Update #3

This week was a very hectic one for all team members. However, proper schedule planning provided us with the means to accomplish the tasks we set out to do in what little time that was available to us.

A big task for this past week was planning the use of the double gearbox on our conveyor arm. We needed a means to gear our motor and conveyor system in order to provide the necessary amount of torque we calculated to push any ping pong balls out of the arms way. We cut the double gearbox in half using the band saw and took plenty of time sanding and filing it down to provide a proper fit. All that is left is to cut down the drive axle. This will be done later because we need to properly align the gears that are attached to our conveyor belt system and our gearbox. As of right now, it looks like the double gearbox will safely fit into the arena slot on our arm. Our plans are to apply a small amount of epoxy to hold the motor and gearbox in place on our arm and use hose clamps wrapped around our arm to permanently secure it. Images of the modified gearbox are shown below.


On top of that, we also manufactured our conveyor belt wheels. We took a scrap piece of wood in the shop and used the drill press and a hole saw to cut out the basic shape of our conveyor belt wheels. To make sure our belt doesn’t fall off of our wheels, we curved the sides of the wheels with sandpaper so the belt is pulled back to the middle of the wheel if it slides horizontally. Over break, we will swing by a hardware store and record the price of a similar block of wood with a camera to provide evidence of the amount of money taken out of our budget.

We mocked up our arm to get a good idea of how it will look and function in the arena. We also came up with a great idea of how to mount the side panels to the square tube stock. We discovered that we have access to rivets as well as a rivet gun in the shop, so we plan to rivet our two side panels onto the tube stock. They look as if they will provide a secure and convenient hold for our system. We also came up with the designs for delrin spacers that we will place in one of the gears that has a 3/8” diameter so it can fit on a 1/4” axle. This gear and its spacers will be held with epoxy. In the next week we plan on finishing up our arm and as well as all the other parts to our machine. Images of the arm put together are shown below.