students


Graham Bannantine · Richard Zuckerman · Alex Kalberer

about

Our design featured three iterations. Each iteration had mauch in common with the previous one. The truss consists of three main components: the base, the torque arm, and the lifting mechanism. The base is a four-sided member that is reinforced with crossed aluminum pieces. For added stability, the four sides taper upwards. The torque are is meant to absorb most of the moment caused by the lifting of the weight. The lifting mechanism is what changed most drastically through the iterations. At first, we had the servo at the end of the torque arm directly lifting the weight with the assistance of a counterweight. This did not work because it created to large of a moment about the torque arm and the friction was too great to be able to lift the weight. Our solution was to further reinforce the base and torque are and making it so the weight was being lifting along the axis of the torque arm. Again, with this design there was too much friction. This, combined with the under-powered servo and ineffectiveness of the counter-weight caused the truss to be unable to lift the weight any significant height, For our final design we made a number of changes that resulted in our truss being able to lift the weight 1 inch. We moved the servo back to the middle of the torque arm and changed the lifting mechanism entirely. This new lifting mechanism can be seen in the pictures below of our final design as well as in the pictures of the SolidWorks model of our final design.


Our final mechanism is able to left the weight 1 inch. The theoretical fraction of the servo’s maximum torque that is used it 1/5 over the 1 inch lift. This gives the servo a maximum lift angle of about 45 degrees.


Our most interesting feature is our base. Compared to the other mechanisms observed, our base is incredibly strong and able to withstand a remarkable amount of torque without yielding. We are also very proud of how the servo is mounted and operates.

photos

video