MCM: arm

Since our discussion after the post-design review with our GSI, the design of the lever arm has changed significantly. We needed to find a way to restrict the motion of the vertical part of the lever arm so that it would only move up and down in the z-direction. To solve this, we have decided to replace the winch in the original design with a rack and pinion concept. The rack and pinion will still be operated by one motor but will now have the added guarantee of restricting the degrees of freedom unlike the wires and winch. Along with that change, we have decided to make the horizontal part of the lever arm 12 inches as opposed to the original design of eight inches. This will allow the lever arm to pick up more balls at once and utilizes the maximum dimensions set in the rules. The final design change is that we will use a premade hinge as opposed to making one built into the lever arm. Not only does this help in terms of manufacturability, but when using a 1/8th inch thick piece of aluminum, it is physically impossible to drill a hole through that narrow of a piece of metal.

Here is a CAD screenshot of what our arm will look like. This was made for our MS6 Assignment: The most critical module.