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!