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We chose to go with 1/4" Acrylic plates wherever we could because they were thick enough to provide a good amount of structural stability and rigidity. For the Arm links, we chose to go with carbon fiber rods as they helped decrease the weight of the arm and provided very good strength. We chose the baseplate to be 1/4' Birchwood for its rigidity and ease to manufacture.
For the adapter pieces for the carbon fiber rods, we chose to go with 3D Printed Carbon fiber PLA as it helped add more strength, especially since the joints would be a critical point for the load the system would have to handle. For the joints in the arm, we chose to go with fitted bearings for the "Wrist" and spare carbon fiber rods for the base joints. All the other adapters and mounts used for the gripper mechanism were 3D printed as they needed to be custom made to fit the exact dimensions needed. The main Gripper links were 1/4" Acrylic laser cut parts. This helped us be able to rapidly test the fittings and find the perfect tolerances to provide a very smooth and stable movement.
The majority of the hardware used to put the assembly together were parts on hand. A lot of the screw choices were not made because of particular reasons other than inventory and practicality purposes.
Arm Mechanism without Gripper
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