Mechanical Design, Machine Design

Week 9

Assignments

    Group Assignment
  • design a machine that includes mechanism+actuation+automation
  • build the mechanical parts and operate it, manually
  • document the group project and your individual contribution

Group page

Our mechanical design and machine design group page can be found here.

Idea: Mayonnaise Dispenser

We had a brainstorming session after the lecture to discuss diffeent ideas and finally, we came up with a fun idea to design a mayonnaise dispenser for Pizza. Yes, in Oulu this is quite common!:D This idea won all the factors that we should toon into cinsiderations for this week includnig feasibility in the specified time duration and can cover mechanism, actuation and automation design.

Figure 1. Brainstorming session to discuss ideas.

Preparing the first list of components

On the first day after our brainstorming session, I had the mission to check the fablab inventory to find the possible components we may use in our design. And then, based on the found materials and a quick research, I made a list of components which has been updated with the progress of the project.

Figure 2. First hunting mission from fablab inventory .

Table 1. List of components

Component Quantity Production
bearings 2 Fablab inventory
Aluminium rod 4 (thickness:0.95 cm/length: 60 & 21 cm) Fablab inventory
Metal rigid coupling 1 Fablab inventory
Stepper motor (17hdc1220-300n) 3 Fablab inventory
Clamp (for holding syringe and for sliding bar) 2 3D printing /td>
Nuts Many! Fablab inventory
Countersunk Screw 16 (4 for each stepper motor and 1 for each wheel) Fablab inventory
Mount for side, up and back frame 6 (2 × side boards, 1 × upper board, 1 × back board) Laser cutting
Mount for turntable 2 (up and bottom) Laser cutting
Wheels (for turntable) 4 Fablab inventory
Mount for wheels 8 (2 for each wheel) Laser cutting

3D design of the frame

After preparing a primary list of components, I tried to take measurements of the sliding bar and stepper motor lead to make side frames to hold the bars. The design has been changed and developed a lot during the whole process and with progressing in other parts of the project.

Figure 2. The first design of the side frame.

But my groupmate, Kenichi, who helped me a lot suggested to make double frame for each side to make it more reliable.

Figure 3. The second design of the side frame.

But, I realized the stepper motor will be screwed to one of the side frame, so a new design with holes was needed for it.

Figure 4. The side frame for screwing stepper motor and stepper motor design.

Then, I tried to join the components and assemble the design.

Figure 5. Assembling the first draft.

Laser cutting

To cut the components with the laser-cutter, I needed to convert .f3d file format to pdf and for that, I firstly used a very ineffective way! I used an online file convertor to convert dxf to pdf and then, tried to open it in Inkspace and ajsut the settings. But Megumi reminded me an easy direct way that we learnt in Week 3.

For this, you just need to go to DESIGN->DRAWING->From Design. Then, in drawing view, set the Scale as 1:1

Figure 6. Converting .f3d to pdf

For laser-cutting, I took plywood (4mm) board as the material and Epilog Fusion M2 40 Laser machine and started to print. From the advanced setting, I chose plywood_4mm_cut_engraving but changed the default speed for vector from 6 to 4.

Figure 7. Laser-cutting with Epilog Fusion M2 40 Laser

After cutting the side frames and supports, I tried to assemble the parts to find the possible bugs of the design and modify it

Figure 8. Assemble the cut parts

Developing the design

Then, I realized I should change the slot size for the supports and also, added the upper frame to the design.

Figure 9. Adding the upper frame to the design

New design for joint were was design to assemble to boards on the corner.

Figure 10. Designing a new joint

Finally, I added the backside frame to join the rest of the dsesing and complete the design.

Figure 11. Assembling the whole design

In Inkspace, I customized the backside frame with Fab Academy logo and our names!

Figure 12. Designing the backside frame in Inkspace

After cutting the new components, I assembled the parts together to complete the whole frame.

Figure 13. The full frame design

Files

Reflection

This week started with fun and passion but ended with stress and fatigue!:D But I learned a lot about project management, time management and also, problem solving thanks to my great groupmates and it was a great opportunity to practice for the final project.