Well finally this class has come to a close and overall I would say that I feel quite good about it. Throughout the course I feel I have gained a solid understanding of the design process from end to beginning, the main idea I took out of all of this is that you need to be incredibly thorough throughout the entire process and not just jump to the end and focus everything on the final product. The rough ideas you begin the process with really shape the final outcome of your whole design as much as it may not seem like it when you first start. It seemed in the beginning of the semester that all of the simplistic ideas we were asked to come up with were just busy work, but I can look back now and see that those ideas, however rough they were, became a solid basis for the rest of our more extravagant ideas to build off of, ultimately leaving us with a reasonably successful and somewhat well thought out design.
When it comes to manufacturing I’ve learned first and foremost just how much time you really need to commit to this process in order to get an end product that you are happy with and more importantly one that actually works as you intended. As a team we spent a lot of time in the shop trying to quickly and properly learn how to use the different machines and also a lot of time in the classroom trying to figure out just how exactly to constrain everything so that our machine could maybe run smoothly. I also really value having learned so much CAD, which I feel will be a reoccurring skill in my life. This tool is so incredibly useful throughout the design process and while I wish I had learned even more about it, thanks to this class I feel I have a strong enough basic understanding of CAD that I can continue to teach myself on my own time and apply this knowledge in other classes.
Throughout the rest of my college career and well after that I am sure teamwork will be a recurring thing in my life. I am glad to have been lucky enough to be a part of a team that worked very well together, but due to this it was hard to keep focused at times when we needed to stay on task and accomplish things in an allotted amount of time. Having no one on the team with any machining or CAD experience became an apparent issue as we progressed, I feel throughout the term different members strengthened different skills that we could put to use making us work more efficiently than if we all had minimal understanding of a broad range of skills. Monopolizing on these abilities we were able to accomplish more and complete our tasks on time. Even though we didn’t do as well as we had hoped I think we all gained a lot from this class and had an enjoyable time doing so.
One of the biggest issues with this class seemed to me to be how vague all of our different instructions were. It seemed at times that the class was rather unorganized making it difficult for the students to accomplish the different assignments as they were expected to because they were unsure of what was being asked of them. Last minute e-mails were inevitably being sent out in attempts to clear the air on specific topics and then we would have a few days to a few hours notice to attempt to figure out how to change things around to fit the expected results. I feel if the entire course (more specifically: rules of the game, milestones, shop times etc.) were planned out more concretely before the start of the term then there would be less confusion for all, students and teachers alike, to have to deal with.
As for my personal performance, I feel I could have spent more time outside of class thinking of better ways to improve our original design and planning out in more detail what exactly needed to be accomplished. Had I focused more on this class I feel I could have accomplished a lot more and I would have taken even more than I have out of the class. Overall I feel that this was a great learning experience and I enjoyed my time spent on this class.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Individual Reflection: Adam Olshove
From the very first assignment in this class, through all the homeworks, CAD assignments, and hours upon hours spent in the shop, my mindset was "This class is stupid." If anyone ever asked what I thought about the class, that is what I would tell them. It is only now that I am done with the class and I can look back on it that I realize just how much I've learned. I now regret having the mindset I had, because I feel I could have learned even more (and gotten a better grade) if I had taken the class with a more optimistic approach.
I think the most important thing I took from the class was all that I learned about mechanical design. All those lectures that I considered useless, well, I wish I had stayed awake during them. I remember a specific moment where I looked at a lecture slide that had something to do with constraining, and thinking "Seriously? This theoretical stuff is never going to apply to our machine." And I also remember the oh-crap moment when I realized an entire module of our machine was not going to work because it was improperly and inadequately constrained. This leads me to a very important thought I had the other day: If I could go back and design this project again, I could make it twice as effective twice as fast. That is how I know that I learned a lot in this class. And I can't even tell myself that the things I learned about mechanical design will never come up in my life because they already have: I had to build two cages out of carbonfiber and acrylic for my UROP project and had to consider so many of the things we covered in this class in their designs.
Another thing I am glad to take from this class is the experience I got in Solidworks. I have already had to use it outside of the classroom and again it was for my UROP project. CAD was one of the things that I never had a major complaint about in this class, but while I was working on the assignments I did think that they were a bit tedious and unnecessary. I take these thoughts back now, because I have come to realize what a powerful and useful tool CAD is, especially in mechanical engineering. I genuinely enjoy using Solidworks now, sometimes I even sit down and build solid models of random things just for fun.
As far as teamwork and time management go, I guess I learned a lot, but it wasn't something that occurred to me while I was learning it. One thing in particular that I can say I learned is that when it comes to machining it will ALWAYS take longer than you expect it to. More importantly, I learned that it is very useful to know exactly what the specific skills of each individual team member are in advance. While some things are meant to be worked on by more than one person, it is sometimes just more time efficient to split things up among a group. This is when it is vital to assign the correct things to the correct person.
To improve this course, the number one thing would be to make it less vague. Most of the vagueness in the class was probably as a result of it having such a new curriculum. But sometimes the vagueness seemed ridiculous. On every single assignment I or my group found ourselves saying "What is this even asking us to do?" and the resources we need to complete assignments were often absent or would be provided very shortly before a deadline. And there were too many emails saying "Oh by the way..." that described some tasks for us to do a day or two before a milestone was due. However, I feel that these problems will be mostly resolved next semester having seen how the class took its course this semester.
To improve my own performance in this course, I should have taken it more seriously. At the end I DID take it pretty seriously, but it was a little late. Before then I treated it more like engin 100, where I didn't learn anything. There was very much to be learned from this class and I wish I had realized that.
I think the most important thing I took from the class was all that I learned about mechanical design. All those lectures that I considered useless, well, I wish I had stayed awake during them. I remember a specific moment where I looked at a lecture slide that had something to do with constraining, and thinking "Seriously? This theoretical stuff is never going to apply to our machine." And I also remember the oh-crap moment when I realized an entire module of our machine was not going to work because it was improperly and inadequately constrained. This leads me to a very important thought I had the other day: If I could go back and design this project again, I could make it twice as effective twice as fast. That is how I know that I learned a lot in this class. And I can't even tell myself that the things I learned about mechanical design will never come up in my life because they already have: I had to build two cages out of carbonfiber and acrylic for my UROP project and had to consider so many of the things we covered in this class in their designs.
Another thing I am glad to take from this class is the experience I got in Solidworks. I have already had to use it outside of the classroom and again it was for my UROP project. CAD was one of the things that I never had a major complaint about in this class, but while I was working on the assignments I did think that they were a bit tedious and unnecessary. I take these thoughts back now, because I have come to realize what a powerful and useful tool CAD is, especially in mechanical engineering. I genuinely enjoy using Solidworks now, sometimes I even sit down and build solid models of random things just for fun.
As far as teamwork and time management go, I guess I learned a lot, but it wasn't something that occurred to me while I was learning it. One thing in particular that I can say I learned is that when it comes to machining it will ALWAYS take longer than you expect it to. More importantly, I learned that it is very useful to know exactly what the specific skills of each individual team member are in advance. While some things are meant to be worked on by more than one person, it is sometimes just more time efficient to split things up among a group. This is when it is vital to assign the correct things to the correct person.
To improve this course, the number one thing would be to make it less vague. Most of the vagueness in the class was probably as a result of it having such a new curriculum. But sometimes the vagueness seemed ridiculous. On every single assignment I or my group found ourselves saying "What is this even asking us to do?" and the resources we need to complete assignments were often absent or would be provided very shortly before a deadline. And there were too many emails saying "Oh by the way..." that described some tasks for us to do a day or two before a milestone was due. However, I feel that these problems will be mostly resolved next semester having seen how the class took its course this semester.
To improve my own performance in this course, I should have taken it more seriously. At the end I DID take it pretty seriously, but it was a little late. Before then I treated it more like engin 100, where I didn't learn anything. There was very much to be learned from this class and I wish I had realized that.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Individual Reflection: Devin Min
I wanted to do Mechanical Engineering due to its design aspect of the major. And I came into ME250, motivated to learn as much as I can about design. What I did not expect were the workload and its accuracy to almost every little detail associated with the project. I always thought design itself was described in two words: innovation and creativity. This class helped me realize design was a lot more than that. I learned the essentials of precision, accuracy, and labor. Always being lazy, I always thought creativity would be the only thing I would contribute to a design; I would have never guessed the labor work would be my responsibility. Manufacturing became a huge chunk of the design and it never struck to me that most of the times, the precision, accuracy, and labor had to be my task. Therefore, this class was a humbling experience for me. And as a future mechanical engineer, I now know the importance of creating something out of scratch and the concept to do so.
First of all, I want to apologize to my teammates for flaking out early in meetings and shop times. After finishing our machine, I realized how important this class is with teamwork. In order for us as a team to succeed, we all had to be in the same page. The idea we constructed had to have a unanimous agreement and each suggestion had to be consulted before taking on action. This class gave me a new perspective of how a successful team should be. One of the aspects I learned was compatibility. Although our team did not do as well as we expected, we went along great and had joyous memories with laughter and jokes. Because of this, the team was able to rely on and understand each other more.
Working with more than just one person, time management had to be one of the main reasons why this project was so difficult. Having four people, the team had conflicting schedules when one or more person would disagree with the meeting times. I believe that is why I did not complete my sessions sometimes at the manufacturing shops. I learned that even scheduling certain duties or events a week ahead of time helps a lot. I also came to the belief that if you are busier, the less likely you are to procrastinate. Having a full hand became beneficial to me this semester and I will try to follow this habit throughout my college years.
Overall, ME250 was an interesting experience for me. Of course, the class itself was tough and hard to manage, but after finishing the course, I understand certain subjects the professor was trying to push upon. The only complaint I had about the class is the fact that a lot of the assignments were given last minute – especially the resources. And at a panic mode, the team was very disgruntled about the fact that we had limited time to finish all the assignments. Also, most of the instructions given to us were very vague and difficult to understand. This class would have been more entertaining if the directions were clearer. However, there was also fault with the team. If we have taken into account for our flaws, then we could have constrained machine better.
First of all, I want to apologize to my teammates for flaking out early in meetings and shop times. After finishing our machine, I realized how important this class is with teamwork. In order for us as a team to succeed, we all had to be in the same page. The idea we constructed had to have a unanimous agreement and each suggestion had to be consulted before taking on action. This class gave me a new perspective of how a successful team should be. One of the aspects I learned was compatibility. Although our team did not do as well as we expected, we went along great and had joyous memories with laughter and jokes. Because of this, the team was able to rely on and understand each other more.
Working with more than just one person, time management had to be one of the main reasons why this project was so difficult. Having four people, the team had conflicting schedules when one or more person would disagree with the meeting times. I believe that is why I did not complete my sessions sometimes at the manufacturing shops. I learned that even scheduling certain duties or events a week ahead of time helps a lot. I also came to the belief that if you are busier, the less likely you are to procrastinate. Having a full hand became beneficial to me this semester and I will try to follow this habit throughout my college years.
Overall, ME250 was an interesting experience for me. Of course, the class itself was tough and hard to manage, but after finishing the course, I understand certain subjects the professor was trying to push upon. The only complaint I had about the class is the fact that a lot of the assignments were given last minute – especially the resources. And at a panic mode, the team was very disgruntled about the fact that we had limited time to finish all the assignments. Also, most of the instructions given to us were very vague and difficult to understand. This class would have been more entertaining if the directions were clearer. However, there was also fault with the team. If we have taken into account for our flaws, then we could have constrained machine better.
Individual Reflection: Ben
Prior to taking ME 250, I had very minimal experience with the design and manufacturing process. I learned how the process methodically breaks down the way engineers make decisions through strategies, concepts, modules etc. and how fundamental principles contribute to the design of products. In terms of manufacturing, I also had very minimal experience with power tools. This class provided me with hands on experience as well as a starting point for practical skills that are essential in mechanical engineering. Another essential skill that I gained from this class was the use of CAD. I learned how CAD is used to effectively communicate design ideas from one engineer to another. I found it interesting how precisely CAD is able to translate our ideas into the real product through the machinery provided. It showed how powerful computers are in the design and manufacturing process.
Our team dynamics this semester had its ups and downs when it came to staying organized and being on task. We got to know each other very well and the semester progressed so working together was not a problem. However, because we got along so well, there was an increase in distractions and loss of focus at times. Our team could have been more efficient and effective if we were more organized and focused more often. Nonetheless, we generally worked well together as a team. Our team did not have anyone who had prior experience in manufacturing and CAD, which stood as learning obstacles for much of the semester causing us to feel at a disadvantage. I learned how advantageous it is to have a diversified team that can split work up by corresponding strengths to be most effective.
Overall, ME 250 was a very helpful class in getting hands on experience with design and manufacturing in which we are able to try things on our own and learn from our own mistakes. However, I felt that I could have used more time learning how to manufacture by spending more time in the shop which could have perhaps been possible if the manufacturing portion of the project was started earlier in the semester. Next, the rules of the game should be set immediately so that teams do not have to keep changing their proposed design causing them to lose time. In terms of deadlines and schedules for the class, they should be made in even more advance so that teams get a chance to fit ME 250 into their schedules. It’s much easier to find times to go into the shop and work on our projects when we know in advance when times are available.
I could have improved my performance in this class by spending more time outside of class planning what needed to be done especially since I had minimal experience in the shop. I think if more time was spent at the beginning of the semester coming up with a creative and effective design, I would not have been reluctantly forced to simply choose the best design from what I had but rather had a design that I knew would work.
Final Post
At long last our machine is finished and the competition is over. We lost in the first round, but quite frankly we are happy our machine worked at all. It didn't come out quite how we first imagined it, but we all agree that our original design is something to be laughed at.
Are you laughing? I'm laughing.
After we learned what materials we would be given to build our machine, we started to make a new solid model. This is the final design that we based our working machine off of:
Our final machine doesn't have walls, it has four wheels, motors everywhere, the arm is much longer and shaped differently as it is made out of PVC, and most of the dimensions ended up being far different from how they are represented in the preliminary design. We ended up using three motors: one to drive, one to move the joint up and down, and one to rotate the arm. The machine drives very well - slowly and with a lot of power, like we wanted it to. The arm also rotates pretty well but because the center of rotation is so far from the arm's center of mass, we couldn't get as much force out of it as we wanted to. The motor controlling the movement of the joint did not work, however. This was due to poor constraint of the rack and pinion coupling and small rotations of the joint that produced large unwanted friction between the joint and the bars it was supposed to slide on. Fortunately, the movement of the joint was relatively unimportant and we were able to compete. Here we are at the competition, our machine on the right:
It almost looks like we have a chance here.
Well that's all folks. An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
ALSO:
Total Cost: $94.26
Final Bill of Materials
Are you laughing? I'm laughing.
After we learned what materials we would be given to build our machine, we started to make a new solid model. This is the final design that we based our working machine off of:
Our final machine doesn't have walls, it has four wheels, motors everywhere, the arm is much longer and shaped differently as it is made out of PVC, and most of the dimensions ended up being far different from how they are represented in the preliminary design. We ended up using three motors: one to drive, one to move the joint up and down, and one to rotate the arm. The machine drives very well - slowly and with a lot of power, like we wanted it to. The arm also rotates pretty well but because the center of rotation is so far from the arm's center of mass, we couldn't get as much force out of it as we wanted to. The motor controlling the movement of the joint did not work, however. This was due to poor constraint of the rack and pinion coupling and small rotations of the joint that produced large unwanted friction between the joint and the bars it was supposed to slide on. Fortunately, the movement of the joint was relatively unimportant and we were able to compete. Here we are at the competition, our machine on the right:
It almost looks like we have a chance here.
Well that's all folks. An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
ALSO:
Total Cost: $94.26
Final Bill of Materials
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Intro Video
Good luck to all the other teams!
But really let's be honest... we hope your machine doesn't work.
So really, good luck to us!
-Team Applesauce
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Week of November 30
This week we spent a lot of time in the shop finalizing our machine. We used the laser cutter to make our joint and cut some PVC pipe to make the arm. We assembled our second planetary gear box and began putting together the entire machine. By Friday we had completed the entire machine and almost finished assembling everything together.
While assembling all of our parts together we discovered some major design problems with the overall machine. For example the joint does not sit level on the rods connected to the body so when the motor is run the joint twists and the gear slips off the rack and we can not move the joint up and down as we had planned.
The gear connected to the second planetary gear box and the gear connected to the arm axle are not perfectly aligned because the axles connecting the gears are not fully constrained. When the motor is run the gears become misaligned and the arm axle does not rotate. The motor also can not supply enough torque to lift the weight of the arm.
Hopefully after some final tweaks our machine will be able to compete and perform successfully as we had originally planned!
Here are a few pictures of our final machine:
While assembling all of our parts together we discovered some major design problems with the overall machine. For example the joint does not sit level on the rods connected to the body so when the motor is run the joint twists and the gear slips off the rack and we can not move the joint up and down as we had planned.
The gear connected to the second planetary gear box and the gear connected to the arm axle are not perfectly aligned because the axles connecting the gears are not fully constrained. When the motor is run the gears become misaligned and the arm axle does not rotate. The motor also can not supply enough torque to lift the weight of the arm.
Hopefully after some final tweaks our machine will be able to compete and perform successfully as we had originally planned!
Here are a few pictures of our final machine:
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Updated Schedule
Looking back at the schedule we created a few weeks ago, we appear to be right on track! With our MCM completed last Wednesday, we have begun manufacturing all the remaining parts of the machine this week and plan to have them completed by this Friday. We are unfortunately still waiting on some additional 1/4" Aluminum rod to arrive in the mail, hopefully we will have time to manufacture the parts we need out of that material by Friday.
Here is our schedule all updated to this week:
Click here to view our newly updated schedule!
Finally here is more specific list of things we plan to accomplish this week:
To do list!
Stay appley!
Here is our schedule all updated to this week:
Click here to view our newly updated schedule!
Finally here is more specific list of things we plan to accomplish this week:
To do list!
Stay appley!
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Week of November 22
This week the team completed all of the engineering including the solid model and CAD drawings. Upon completing all of our drawings, the team able to go into the shop well prepared to machine all of the parts of our most critical module.
The team spent six hours on Tuesday creating the axles with grooves, motor couplings, and drilling holes into the gears for set screws. However, after cutting the grooves on the back axle, we discovered that the newly purchased wheels were too large compared to the supplied wheels in the kit and therefore, the grooves made for the e-clips were not placed correctly. Instead of recreating the back axle, we decided to simply cutting away at part of the wheel using a lathe on Wednesday.
On Wednesday, the team milled the motor couplings and the back axle as well as threaded all of the holes in the gears and motor couplings. Then, we used the waterjet to create our final piece of our most critical module, the plate, which holds the two rods to the body permitting vertical motion to the joint. After all of this machining, we assembled the most critical module and tested our motor using the provided DC power supply and presented it to our GSI for MS 8.
Here is a picture of our completed MCM:
Our MCM on top of the arena:
This week the team plans to machine the arm and joint, our other two modules. We will create the joint out of acrylic using the laser cutter and the arm using PVC pipe which will be cut using the bandsaw. We hope to have all of these parts machined by Wednesday and put together by the end of this week allowing us plenty of time to thoroughly test and refine our machine before the big competition.
The team spent six hours on Tuesday creating the axles with grooves, motor couplings, and drilling holes into the gears for set screws. However, after cutting the grooves on the back axle, we discovered that the newly purchased wheels were too large compared to the supplied wheels in the kit and therefore, the grooves made for the e-clips were not placed correctly. Instead of recreating the back axle, we decided to simply cutting away at part of the wheel using a lathe on Wednesday.
On Wednesday, the team milled the motor couplings and the back axle as well as threaded all of the holes in the gears and motor couplings. Then, we used the waterjet to create our final piece of our most critical module, the plate, which holds the two rods to the body permitting vertical motion to the joint. After all of this machining, we assembled the most critical module and tested our motor using the provided DC power supply and presented it to our GSI for MS 8.
Here is a picture of our completed MCM:
Our MCM on top of the arena:
This week the team plans to machine the arm and joint, our other two modules. We will create the joint out of acrylic using the laser cutter and the arm using PVC pipe which will be cut using the bandsaw. We hope to have all of these parts machined by Wednesday and put together by the end of this week allowing us plenty of time to thoroughly test and refine our machine before the big competition.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Week of November 15
This week was hectic what with machining our first three parts and in addition to that studying for a lengthy exam. However, with diligence and effort, the team was able to pull off an ace job of getting everything together. First of all, the team met up on Monday morning at 8 am to confirm our toolpath file and our CAD drawings. The team got a confirmation from Jean, and headed towards the waterjet. There, the team created a toolpath file with the OMAX program and was able to cut out a piece of 1/16" aluminum plate that is now acting as the frame of the MCM. By friday, the team had succeeded in making three different parts of our most critical module by using two different materials, aluminum and birch wood, and three different procedures, waterjet, laser cut, and drilling. We also bent the frame of body after the waterjetting.
Here are screenshots of the CAD models of the parts we made (we will have actual photos of these parts posted soon):
1. The frame of the MCM:
2. The woodblock ensuring accurate motor placement:
3. The rods that will be press fitted on our MCM to allow vertical motion:
Upon completion of MS7, with the smell of a joyous bonfire from our laser cut birch piece filling the air, we began discussing the work that we would need to begin in order to keep on schedule and have the MCM completed and in working order by next wednesday as well as all of the engineering for the entire machine completed and ready for us to machine the rest of the parts after thanksgiving break.
As we update this blog we're working on fixing the axles for our MCM as well as figuring out what drawings we will need completed by tomorrow afternoon so that in lab we can finish machining all the parts for the MCM so we will be able to begin assembling it together so we'll have the finished product ready. The biggest issue for us right now is figuring out the best way to constrain our gears to our axles and the precise placement of any grooves needing to be placed on the axles so that the drawings are ready for approval tomorrow.
This is an image of our most updated version of our machine:
Here are screenshots of the CAD models of the parts we made (we will have actual photos of these parts posted soon):
1. The frame of the MCM:
2. The woodblock ensuring accurate motor placement:
3. The rods that will be press fitted on our MCM to allow vertical motion:
Upon completion of MS7, with the smell of a joyous bonfire from our laser cut birch piece filling the air, we began discussing the work that we would need to begin in order to keep on schedule and have the MCM completed and in working order by next wednesday as well as all of the engineering for the entire machine completed and ready for us to machine the rest of the parts after thanksgiving break.
As we update this blog we're working on fixing the axles for our MCM as well as figuring out what drawings we will need completed by tomorrow afternoon so that in lab we can finish machining all the parts for the MCM so we will be able to begin assembling it together so we'll have the finished product ready. The biggest issue for us right now is figuring out the best way to constrain our gears to our axles and the precise placement of any grooves needing to be placed on the axles so that the drawings are ready for approval tomorrow.
This is an image of our most updated version of our machine:
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Week of November 8
This week team Applesauce saw some of the most dynamic changes in it's game plan since we decided on a concept way back when. Most of this arose from the realizations that several of our MCM's most critical actions were in deep confliction with the layout of the module at the time. MS7 requires us to manufacture 3 of the parts of our MCM by next Friday, so we had to resolve the engineering of the module as soon as possible.
OLD DESIGN:
NOT GONNA WORK.
The main change we made was to remove the top and sides of the body. All they seemed to do was get in the way of the internal parts and require us to perform a lot of excess machining. By Occam's Razor, the only reasonable procedure was to do away with them. Especially since the only function of the body was to be shaped in such a way that it would repel thrown ping pong balls, which doesn't seem to be something that other teams plan to do.
There were major misalignments between all the internal components of the MCM, mainly involving the location of the motor with respect to the back axle. To remedy this, we added a wooden mount for the motor that raises it up a quarter of an inch and we also moved the position of the metal rods toward the front of the machine in such a way that the moment about the front wheels will still be balanced.
NEW DESIGN:
GONNA WORK.
We are still having trouble figuring out exactly how to couple everything together: The motor to the gears, the gears to the axle, the axle to the wheels, etc. We also aren't sure if the way that our other modules are designed is going to require us to alter the design of our MCM, but we think that we have enough info to go ahead and manufacture these three parts:
The main part of the MCM:
The sides will be bent up to hold the axles.
This is the block the motor will sit on:
And these are the two rods that the other modules will eventually connect to:
Yes, we chose to manufacture this because it is extremely easy. You can't blame us.
Next week will be devoted to the final exam, manufacturing our first three parts and hopefully finishing most of the engineering for all modules. More to come on that next week!
OLD DESIGN:
NOT GONNA WORK.
The main change we made was to remove the top and sides of the body. All they seemed to do was get in the way of the internal parts and require us to perform a lot of excess machining. By Occam's Razor, the only reasonable procedure was to do away with them. Especially since the only function of the body was to be shaped in such a way that it would repel thrown ping pong balls, which doesn't seem to be something that other teams plan to do.
There were major misalignments between all the internal components of the MCM, mainly involving the location of the motor with respect to the back axle. To remedy this, we added a wooden mount for the motor that raises it up a quarter of an inch and we also moved the position of the metal rods toward the front of the machine in such a way that the moment about the front wheels will still be balanced.
NEW DESIGN:
GONNA WORK.
We are still having trouble figuring out exactly how to couple everything together: The motor to the gears, the gears to the axle, the axle to the wheels, etc. We also aren't sure if the way that our other modules are designed is going to require us to alter the design of our MCM, but we think that we have enough info to go ahead and manufacture these three parts:
The main part of the MCM:
The sides will be bent up to hold the axles.
This is the block the motor will sit on:
And these are the two rods that the other modules will eventually connect to:
Yes, we chose to manufacture this because it is extremely easy. You can't blame us.
Next week will be devoted to the final exam, manufacturing our first three parts and hopefully finishing most of the engineering for all modules. More to come on that next week!
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Week of November 1
Hello bloggers! This past week the team was assigned MS6. In preparation for it, the team began to engineer our most critical module. The team decided that this module was the frame of our main body.
(Most critical module)
We started by improving on the solid models we previously made. This included attaching the wheels to the body and as well as making adjustments such as adding screw holes. The team also added the two rods to permit the joint to move vertically. After improvements, the team created CAD drawings for each part of our most critical module. Using these drawings, we will be able to progress to the manufacturing stage later on.
(CAD Drawing of frame of most critical module)
Another step we took was to improve upon one of our previous analysis from the design review. The team discussed the necessity of a counterweight on our machine in order to prevent tipping about the front axle. Previously, the analysis consisted of variables representing potential weights of our machine. We then substituted numerical values in for the variables using density and volume to solve for approximate weights. The only remaining variables are the weights of our other two modules, the arm, the joint, and the potential counterweight. The team also improved upon another analysis dealing with the power of the motors applied and determining whether our machine would be able to move a specific distance in a reasonable amount of time.
Step-by-Step Manufacturing Plan
Bill of Materials
Our plan for the upcoming weeks is to begin manufacturing the parts that we have CAD drawings for already. We also need to make further adjustments to other solid models and begin making drawings for those parts as well. Our main concern is picking the correct motor for each motion as well as coming to a decision on the installment of gears and motors to achieve the required motion. The team hopes to gain more information on this in the motor lab on Monday, November 9, 2009.
(Most critical module)
We started by improving on the solid models we previously made. This included attaching the wheels to the body and as well as making adjustments such as adding screw holes. The team also added the two rods to permit the joint to move vertically. After improvements, the team created CAD drawings for each part of our most critical module. Using these drawings, we will be able to progress to the manufacturing stage later on.
(CAD Drawing of frame of most critical module)
Another step we took was to improve upon one of our previous analysis from the design review. The team discussed the necessity of a counterweight on our machine in order to prevent tipping about the front axle. Previously, the analysis consisted of variables representing potential weights of our machine. We then substituted numerical values in for the variables using density and volume to solve for approximate weights. The only remaining variables are the weights of our other two modules, the arm, the joint, and the potential counterweight. The team also improved upon another analysis dealing with the power of the motors applied and determining whether our machine would be able to move a specific distance in a reasonable amount of time.
Step-by-Step Manufacturing Plan
Bill of Materials
Our plan for the upcoming weeks is to begin manufacturing the parts that we have CAD drawings for already. We also need to make further adjustments to other solid models and begin making drawings for those parts as well. Our main concern is picking the correct motor for each motion as well as coming to a decision on the installment of gears and motors to achieve the required motion. The team hopes to gain more information on this in the motor lab on Monday, November 9, 2009.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Team schedule
Here is a link to our team schedule that we plan on following for the rest of the semester:
Click here to view our schedule!
-Team Applesauce
Click here to view our schedule!
-Team Applesauce
First post
Hello all!
Welcome to Team Applesauce's blog! Follow us here to stay updated on our progress throughout the rest of the semester as we build our machine to compete in the arena.
Final Strategy:
The final strategy we decided on was to move as many ping pong balls as possible to the opponents side of the slot.
Final concept:
Our final concept that we decided on was to use a lever arm within the slot to scoop out the ping pong balls and move them over the center divider to accomplish our strategy. Our machine is positioned on the top table of the arena. We have two arms connected to our main body of the machine. One arm moves vertically to adjust the arm length that is within the slot to reach the balls that are worth more points. The second arm rotates within the slot with the balls resting on top of it and after rotation allows them to roll off into the opponents side of the slot. The main machine is on wheels to give us horizontal movement as a backup technique to accomplish our goal.
Here is an older screen shot before we made further modifications to the model:
Here is the most recent screen shot of our machine that we presented within our DR, as you can see the different modules are denoted by different colors, this is a trimetric view:
Check back here to follow us further!
-Team Applesauce
Welcome to Team Applesauce's blog! Follow us here to stay updated on our progress throughout the rest of the semester as we build our machine to compete in the arena.
Final Strategy:
The final strategy we decided on was to move as many ping pong balls as possible to the opponents side of the slot.
Final concept:
Our final concept that we decided on was to use a lever arm within the slot to scoop out the ping pong balls and move them over the center divider to accomplish our strategy. Our machine is positioned on the top table of the arena. We have two arms connected to our main body of the machine. One arm moves vertically to adjust the arm length that is within the slot to reach the balls that are worth more points. The second arm rotates within the slot with the balls resting on top of it and after rotation allows them to roll off into the opponents side of the slot. The main machine is on wheels to give us horizontal movement as a backup technique to accomplish our goal.
Here is an older screen shot before we made further modifications to the model:
Here is the most recent screen shot of our machine that we presented within our DR, as you can see the different modules are denoted by different colors, this is a trimetric view:
Check back here to follow us further!
-Team Applesauce
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