The manufacturing processes taken for the project are described below:
Laser Cutting (Used for cutting links and cutting the holes for the positioning of the different parts)
- Laser cutting was our best option for prototyping links because of its precision and speed. These qualities helped us throughout the project because we depended on accurate cuts for tight press fits and exact positioning. Laser cutting was also a viable option because we wanted to use plywood for rigidity and strength. The images below show our part drawings and the link results of one of our prototypes.
3D Printers (Craftbot+ for PLA Prints and Form3 for SLA Prints
- 3D Printing offered a viable way to manufacture parts that have difficult geometries to manually produce. We 3D printed our chute slider and our pushing arm, which can be seen in the image below. There were multiple iterations made of each part, and we tried testing them with different materials (SLA, Onyx, PLA). We ended up using PLA in the end since printing in Onyx and SLA was expensive and more time-consuming, and PLA was strong enough for our tension tests.
Manual Tools (Drills, Screwdrivers, Vise, Soldering Station)
- Manual labor was done mainly for prototyping of the crank arm and for press-fitting our bearings. Press-fitting our bearings was important for reducing friction and having a more efficient load transfer. We purposely cut undersized holes in our linkages and pressed each bearing in using the vice.
- Additionally, we had to solder a wire onto our DC motor, which required a soldering station. Simple tools like screwdrivers and wires were also needed for the circuit assembly.
Overall Process and Takeaways:
Our manufacturing process consisted of different iterations of each part of the project. We decided to buy a sheet of perforated hardboard to test out our walking beam and modify our ground link placements. The perforated hardboard facilitated the assembly process