic dyes so that the agel can be colored automatically. Thus, it produces colored agel that is ready to be woven into handicrafts. Continued with the coloring process, added 12 liters of dye water. Then turn on the on button and the heating stove. This process takes 2 hours. The amec application will notify you after the coloring process is complete. After the dyeing process,  through the output faucet. Then continued drying for 1 hour. After that, the agel is ready to be spun and processed into beautiful crafts. (if/witono, ts-Shafia, Alina)

Source Link : http://fmipa.uny.ac.id/id/berita/mahasiswa-uny-ciptakan-mesin-pengering-dan-pewarna-daun-gebang-otomatis