Week 4 Design Update

In order for our mechanism's gear to be fabricated, it needs to have a specific thickness of either 0.125" of 0.25". In SolidWorks the gear's thickness was adjusted from 0.5" to 0.25". To ensure that an appropriate amount of material was used, the gear, having a 4 inch diameter, was shelled to make the majority of the inside hollow. This gave the gear an appropriate volume of material, only 2.07 in.^3. Here is a picture of the final product, ready for fabrication.

Gear to be fabricated, with adjusted thickness and material volume.

The Arduino code was also updated so that the LCD screen displays "RELOAD" when the servo motor is in its initial position. In this position, rubber bands can be loaded onto the mechanism, so that they can be fired as the servo motor changes positions. The code was also adjusted so that after it is uploaded, the servo motor moves directly to its initial position. Here is the code:

And here is a video of the code in action: