Week-9: Mechanical Design, Machine Design
The 9th assignment in the Fab Lab was to do the following and report every step taken during the process.
Learning outcome
1) Work and communicate effectively in a team and independently
2) Design, plan and build a system
3) Analyze and solve technical problems
4) Recognizes opportunities for improvements in the design
Have you:
1) Explained your individual contribution to this project on your own website
The assignment for this week is to work in a team to start a mechanical machine based project with at least 2 axis motion. The group of fab-lab Kuwait include 12 students. we decide to take the project into different phases as follows:
Phase-1: Structuring forming, roles assignment and brainstorming
Phase-2: Design process
Phase-3: 3D Printing, Cutting
Phase-4: Assembling
Phase-5: Manual Testing and System Execution .
Description of my role in the assignment
General Role
first of all, we worked as a group in assigning a team leader and discussing how the teams should be divided based on our area of expertise and backgrounds. Then we set up the names into each team to start the work once the brainstorming session is over. then as a team we started to set the flow process of the project and how the work should be shifted between teams to assure the trial and error stage goes smoothly, if any.
At the brainstorming session, the whole team was included to think of ideas that matches the fab lab requirement and the resources we have in hand and most importantly the time limitation as well.
Specific Role
my role here is divided into 2 parts, the technical part and none technical part. first of all i was in charge by the project leader to work on the documentation of the project from taking photos and video to writing the group's report for this week.
the second part of my role in the group is to assure that all required openings in the design stage , for instance in the stepper motor cap, fits rode available in the lab. so basically,I was part of the quality assurance team as well to assist them in the quality check that they do to assure that all design elements are within the available resources
here is a link of the documentation page that i worked on for the group assignment
Bill of Materials
The following is a list of materials or elements required to complete the project. these material were taken from old makerboat 3D printer and the following were taken from it:
Threaded Rod
Smooth Rod
Stepper Mottor
Stepper Mottor Drivers
Belts
Some of the Bearings
Phase-4: Assembling Process
the assembling process is where the trial and error took place. we had to redesign some of the Rod holders and the stepper motor cap when we came to this stage. the assembling team found out that the pieces designed do not fit the dynamic movement required for the X and Y axis to move smoothly. we have taken few videos and pictures to show the assembling process in details. click on the link below:
Problems Faced and how its solved
1) The first issue faced was that the laser cutting machine was out of service. So we tried to print the cap holders in a 3D printing machine and we will test the practicality of it before trying to fix the laser cutting machine.
2) Another issue found was the distance between the screw opening in the cap wasn't constant. The designers work on applying the same method and distances between the holes to assure that the cap fits on to of the motor.
3) The design team has added a new opening on top of the motor cap to insert a second pole to hold the movement of the motor through the axis. The team has failed in the beginning to find a balance of the moving motor.
4) the vibration of the stepper motor has caused shaking effect in the rod which prevent it from moving in the Y-axis. the design was improved to overcome this issue.
please note that the video below is also part of the documentation process of the brainstorming , design, printing and assembling stage in week-9
Code Used
CODE File
The coding was part of Ahmad Alsaleh Tasks in the group. So please click in the link below to check the codes used. CODE PAGE CLICK HERE.