OVERVIEW:
Additive manufacturing (AM) techniques can be employed to consolidate the number of parts in an assembly while maintaining the strength of the component. This advantage is known as part count reduction or consolidation. For this project you will work on your own to design a pulley assembly to be printed using material extrusion techniques. Use the CAD software package of tour preference to design the components of the pulley assembly as shown and described in the figures and table below. You will have the opportunity to test your pulley once before building your final design.
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Number & Part Name
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Function
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1,Carabiner
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holds the weight of the pulley system
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2&3. Side Supports
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hold pulley wheel and support the loaded weight
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4. Pulley Wheel
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supports a rope loaded with weight
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5. Top Support
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assembles the pulley system together
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6&7. Wheel Fixture
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affixes the pulley wheel to the side supports
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GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS:
The following set of rules must be followed for this project:
- Design the pulley with the best ratio of weight supported by the pulley/weight of the pulley. There is a restriction on the pulley to weight below 50grams.
- The pulley must fit within the test jig.
- The pulley must be able to clip onto a rope as shown in the figure below. The clip must open and close in some form.
- The pulley must be able to spin.
- A preliminary version of the pulley will be tested, prior to the final design test.
- Screws (if used) can be secured into place by other methods (heat, glue, hammering, etc.).
- Pulley components cannot be downloaded from the internet.
- Besides anchoring hardware such as screws, all other components used must be 3D printed.
- Provide a 10-minute presentation to describe your design process for this project.
POINTS TO ADDRESS IN YOUR PRESENTATION:
- Describe your design process and rationale showing the iterations of your pulley assembly and of the various components that are part of it.
- Mention the CAD package that you utilized for the creation of the pulley assembly.
- Use various CAD images to show the design of the various components in the pulley assembly.
a. Use CAD images and prints that show the dimensions and any other metrics of interest such as the calculated weight of the entire component.
b. Describe the features in your final design (such as the integration of one or more
components into one, where in the design you used fasteners, etc.).
- Describe the changes you made to your final design after testing your first pulley design. What did you learn from this first test.
- Describe the printer(s) that were used in the fabrication of your design, and list the material that was used for the prints.
a. Describe the print settings you employed for printing the pulley assembly including infill, layer thickness, etc., and discuss why you selected those.
b. Describe your choice of print orientation in relation of the mechanical properties you think are required to achieve the maximum performance (i.e. maximum weight supported) of your design. Use screenshots of the software used to setup your build for this and the previous bullet.
c. Have images of your part(s) and describe any issues that were seen in the print (such as errors like delamination), and discuss how those might affect your assembly.
- Discuss any final thoughts and what you learned from this assignment.