Personal Reflection: Syazwan Kamal

I learn so much from ME250....

Design and Manufacturing

The syllabus for this course really teaches us how to design a product. From the early stage until the end, it never failed to discuss thoroughly about each step of designing process. So, I really grateful taking this class for this semester. This class has taught me the effective brainstorming technique, step by step designing process, the mindset that an inventor has to possess and also really good problem solving skills. I can apply these skills not only in engineering field but also in other activities in my life. Creativity also has been emphasized by this course, so that in the future, we will become a creative engineer. Other skill that I have learnt is drawing using Solidwork. Now, it is really easy to draw an engineering drawing. I just need a computer with Solidwork in it. This course also has taught me how to use a lot of machine from the simplest which is the band saw to more sophisticated water jet cutter.

Team Work and Management

The most important lesson that I have learnt about this is that a team need a manager. We need a manager to keep track all of our progress because I honestly admit that I’m really bad in management. Other than that, I found out that I have to improve my time management especially when there are any meetings in the morning. Sorry guys, I’m not a morning person although I try to be one. This course also taught me that, to be efficient, we need to split up all the work evenly to each member of the group and each member has to be responsible in completing it. Each team member also has to make their own initiative in improving the progress of the project, because we officially don’t have any leaders.

How the course can be improved

For me, slotbots project is not the most suitable project for this course. It is too complicated for an introductory course. I really agree if this project is use for upper level design class. I don’t have any real experience in designing something and that cause me to struggle even more. I actually did not understand the thing that I have to build for the first 3 weeks. The rules are complicated and they are really hard to really understand them. Maybe it will be easier for us to understand early at the beginning of the class if the staffs can make a demonstration about this project. Maybe virtual demonstration is enough. Other thing that should be improved is the time allocation for learning Solidwork. It is not enough. I suggest that the time allocated for learning Solidwork should be extended so that the GSI don’t have to rush through all the materials and cause me to become lost of track of it.

How you could have improved your performance in the course

I should improve my time management. I also should be serious in attending the all the lectures. I should put more effort into this project, spend more time in the machine shop.

Conclusion

This course is very challenging and because it is challenging, it also give some sort of thrill and excitement to me. Although our machines did not do very well, I still feel very happy and satisfied because making a machine from just a 3D sketch into a real thing Is not an easy task. For me, it is like a dream come true. Oh! We did it. I feel relief now and I want to get those machines back. By the way, I want to thanks to all that has contributed in the process of making these machines into reality, especially Mark Gordon who always gave us a lot of advices and new ideas which were really useful. Thank you.

Individual reflection- Benjamin Hur

I was really looking forward to this class because it was the first time I could get a slight taste of what mechanical engineering is. Because I was expecting a lot to learn from this class, I did not know that I also had to lose a lot from gaining at the same time.

At first, I was also intimidated at the same time as I was excited to take the course. I did not have any knowledge in this field, and I did not even know what mechanical engineers really do. However, I learnt that engineering is not all about manufacturing. I realized that designing is as much as important as manufacturing. From this course, I learnt a lot about designing. This was the first time to actually design something that could be manufactured. So, I had to give a careful thought about creating a realistic design and creative design at the same time. I actually had hard time in designing because I am not an artistic person. But, this class helped me to be more artistic than past. The homework assignments and what the course teaches the students, push the students to think of elements in designing. This also includes using the solidworks program. Learning how to use the solidworks program was great. It helped me to get a better understanding of three dimensional spaces and in designing.

Moreover, I learnt a lot in manufacturing. The machine training at the beginning of the course did help but by the time when I first got on the machines, I mostly forgot how it functioned. However, from Bob and John’s help, I did manage to bring back my memories. And using the machines became one of my favorites. Learning how to use the lathe, mill, and other machines helped me to understand how all the manufacturing process works and how hard it is to manufacture.

From this project, I learnt a lot in working as a team and managing in time. I did not expect that this course would take a huge amount of time, and I found it hard to cope with that. However, I did try to manage the time by sacrificing free hours. Also, working as a team, I did learn when to take in action and when to cope with hard situations. Sometimes I found it hard to work as a team because there were few disagreements, but bringing up the best solution by reconciling helped a lot to the project itself.

Overall, I really enjoyed this class because this course helped me to become a mechanical engineer one step closer. From completing this course, I felt that we need more time in manufacturing our slotbots. Although all the theoretical background and knowledge is just as vital, I think students need more time in manufacturing. Not only our team, but also I saw many other teams struggling to fight over the time constraints. Due to the time constraints, many teams’ slotbot did not work properly. I understand that working in the time constraints is important in the future, but I also think that making the slotbot to work is even more important. This is vital because it is frustrating when your slotbot does not work when you gave that amount of time contribution. Our slotbot did not work properly and we did not even connect the wires into the power supply at the given time. We as a team should have been more careful and prepared in advance. I want to thank all my teammates for doing a great job this semester, and thanks to both the professors and Mark for teaching and helping alot!!

Individual Reflection- Nicholas King

What I’ve learned

Design and Manufacturing

Throughout this course I’ve learned a lot about design techniques and manufacturing processes. I found the design process outlined by this course to be very effective. Specifically the flowchart showing the development of strategies then concepts then modules then components. I found the Pugh Chart to be effective, although it seems that you could arrange the weighting and functional requirements to favor your favorite strategy/concept. The Pugh Chart did help our team choose a table and slot scoring strategy with individual, simplistic modules. One mistake I made at the beginning of the design process was designing modules without keeping the kit components in mind. We had to make several revisions to each module because we didn’t have the right materials or we designed parts that couldn’t be manufactured.

During the manufacturing I learned the use of each machine and how to operate them. I learned that the drill press isn’t very accurate.

Teamwork and Management

Every team needs a leader, not to make every important decision, but to keep track of the progress of the team and delegate tasks. At the beginning of the semester our team had no direction. When we met we wasted a lot of time and tried to do every part of each assignment together. When we got stuck we would sit around and wait till someone came up with an answer. For most of our meetings one or more members showed up late or not even at all. After the design review I decided to try to reorganize to make our team more efficient and productive. For the second half of the semester I tried split up each of our assignments and delegate. I tried to keep our meetings shorter and on topic. I also encourage everyone to hold each other accountable for tardiness.

How the course can be improved

I have a few complaints about the course. I think the slotbot project is not a good choice for a first year design course. I think the project was not focused enough. Most teams tried to accomplish too much. I noticed that many teams had two or more modules that were dependent of each other. In the seeding round only 11 teams out of 28 scored. There were 17 team who failed to score a single squash ball. How many of those teams could have been successful if they just made one module: a car that pushes balls across the top of the table. We were encouraged to focus on a defensive and offensive design. What’s the point of defense if you can’t score? It was made clear that we need to push the flipper within the slot before we score. Obviously very few groups of sophomores can develop a mobile dual-purposed module. I also got the impression that during the design process few teams knew every rule, for example starting zone. I would have rather spent the term focusing on a smaller project and doing a better job.

How you could have improved your performance in the course

I could have improved my performance by choosing a simpler design. There is so much course information for this class: details of assignments, 70+ slide lectures, rules, kit, past blogs. I would have done better to keep track of all the course information in an organized way. I wish our team had done everything a little bit ahead of schedule. I would have done better to attend every lecture.

I also could have improved my score by plugging in the correct wires during the seeding round.

Conclusion

I enjoyed this class. I was extremely upset when our team got disqualified during the competition. I was surprised how much I could care about a robot. It shows how just how much hard work our team put into this class. I would like to thank all my teammates. I think if we had a catch phrase for our group it would be “Guys... there is a problem.” I would like to thank all of the professors, especially Mark for being so helpful and easy going during lab.

Goodbye ME250!

Personal Reflection: Ahsun Surti

Ok first of all I want to say Congratulations to ME 250 students!! We all did it!! Now Kudos to every member of “The Chosen Ones” for sticking together despite all the ups and down we have faced. Next, thanks to all the GSIs and support staff for all the help in manufacturing slotbots. Thanks to Dr. John Hart and Mike Umbriac for a very, very tough and challenging yet exceptionally educational curriculum and for all the memories.

Looking back to the semester I not only feel relieved and skilled, I also feel a little sad and a little disappointed too. I am sad because the time and effort our team had put in our modules did not come around to help us during the competition. Due to time restrictions and nervousness we just couldn’t able to setup our slotbot properly during competition and paid the price.

Although I am little disappointed with our team results I am extremely grateful for the time I spent in this class. I am happy that my team actually designed and built something for the first time by using the principles we have learned in previous classes. I am happy with hands on experience I had building the slotbot and I happy that I had a chance to work with immensely talented and creative members of my team.

Working with three other people is always challenging and if members don’t have the right chemistry than it’s always hard to have everybody contribute to their full potential. Although we didn’t have these issues and we hit it off from the beginning, the time management became a great issue in our team. We all tried to work as much as we can on our modules and I want to praise other three members for sacrificing everything, from sleep to lectures, to work on our slotbot. Even though we were spending lot of time and energy on the project, our inexperience, coupled with all the bad luck always caused us short of time but somehow we always managed to get away with it. Unfortunately, the final days the luck just left us hanging in the middle and we just couldn’t able to avoid making small human and set-up errors and those small errors cost us in the competition.

With the design competition and a exam, this class challenged us at all levels. Although the designing and manufacturing curriculum was greatly set up it’s the in-class curriculum I didn’t found up to the mark. The lectures were not that helpful in terms of their relation with manufacturing part of the class. Also it seemed like we were tested on our speed in creativity rather than creativity. The nature of the exam, with all the sketches and details, in a limited time put a great deal of pressure and it was something that affected my creativeness.

In the end, I once again thank everybody for their help and support. And finally I just want to say that if I had to take this class our again I would either get on top of time management issues or wait for a time machine.

Final Assembly of Our Machines (Finally!!!!)

The Ramp:
Our ramp is actually our MCM and also the most complicated modules that we have ever built. It consist of:

a) The Arm - A retractable arm that will drop down at the beginning of a round. Before that, it is hold by a pin.

b) The Bearing System - It consists of a horizontal bearing that slide on two 1/4 inch rods. It also hold The Arm.

c) The Base-plate - The base of our ramp assembly. It also has velcro underneath it so that it will stick on the table of the arena..

d) The Legs - Made from aluminum tube, we made them to have different length so that the elevation angle of the rods for The Bearing System will be the same as the ramp inside the slots.

e) The Winch System - The heart and the engine of of this module. It will pull the bearing up the 2 rods.

The Ramp work with the winch system that has very high torque pull the bearing by using a kevlar thread, up the two elevated rods. When being pulled, the pin that hold The Arm disconnected from The Arm. The inside arm of The Arm drop into balls inside the slot. The winch continue to pull the bearing and this cause The Arm to push the balls into the hole inside the slot.

These are the real picture and the drawing of The Ramp:



The Flipper Pusher:
This is the most problematic module that we have ever made. We try to make this as simple as possible, but we found out that it was impossible. Because of that, we have to redesign the whole module. The final flipper pusher consist of:

a) Flipper Arm - It has racks on it so that the motor can hold it and also push it downward.

b) Flipper Pusher Base - It has planetary gearbox mounted on it. It also has velcro under it so that it will stick on the arena table.

At the beginning, the motor will hold the arm. Then, the motor will release the arm so that it will drop by gravity into the space between the flipper and the ramp inside the slot. Here, the end part of the ramp will push the flipper because of its geometry. Then, the motor will push the arm even deeper so that flipper will be lock and no opponent can push it back.

Here is the picture and the drawing for The Flipper Pusher:

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The CarThis is our simplest module. It is just a simple car that can move forward, backward and turn left and also turn right.

Here is the picture and the drawing:



These are the three modules that we have successfully built and we are proud of it. We are really grateful to all that really help us to complete our project. Special thanks to Mark Gordon (our GSI), Prof. A. John Hart (our professor), Michael Umbriac (our lecturer), Bob Coury and John (our Machine Shop Instructors). Thank you.



(Mark in action)


Bill of materials:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=tkxv1I9hb5On9WMC9JS6Mgg#gid=0

Seeding round and Design Expo

Last week our slotbot performed in the seeding round and the design expo. Both ended in disappointment.

For the seeding round our machine was complete and ready. We had tested our dropping our five times the day prior and it only worked two. The problem was that the tip of the arm would deflect off the flipper and miss the gap it was supposed to jam. We later realized that we needed to place the module half and inch farther from the flipper for it to be successful. During the seeding round our dropping arm missed making it impossible to score within the slot. Our car would have been functional had we not plugged in the wires incorrectly.

For the competition we got flustered during setup and the pin in our ramp came out which caused that arm mechanism to drop. It took about 40 seconds to get the pin back in place and we did not have time to setup our machine. We ended up going over time and getting disqualified. We did not hook up the dropping arm during setup time and we left our car tangled in wires so we were unable to score.

We were devastated that our machine failed because of setup mistakes. We wish we could have had a second chance.

Team Video

Here is our team video!

Week 5

Tomorrow we must have our complete machine finished and functional, except for a few minor tweaks. In our case it is likely that we will make a lot of adjustments because we have many problems.

Last week we started building the car module and the flipper module. Everything went surprisingly well with the car module. We stuck pretty close to our design. We used laser jet and acrylic for the base. We used the mill and bandsaw to make L-blocks to secure the axles. For the axles themselves we used 1/4'' Aluminum rod, which we sawed and lathed. For the V-shaped front of the car we used a combination of wood and left over 1/4'' aluminum plate. The only modification to our design that we really made was we that decided to orient the car "upside down" while driving so that we could get a better height while pushing balls on top of the table.

The flipper module has been more difficult. This module is supposed to drop an arm using rack and pinion to jam within the slot. We used 1/16'' Aluminum for the base, various aluminum parts for the arm, and the planetary gearbox with an 80:1 gear ratio. Two of the holes for attaching the motor to the base didn't align correctly when we water jetted the base so we had to drill new one's with the drill press. Also we can't seem to get our flexible tube tight around the quarter inch rod. We will probably have to try to drill a small hole through the tube and rod and then insert a spring pin. Our last problem is that the dropping arm doesn't always drop straight. But that will be a modification we make after Monday, because tomorrow's assignment is just functionality.

Flipper Arm

Flipper base

Car Base

Front Axles of Car

Rear Axle of Car

Car Module
Flipper Module

Week 4

Today is the second day of week 4. We just had thanksgiving break and our MS9 is due next week Monday. We just started building the car. We cut out the base with 1/4" acrylic plate, and cut out the ball clamp with 1/8" hardboard by using the laser cutter. We cut out two ball clamp so we can attach them together to make a 1/4" thickness. We cut out the aluminum rod for motor shafts and wheel shafts by using band-saw. We also used the band-saw to cut out the aluminum L-block for the bushing mounts. We used the mill to drill holes.

Our next step for the car module, we need to finish the mechanism for our double gear motor-box and cut out the clamp support. We need to sandpaper the shafts so it could rotate smoothly inside the bushings.

We have not started building the flipper module yet, but we hope to finish it by this week. We need to water-jet the base and the flipper support. We need to mill the L-blocks, attach the rack to the arm. We also need to assemble the planetary motorbox.

We may make modifications as we manufacture the two modules.





Our MCM moved last week! And we got a good grade on MS8.

The Real MCM:

The Solidwork Drawing:

One important note: we had to remove the bushing that we were using as linear bearings. No matter how much we tried to sandpaper the rods or even use lubricant the arm fixture would not slide up the rails. We now have 1/4'' rods sitting in 3/8'' holes. This is not ideal because it allows for a lot of rotation and could lead to jamming. It worked last week however and at this point there's really nothing we can do.

Updated Schedule

We ran behing of Schedule. We were supposed to have our Car made by now, but all we have completed so far is the ramp. Here is our schedule for the rest of the term.

Nik & Ahsun- Tuesday-Friday: Start and finish building the Flipper Module. This involves:

-waterjet for base and triangles
-cut 4 pieces of aluminum 90 stock and drill holes
-cut rack, drill holes, and counterbore to hide screws.
-cut 2x1 aluminum stock into two pieces and drill holes. Use bandsaw to make a gap for the balls in the second piece.
-assemble planetary motor with 80:1 ratio
-cut 1/4'' aluminum rod for motor shaft
-press fit pinion to shaft
-attach shaft to motor using flexible coupling
-assemble everything

Ben & Syaz- Tuesday-Friday: Start and finish building the Car Module.
-cut the base with 1/4" acrylic plate
-cut out two of the ball clamp with 1/8" hardboard
-cut out the aluminum rod for motor shafts and wheel shafts
-cut out the aluminum L-block for the bushing mounts
-figure out the mechanism for our double gear motor-box, assemble the motorbox to gear ratio 114.7:1
-cut out clamp support with 1/4" aluminum plate
-sandpaper shafts
-pressfit the rods with wheels
-assemble everything
-test the car with power supply
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday of next week: make modifications and hope for the best!

Week 3

Today we will show our finalized MCM to our GSI for MS8 assignment. It was a hazard week, since we had to modify our drawings and re-measure parts. However, we did manage to finalize our MCM.

For our winch system, we did manage to find a way to attach to the ramp. We were initially going to put our winch system on our base plate at the front, but it was too large. We used the laser cutter to cut out the plywood to make a base for the winch system. The base for the winch system was put at the top of the two left bars, and it was attached by using two L-blocks at each side. We tightened it by using bolts and nuts. For the shaft that connects the motor, we made a groove in the middle and tied a knot of kevlar thread and attached it to the pressfit bars.

For the dropping mechanism for the arm, we used the kevlar thread and the electrical tape to attach the arm and the pressfit. What we were aiming for was that when the motor pulls the arm, the tape and the thread will drop and the arm will drop accordingly. However, that mechanism did not work, so we need to find another mechanism to drop the arm before the slotbot is due.

After finalizing the design and mechanism, we assembled all the parts by using bolts, washers, and nuts.
Our MCM does function, but the arm pulled by the motor is really slow, however we need the gear ratio 400:1. Therefore, we will probably stick with the gear ratio we have right now.

Also for the MS8, we had to finalize our design of our other modules, the flipper and the car. For the car, we decided to have a M-shaped clamp of plywood that could be attached at the front. This will help collect the balls easier and push them. The car will have four wheels, run by double-gear motor, and L-blocks to make the wheel shafts secure.

For the flipper, we designed it so that the arm drops vertically and opens the switch. It will be run by the planetary gear motor and the rack and pinion system. The arm is going to be in aluminum so it has enough weight and force to open the switch.

We may need to make few modifications in the future before we machine our parts, and we need to trade with the GSI in order to get components we need in extra.

Here are some pictures.

The dropping arm.

The winch system
The assembly that the arm fits through and is pulled up by the ramp.

A picture of the entire module will be posted next week.

Week 2

We're half way through week two and things are going well. Tomorrow we have our MS7 where we show our GSI three fully completed parts. We will show him him the pressfitbar, the armsupport1, and the base plate. The parts were well made with the waterjet, bandsaw, and mill and used wood and aluminum

We are on track to complete our MCM by Wednesday of next week, however we have a lot of work to do. In addition to machining the rest of our parts, we still have to finalize our design for the winch system and the initial dropping mechanism for the arm. Originally we were going to put the winch in the base plate, but with the 400:1 gear ratio it is too large and doesn't fit. We're going to try to put in on top of our ramp instead.

Here are some pictures of parts we completed since our last post:

Base Plate (laser cut) :

Arm Support (water jet):

Bearing Sheet (water jet):

AlumL (bandsaw, drillpress):

Left and Right (bandsaw, milled):

Before next Wednesday we have to finish the following parts:

arm (bandsaw, mill)
rod (sandpaper with lathe)
pressfit x4 (bandsaw, mill)
All parts for winch system

Week 1

We have finalized our drawings for the most critical module, and we have been working in the workshop to manufacture it this week. We have not finished all the components of the module, but we have started building few components: the four legs that attaches to the base, four L-blocks that secures the legs in place, and two press-fit bars that fits into the two rods and supports the bearing sheet.

We used the bandsaw to cut out the 1" x 1" aluminum square tube stock for press-fit bars, aluminum 1/2" square stock for the legs, and aluminum 90 degree angle stock for the L-blocks. We used the mill for drilling  holes in the legs, L-blocks, and the press-fit bars for accurate measurement. For other holes in the L-blocks and the legs, we used the drill press because it did not have to be that accurate compared to the other hole.

Next week, we are planning to use the waterjet to cut out the aluminum sheet for our base sheet of the ramp, the two arm supports, and the two bearing supports.

(This was a mid-week update)

Team Schedule

We have created a schedule for the rest of the term. We have listed our project goals and the projected completion date. We will frequently make updates on our progress and any changes we make. Here is a link to the google spreadsheet of the schedule.

goo.gl/jM5S

First Post: Summary of Design

Welcome to The Chosen One's Design Blog.

Team Strategy

For the Slotbots II project, our team came up with a 3-part strategy. The strategy is that, first, we push then lock the flipper to widen our scoring opening and also block the opponent's. Then we sweep balls within the slot to score. Also independently, we sweep balls into the funnel on top of the table, knock balls off the table, and block the path of the opponent's module for defense. We chose this strategy because it has both defensive and offensive maneuvers and also it targets both the balls on the table and within the slot.

Team Concept

Our concept has three modules. The most critical module is a vertical arm within the slot that is fixed to a ramp on top of the table that has the same angle as the slot incline. The vertical arm extends downward into the slot and is pulled from the top of the ramp by using a winch. Another module sits on top of the slot and uses a rotational arm to switch the flipper and assists the slot scoring maneuver. The third module is a car that can drive on top of the table and can push balls precisely.

We are in the process of modifying our design based on the feedback from our Design Review. Our current ramp module is too large and we have not decided on a method to get the vertical arm into place. Our flipper design is not the best. We are worried that other groups will be able to switch the flipper first and that our module will not be strong enough to flip it back. In case that we do get blocked in the slot, we would like to modify our car so that it can score more effectively. We will keep the blog updated on our changes. These are screen shots from our current modules.

Ramp Module


Flipper Module


Car Module