Fabrication
Knot Causing Damage in Spool
During routine testing of the design, we noticed that the knot tied at the end of the fishing line to secure the line to the spool dug into the plastic of the spool, causing minor damage. We’ve solve this problem by ending the string around a washer.
Machining on the Fadal
The shop was a bit crowded today, so we have to machine on the old school Fadal machine. Using this machine is a test of skill has it uses pure Gcode as opposed to the conversational language the Fryer mills use.
Lessons from Initial Assembly
We’ve competed assembly on one of the three Motor and Spool Sub-assemblies and we’ve discovered a few problems in the design. 1) The set screws are not holding onto the main shaft and are likely to be striped since the thread are made of plastic. Solution: Drive a pin […]
3D Printing First Spool
We 3D printed our first spool today. It’s amazing that the spool comes out of the machine ready to use, no filling required. To remove the support material, we must soak the part in a base bath for 24 hours.
Milling the Strain Plates
This is one of the last pieces. The plate goes between the two eyelet plates to support the strain gauge system. We are almost done! Woot! Also, 1 to 1 scale drawings are cool because one can put the part on top of the drawing and have them match up.
Spring Break Fabrication: Day #3
We have a lot of milling to do today, so we zero the vice instead of each individual part. The Y axis is zeroed, then the X axis. Now we have (0,0) on on corner of the vice. We use a straight edge to line up material […]
Spring Break Fabrication: Day #2
We spend the first half of the day on the manual Acer mill roughing the outer dimensions of the eyelet plates. One of the skills we learn in the department is how to read a vernier caliper. The technology is old, but vernier tend to produce more consistent measurements than digital […]
Spring Break Fabrication: Day #1
We spend the day tapping the 8020 parts of our design. The monitor did not quiet meet our expectations of its dimensions. Luckily, we added extra space around the monitor, so this issue can be addressed. Speaking about the monitor, we had to mill the VESA mounting plate smaller […]
