Charles Oduk: Fab Academy 2K19 Webpage

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Assignments
1. Principles and Practices 2. Project Management 3. Computer-aided design 4. Computer-controlled cutting 5. Electronics Production 6. 3D Scanning and Printing 7. Electronics Design 8. Computer-controlled Machining 9. Embedded Programming 10. Molding & Casting 11. Input Devices 12. Output Devices 13. Interface and Application Programming 14. Networking and Communications 15. Mechanical Design 16. Machine Design 17.Wild Card Week 18. Applications And Implications 19. Invention,Intellectual Property and Income 20. Project Development

Week 8. Computer controlled Machining:

For this week we learnt the principles behind designing,machining and assemblying an object in large format.

Assignment:

Group assignment:

Test runout, alignment, speeds, feeds, and toolpaths for your machine.

Individual assignment:

Make (design+mill+assemble) something big.

Solution:

What I made:

For my assignment this week, I settled on designing, milling and Assembling a cake display Ferris wheel. This week's choice of assignment was motivated by my friend who wanted a mechanically well designed structure she could use for a cake-art exhibition.

NB: Below is a picture of the conventional Ferris wheel used in a mall's amusement park in my country. It was from this design that my friend wanted her design to be based on.

i.Rough Sketches:

As part of my designs for any 3D model, I first sketch on paper, put in the dimensions before using any of the CAD design tools and softwares.

ii.CAD file Designs:

I then proceeded to design the 3D designs on the free online ONSHAPE CAD platform.

1. Wheel Designs

2. Support Designs

3. Cupcake holder Designs

4. Cupcake holder support Designs

5. Spacer Designs

6. Base Designs


ii.Fabrication:

For the fabrication of the parts, I used the CNC router which directly took codes from another software known as CorelDraw. This prompted me to convert and download the files from ONSHAPE in DWG format(as other formarts such as DXF would distort the drawings)

The shapes were then organised on a 8ft by 4ft white AlucoBoard(also refered to as Forex Board), which is basically a softer but relatively strong version of PVC plastic.



I then set up the AlucoBoard on the CNC router machine using 3mm drill bit. and began machining. This took approximately 1 hour.



iii.Ferris Wheel Parts:



iv.Assembly:

I used skewer sticks and PVC glue to link and assemble the already machined ferris wheel parts as shown below:

The cake holder Assembly The wheel Assembly The Final Ferris Wheel Assembly

Problems encountered this week:

1. Switching between one software to another to convert the CAD files proved hectic. At one point the files were seriously disconfigures; I however solved this by trasfering the DWG files.
2. On transferring the DWG files to the CorelDraw software, the drawing imported with distorted dimensions. This was easy solved by simply scaling them to the original dimensions the were designed with.
3. The AlucoBoard would occassionaly slide off the drill bit; I however solved this by nailing them to the rigid table.

Downloads

1. base
2. Wheel
3. Support
4. Cake holder
5. Arms
6. interspacing
7. joiners