The figure above is a CAD model of the teams prototype design. The major changes in this design are outlined below.
The new design involves the removal of guidewires which initially helped to control the motion of the arms. These guidewires also served as an adittional point of contact which need to be taken into account
when they are removed. A deflection analysis was done on the original 80/20 Aluminum material to determine if the end of the arm would maintain its position. The details of the analysis can be seen in
the document below.
Once the deflection with the 80/20 aluminum was determined to exceed desired tolerances, other arm materials were considered. 1010 HR Steel was analyszed next using an FEA application via SolidWorks.
The deflection of the steel was within the desired tolerance and it was determined that we will use this material going forward.
The picture above shows the components of the motor control system. The motors are driven by a microstepping driver in order to achieve high precision movement
An arduino is the controller of the motors and talks with the motor through an encoder.
The new design involves integrating the arms into the table. This can be seen in the figure above. The motors are positioned below the arms.
