4. Manufacturing and Assembly (Group 23)

While designing our parts with CAD software, we began to laser cut the parts for the Geneva drive and we chose to 3D print bevel gears to rotate the Geneva drive. One challenge we encountered was that the two bevel gears we printed were not meshing consistently. However, we found that the motor shaft was too far away from the bevel gear, so we shortened the distance from the motor to the bevel gear and made a new motor mount to better secure it. We then made a bevel gear hybrid that would drive the Geneva mechanism and drive the rod that powers the crank-shaft mechanism. Additionally, we made modifications to the slider as well. All three parts were 3D-printed.

Slider (left), bevel gear hybrid (middle), and motor stand (right):

Once we laser cut our Geneva drive gears, we realized that the motor would not be at an optimal spot to drive the linkage system that would move the pizza cutter slider back and forth. So, we made a larger version of the Geneva drive that would position the motor closer to the corner of the entire mechanism.

Scaled-up Geneva Drive:

The 4.5in link was attached to a bevel gear using an 8mm shaft that would rotate the 4.5in link and thus rotate the 15in link. A 30-tooth gear interfaces with the non-angled side of the hybrid bevel gear that drives the Geneva drive which rotates the 8mm axle that rotates the 4.5in link. The 15in link would then move the slider back and forth, cutting the pizza in the process. After laser cutting all the links, 8mm shafts were cut at certain lengths that would be placed in their appropriate spots in the mechanism.