Nov 15th. weekly update

The main focus for this past week was to finish the motor lab
assignment. One of the main things we noticed while completing our motor
lab is that one of the sun gears in our planetary gear box set does not
rotate well with the other gears (meaning, that it gets stuck very easily).
If we were to use the 400:1 gear ratio in our module, we would have to
trade one of our planetary gear sets with another team who would be using
the 25:1 gear ratio for their machine. Since we will be needing two motors
for our design (one to rotate the conveyor belt, one to move the conveyor
belt up and down) we will be needing the dual gear box motors as well (most
likely only one of them). In preparation for needing the dual gear box
motors and gear boxes we exchanged the motors that came with the gear boxes
with the ones the GSI's were providing for us during section.
This last week, we also decided on some small changes to our design.
During our most critical module discussion with our GSI, we discussed the
possibility of manufacturing our own pulley for the conveyor belt rather
than purchasing them from the McMaster-Carr website, since the ones we were
looking into buying cost $32 apiece. We have since decided that we will be
manufacturing our own pulleys since we do not wish to spend so much money
on this project, we would rather use the materials that have already been
provided.
During one of our team meetings, we also set a time line for this
upcoming weeks manufacturing processes. During Monday's section time, we
plan to make the path file for the water jet to cut our 1/16" thick
aluminum plate into the appropriate parts we will be needing. Wednesday is
when we plan on doing most of our manufacturing, as well as the water jet
(we are signed up for a time slot on Wednesday to use the water jet).