Final Project (A Machine)¶

A Machine is multi-functional machine that can be used as a pen plotter machine or vinyl cutting machine simply by changing the tool head, the design is made so that the machine can be portable and easy to tweak.

Project Brief¶

We were assigned on a project called “A Machine”, the idea behind the project is to design a reliable, portable, cost effective machine that can have multiple functions. The targeted consumers are students.

Our initial idea was to design a Lathe machine, which grew from that into a broader and multi propose machine that can be used for different operations, simply by changing the tool head.

Prototyping Using Design thinking¶

We began our research with the design thinking cycle in our minds, which is method of prototyping that helped us organize our work into a more productive and efficient manner.

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Design thinking is multistep cycle, this is how we applied this design methodology in our project:

Empathize¶

In this step, the key is to understand the problem statement and try to research and find as many information as possible from the end user.

How do they envision the product? What makes them excited?

These questions should be answered by the students that the product is designed for, but in our case we could not do a survey of this kind.

Define¶

What features do they want? What safety features do they need?

We thought about what could be suitable for students in terms of functions and what safety features should we add.

We needed a safe machine that minimizes injury if anyone operated it and at the same time we wanted a machine that is capable of performing multiple tasks.

Ideate¶

For the safety, we thought about a camera detection system that warns the user when someone’s hand is in the area of the machine, to prevent children from any injury.
In terms of the main function of the machine, we first thought about building a turning machine (lathe machine), and we prototyped this idea but we changed the main function to be broader that just a lathe machine, the machine will be capable of performing tasks such as a pen plotter machine, vinyl cutter machine and possibly a laser cutting machine or a milling machine if we simply change the tool.

Prototype¶

First prototype¶

Our first prototype was a lathe machine, we assembled the prototype in two days to present it and test and evaluate its functionality and to evaluate the idea in general.

Test¶

When we tested our first prototype, we realized that the structure is too rigid and with minimum room for tweaks, so instead of building on that, we decided to use a square shaped structure with x, y and z coordinates.

Repeat¶

Second prototype¶

We decided to use aluminum extrusions for the structure of the machine, but we faced a constraint regarding the movement of the axis.

We needed to build a movement mechanism with materials that are locally available, so we decided to use the laser cutting machine to cut a rack and pinion mechanism to drive the axis with wheels to move the mount.

I have designed the rack and pinion using Fusion 360

For the pinion (spur gear):

The spur gear has 24 teeth

For the rack:

This is the tutorial that I have followed

I also designed a mount for the stepper motor and the wheels

Use these dimensions to create a 2D sketch then extrude it

We used a 6mm sheet of acrylic to cut the mount and the rack and pinion

A video of me cutting a large sheet of Acrylic before cutting it using the laser cutter.

To make the y axis stage stand and carry the weight of the x axis stage, I designed a stand and a base structure to not only hold the y axis, but the machine itself

Stand: