Log 25

Today, DA was absent so we could not go down to the lab.  My partner and I devised a plan to test the ability of the claw to throw a ball.  The original challenge was misconstrued in the way that it was presented to us, therefore we may have to develop another solution in order to complete this challenge.  I believe that one quick mothion of the claw's wrist will throw the ball through the hoop, but my partner thinks otherwise.  I would attempt to throw the ball throw a hoop five times in a row to prove  I have skill and not luck. This will have to wait until Monday.

log 24

Today, my partner and I stabalized each drive shaft moving the claw and its arm.  We had to put stoppers at each of the five gears that rotated the shafts.  This prevented the much wobbling that was occuring during our tests.  This was a difficult process because these pieces were small and the places where they needed to go were cramped.  Neither of our instructors had tweesers so it took a little longer than we wanted.

log 23

Today, we worked a little backwards today. It has been all about the gear ratio since my partner, the structural engineer, discovered the magic of gear ratios.  If a small gear is directly attatched to the shaft and a larger gear is attatched to an apparatus, then the device will move slowly and accurately; vise versa.  Today, the wrist of the claw was remodeled with new knowledge of gear ratios in mind. Tomorrow, we'll do something to something to make that more accurate and stable.

log 22

Today, my partner and I changed the gear ratio on the base of the claw's arm.  We had no control over how fast the arm went because the shaft rotated too quickly.  This lower gear ratio allowed for more control over the intense power of the VEX 269 two wire motor.

log 21

Yesterday, my partner and I re-worked the design for our claw arm.  The arm had too much power behind it to be controlled by the simple remote.  We need more gears to lower the gear ratio.

log 20

Today, my partner and I measured two drive shafts and cut them to their appropriate lengths.  We took each drive shaft and clamped it. We marked the line upon which we wanted to cut and dotted the side we wanted to keep.    We then procceded to use a hack saw to cut away at the shafts.  We took long and slow strokes to steadily make our way through the metal.

log 19

This past week, we gave presentations on our formal progress updates.  I think I did very well on my presentation, and my partner did well too.  He went the second day of presentations but because of time constraints, I had to present the start of the third day.