Final Project¶
I will be sharing with you my journey here at Fab academy through documentation of all the work I will be doing here at Fab Lab. This week I worked on defining my final project idea and started to getting used to the documentation process.
One of my duty and hobby is facilitate student design and build robot. Disassembly robotics. Many Many Screws get back together. It is time consume for sorting. So I design sortbot to help sorting screws for my robotic team VEX7984 cmass robotics team.
Situation¶
Design Problem¶
Design and make a prototype of the automatic screws sorting and counting machine. My design ideas should be original and be able to meet the following basic requirements: - Alignment and queue the screws; - Measure and sort a pile of screws consisting of #8 size with different length ; and - Sort the screws to different length containers.
Research¶
Idea from Pinterest about Screw Sorting Machine and Fastener Sorter Project
Useful links - Pinterest
Who’s done what beforehand?¶
I found some projects that work on the same kind of thing. But they are somewhat different than how I do it. The main difference with me is that I sort the screws with a roller and then run as a screws counter standalone. I plan to include the webserver GUI, to check if the product running and counting.
The Project Planning¶
The project was done in different stages:
-
Design
- Sketch design
- Structural design
- Outlook design
-
Production
- 3D print main body
- Lasercut cover plate
- PCB Design and solider electronic parts
- vinyl cut logo ‘Sortbot’
-
Assembly
- Alignment and order function
- Sorting mechanism function
-
Programming
- IR sensor counter and ESP32 Webserver
- System Integration
-
The final result
- Testing and modification
- Slide and video presentation
What will you design?¶
Cad texture for outlook
3D print for the roller and screws containers
Pcb/electronics of the ESP32
Lasercut Arcylic sheet for sorting trace
ESP32 control code
html interface website
Vinyl Cutting Sortbot logo
Molding elastic spacer for virbration
Project Sketches¶
My first idea, I first began to sketch out the idea on my iPad using the app Notability. I sketched out the basic parts to the project, including capacitive sensors, LED backlighting, and a monitor on the side.
3D Models¶
Part A Screws Sort Out idea with Fusion360
Week04 2021/02/17
Futher develop a shell for the roller, the function of shell is keep the screws for sorting. Therefore, there is a opening on top. The roller can rotate inside clockwise. The blade likes a spoon to raise the screws and let the screws fall in the track.
Add Screw Sort Roller Shell
Week05 2021/02/24
Add a 5mm wide slot to modify the screw alignment. Successfully load the screw from the lower level to the higher level and align the screw with the alignment track. Further design aspect, add vibration to make the screw move forward.
I 3d print the turnable bearing kit to sort the screws order by order.
What will it do?¶
As part of my project Sortbot. I will be focusing on a sort roller and screws sort trace. I build a 3D printing roller for aligement the screws order. Part of the system is a series of containers that hold the different size screws when the screw is sort to pick up. ESP32 webserver can display the number of screws for different size individuial and count the lumsum. Demo show on presentation video.
I open a window on left hand side according to screw length + 5mm.
The top look like a slide trace. It is 5.4mm gap, slightly large the #8-32 screw.
And Use mobile phone virbrator let the screw keep forward along the trace until the windows open longer the size of screw. The Screw drop to the screw box.
Another function of sortbot is counting the amount of screw. I use esp32 as web server.
The web server user interface can use the web-browser on mobile, pad and PC.
The simple interface show the amount of different length screws and total amount.
I use IR Obstacle avoidance sensor as digital input sensor to detect the screws.
This is the CAD design with Fusion360. All sortbot 3D printing and Lasercut parts is according to this cad assembly.
Finally I show all trial version. It is over 200 hours design and development time.
This is my project Sortbot.
What materials and components will be used? Where will they come from?¶
All components are in the Fab Lab Inventory.
How much did it cost¶
The total cost to replicate the project is under HK$400.
Materials¶
| Material | Suppliers | Price HK$ |
|---|---|---|
| PCB blanks | RS components | 5 |
| ----- | ----------------- | --------- |
| Pla filament | Enjoy 86duino | 180 |
| ----- | ----------------- | --------- |
| silicone | from school lab | 0 |
| ----- | ----------------- | --------- |
| vibration motor | recycled | 0 |
| ----- | ----------------- | --------- |
| 393 motor | VEX | 50 |
| ----- | ----------------- | --------- |
| ESP-wroom-32 | espressif | 40 |
| ----- | ----------------- | --------- |
| 3V regulator | Rs components | 10 |
| ----- | ----------------- | --------- |
| resistors | taobao | 2 |
| ----- | ----------------- | --------- |
| capacitors | taobao | 2 |
| ----- | ----------------- | --------- |
| led | Rs components | 1 |
| ----- | ----------------- | --------- |
| headerpins | Rs components | 1 |
| ----- | ----------------- | --------- |
| Arcylic sheet | taobao | 200 |
| ----- | ----------------- | --------- |
| filmotac sheet | taobao | 10 |
| ----- | ----------------- | --------- |
Project Machine Uses¶
To keep track of my project and how many machines and methods I use, I will be adding ideas to this table:
| Machine | Project Implementation |
|---|---|
| CAD | Project design in Fusion360 |
| Laser Cutting | Vinyl Cut of Sortbot Logo, Lasercut of acrylic for the sorting track |
| Electronics Production | ESP32 PCB board |
| 3D Printing | Turnable gear and screws containers |
| Electronics Design | Designing the electronics/boards for the project |
| CNC | Mill the Controller Board PCB |
| Embedded Programming | Program the project so that it virbate and count |
| Molding and Casting | Elastic spacer |
| Input Device | IR sensor , switch |
| Output Device | Virbator and VEX 393 DC motor |
| Applications and Implications | N/A |
| Networking and Communication | ESP32 Webserver |
| Mechanical Design | Sorting Roller |
| Interface and Application Programming | Output to show on HTML |
| Machine Design | Sorting Roller |
| Wildcard Week | N/A, depends on the wildcard |
First Draft of Slide¶
Use the turntable to arrange the screw sequence. The screw slide rails distinguish different size screws. Each screw uses an infrared reflective sensor to calculate the number of each screw after classification. The microcomputer controller uses ESP32, and the interface will be displayed in the form of web server. Show you the quantity and total number of each type of screw. The Sortbot is a screw sorter specifically sorted to VEX Robotics screw #8-32 and sizes 0.375”, 0.5”, 0.75”, 1”. It is not only for sorting screws, but also can count the number of screws on ESP32 web-server.
Final Slide Presentation¶
Video¶
Project files¶
This are the files used in this project. All under a Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike Non Commercial license:
Fusion360 simulation cad file
Sortbot Lasercut Parts
ESP32 webserver html interface file
Fusion360 PCB
Sortbot logo
