Final Team Documentation

Our machine has a few key components to it. The chassis is the backbone of the machine and is composed of different materials. The sides of the chassis are made of 1/4” aluminum and can be seen in Figure 1. The front is made of 1/16” aluminum with a bend in the end so no balls get caught on the front of the machine and can be seen in Figure 2. The top is made of acrylic and the bottom is made of delrin and these can be seen in Figure 3. Each piece of the chassis has multiple holes drilled in them so that brackets could be mounted as well as other devices such as our prodder arm and our most critical module, the bulldozer blade. 

 

                        Figure 1: Side Chassis Plates                          Figure 2: Front Plate 

 Figure 3: Top and Bottom Plates

The bulldozer blade is made of two acrylic arms with a delrin blade, seen in Figure 4. The rotating shaft of the blade is connected to the machines by two pillow blocks, which are screwed into the sides of the chassis. Each arm has a screw going down the beginning of the arm as well as the shaft, allowing the arm to rotate and not just slip in place. The gear on the shaft is connected to a gear from the planetary box using a custom fashioned silencer. The gear ratio of the planetary box is set at 80:1, allowing it to have enough torque to lift. Figure 5 shows a pillow block as well as the rotating shaft through the acrylic arms.

Figure 4: Bulldozer Blade

 

Figure 5: Side Pillow Block

A metal motor drove each of our wheels. We found that this motor combination allows for ideal torques and speeds. The metal motors are very strong and don’t lose much power through gear deficiencies due to the fact that they don’t have gearboxes. These metal motors can be seen in their proper places in the chassis in Figure 6. For each motor we connected a axel by using another silencer and two set screws. One setscrew attached the motor to the silencer and another screw attached the silencer to the axel. The axel was then press fit through a bearing and into our wheel. We then used epoxy to attach the wheel to the axel. The front of our car has two caster wheels to allow easy motion when turning. These were attached using epoxy as well. Lastly, we painted the chassis of our machine black to give it an aesthetic appeal. Figure 7 shows our machine mostly assembled right after it was painted and Figure 8 shows our complete machine.

 Figure 6: Insides of the Chassis

 Figure 7: New Paint Job

 Figure 8: Complete Machine