Week 8

For this week Assignment I wanted to design and make a wooden maze game. I started using Inkscape. It was not so easy working with precise measures and after a few hours I started from scratch using Rhino

I chose to work with the 20mm plywood, I like working with it and I like it's texture. First I made test mills of the connector types I planned on using and found the exact sizes.

I made the main plate's outline and walls of the inner maze in the first layer (red), started placing the walls on the plate and actually built the maze on the top plane, using another purple layer for the inner cuts on the plate.

When I was done placing all of the walls and holes, I added the connector holes for the walls (again in the purple layer) and moved the parts leaving only the holes.

I then made three frames. The inner frame with connectors to the main plate, the mid frame with holes for the bearings and the large outer frame. Nested all of the parts and was ready to mill it. download .DXF

Used the 1st blue layer to set the locations of the mounting screws. I chose to use the V shaped mill and set the Shop-Bot to mill the 2nd orange layer.

For the inner and outer cuts I used a 1/4" mill. I set The pass depths to 5.075mm so that it will go 4 times on every line. I made bridges for all parts and made sure they have enough material left to be attached to.

After 4 long hours and an after midnight stay in the lab, I finished all the milling.

Assembling everything didn't take long. I used a rasp to smooth the slots and a rubber hammer to slide everything in.

For the Barings I first 3D printed 4 pins, but they turned out to be not so smooth.

I found a 10mm steal rod and cut it to four 25mm pins.

I used the laser cutter to fabricate four 5mm wood spacers to place on the pins between the frames. Inner holes are 9.5mm for a tight grip on the rods.

For controlling the angles I used two long rods with the controlling wheels attached at the ends. I attached two strong springs, one on each side of the bottom inner frames, tied a rope to the spring and stretched it on the rods and tied again on the other side.