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This week we were tasked with have two complete mechanisms, one that worked with a 3-D printed handle, and the other that is autonomous and ran by an Arduino motor.

This mechanism project has been rather difficult for me, I have utilized meeting with Brian and Kelly for some help on it, but I struggled to come up with a solution to my autonomous mechanism. My Rack and Pinion is reciprocating so finding a way to get it to move in a loop has proven to be very difficult.

Below is my iteration with the 3-D printed handle as well as a video on how it operates. I am very pleased with how this came out. I had laser cut a hole in the right side of my slider in order to get it to slide. I had initially hope to have it on the wheel, but it was no connected to my slider, therefore it did not move how I had anticipated.

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Overall, I know I did not have my autonomous mechanism working, but overall I am very pleased with the progress I have made throughout the semester. I am trying to not be too hard on myself as this process has been rather frustrating for me, I have had no prior knowledge on these mechanisms so the progress I had seen myself make has been positive. I have made over 15 different iterations on this mechanism, so it is all about the process!

 

I hope to meet with Kelly with this week and ask for some more advice on my Arduino model and will have an update this week!

This week, I had met with Brian to get some help with my mechanism. Watching and working with Brian on Fusion 360 and CAD was very helpful and he showed me a lot of tips to use moving forward. I wanted to have a functional mechanism on chipboard before I went on and started with the acrylic. After my meeting with Brian, I went to the lab and cut out my chipboard.

Putting together the mechanism went a lot better than my previous iteration last week. My measurements were all correct, and every component worked well together. I found some quarter inch screws in the work bench and used them for my gears. Below was my final iteration using the chip board.

 

I was happy my mechanism came out well. However, there were a few things I would have to change when I started with the acrylic. After class I took a trip over to Lowe’s and found quarter-inch screws that were a little smaller. The screws I used in my chipboard iteration, the heads were overlapping and catching on each other. I found screws that looked more fitting for my mechanism.

Monday in class we will be showing our mechanisms, I hope mine is operable on the acrylic. The next iteration of our mechanism will be using Arduinos to power the mechanism. I am excited to progress with this project, and I hope to have a fully functional mechanism at the conclusion !

Below is my iteration using acrylic for the first time. Brian and I had cut out some spacers to ensure the fit was correct. After I laser cut the mechanism, it was time to assemble it. Assembly did not go as smooth as I had initially thought it would, but once it was all put together it operated well. There a few things I would like to go back and take a look at. My mechanism does not do a full rotation and only uses up the bottom rack, this is something that should be relatively easy to fix.

Front of Mechanism:

Back of Mechanism:

 

Mechanism Project Update

This week we have been tasked with creating our mechanism’s using acrylic. My first iteration, which I used chip-board for did not come out the way I had hoped it would. During our meetings with Kelly with and Brian, Brian was able to provide me with a lot of help designing my mechanism on Fusion 360. Below is the outcome from our session together.

My initial design on the chipboard did not operate the way I had hoped, because of this, I would like to do a second iteration on chipboard to ensure my mechanism operates correctly with little to no error. I had began to look on various sites for screws and bolts to implement into my acrylic design, and believe I found just the right screw I was looking for.

These shoulder screws should help make my mechanism function properly and I decided I would like them sized at a 1/4″. I will now be able to account for the size of my mechanism in Fusion and make sure everything it set at the right size. I hope to meet with Brian again this week to go over any questions I have left, and finally get a finished, more polished iteration on my chipboard. After the completion of my chipboard, it will be time to cut my acrylic and start piecing together my final product!

 

I am excited to finish up this mechanism, as it has been pretty difficult for me so far. Meetings with faculty have helped me drastically, and I am excited to have a finished product for class next Monday!

TE 303 Week 5: Mechanism Projects

This week in class we were tasked with creating a printing a mechanism given to us. Fusion 360 and a laser cutter were both utilized to bring this mechanism to life.

 

I am not familiar with Fusion 360, as this semester was my first introduction to it. In just a few short weeks, I have seen my skills progress using the software. However, there is much more to learn!

 

The mechanism I was tasked with creating is a rack and pinion (Inserted below). This mechanism uses a circular gear (the pinion) which then engages fixed or linear gear (the rack). We cut the mechanisms out on Chipboard and used paper holders for construction.

 

When designing this mechanism on Fusion 360, I had struggled early and often, after some different iterations, I was able to complete the mechanism and got it ready to be laser cut using the Ruby Trotec software.

 

Below I will include my sketches and how I had it set up to be cut!

Though my final version was not perfect, I am happy with how it turned out. This software was not easy for me to learn, so I would recommend to anyone this software is new for, is to insert photos as a sketch and use that as a visual aid to help along the process.

Another recommendation of mine would be to make sure the units are set to inches in Fusion, this is a mistake I have made several times while using fusion, so it is important to always be mindful when creating your sketches!

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