Open Lab 4/11

Today Jorge and I prototype our new coupling for our piston. The coupling itself was too wide for our piston shaft so we added a bit of duct tape to the shaft making it wider. We then fitted the coupling itself onto the piston shaft. Finally we conducted some tests in order to see if our prototype worked. These tests consisted of starting and stopping the piston at different points in the scissor lift cycle and determining whether or not it was up to our standards. The prototype could use some work but for now our tests proved it was preforming nominally.

Open Lab 4/10

Jorge and I repaired our main shaft for our scissor lift and replaced it with a stronger pvc pipe. We also used couplings to secure it to the piston. First we removed our original metal shaft which proved to be far too thin and flimsy for our purposes. Then we installed two couplings to the holes we drilled that were originally meant for our metal shaft and one onto the piston itself. We then measured the distance between the three points that the couplings are on and used the chop saw to cut out the required length of pvc. After we installed the new pvc shaft into the scissor lift frame we planned to make the couplings into L couplings and improve upon our sliding method for the lift frame, this however will be our next steps for the next open lab.

Open Lab 3/20

Today Jorge and I installed and tested the sliders for the scissor lift as well as installing the shaft for the piston. First Jorge and I drilled holes in specific areas of the PVC where the sliders would go. Then we put the zip ties in and tested their sliding capabilities. After we concluded that our system worked we then drilled more holes for the rod that will be connected to the piston that will provide our scissor lift with lift. Our next steps include attaching the pneumatic piston to the main shaft possibly with L brackets and then conducting further testing.

Main Shaft and Zip Ties:

Open Lab 3/13

Today Jorge and I were preoccupied with getting our cameras to work so we did not get much work done on the Bat Signal Scissor Lift. However we did discuss what we are going to use to reinforce our PVC prototype. We decided against epoxy because since it is only a prototype we do not necessarily need it to be permanent. Instead we are going to use duct tape on the joints and other structurally vulnerable areas. We would have started taping today but we could not find any in the room; Jorge will be bringing some from home so we can begin work tomorrow.

Open Lab 3/12

Today Jorge and I went about repairing our broken scissor lift prototype and we discussed with Mr.Burnham who could have possibly done it. Apparently Mr.Burnham knows who the culprit is in PM and will take action to make sure this never happens again. In the meantime we will be using epoxy and stronger materials to reinforce our prototype so that we could lessen the chance of it getting destroyed again.

Open Lab 3/11

Today Jorge and I discussed how we are going to go about fixing and ultimately finishing our robot club project, the Bat Signal scissor lift. We are going to rebuild our prototype using stronger materials like epoxy and then ultimately build our final project out of metal. The problem is we have to rebuild the whole thing because somebody destroyed our PVC prototype(multiple times). We remain optimistic and excited to build.