After considerable time and effort over the past weeks, the robot is finally beginning to take shape. There are still several components left to machine, and the system needs to be tweaked in a number of ways, but the overall lay out is now coming together. We have the chassis completed, and the arm is manufactured but not fully assambled. We still have to make the chute, skirt, and finish the wiring of the robot before it is ready for testing and the competition.
Having gotten ahead on the mill during the first week, we have mostly been able to use the drill press and band saw to make the final holes for the less critical parts. We have also used the drill press for holes that depend on other parts, so that we can use a center punch to mark the exact location where the parts need to fit together relative to eachother. We have also spent time on the lathe, making the axles for the robot and on the arbor press to assamble the wheels, gears, and axles.
The biggest problem that we have run into recently was an error on the arbor press that resulted in a bent axle which needed to be remade from scratch. We have also realized that a few of the components did not work as we had predicted in the CAD model, and we have had to alter our design accordingly. We also did not pay attention on the arm parts, and accidentally drilled in the wrong location on one component, and on the wrong side of another. These errors will not affect the effectiveness of the robot, but they will look somewhat unprofessional.
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