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Our system was manufactured out of acrylic to achieve both higher strength and a more attractive design. We exclusively laser cut for both time efficiency and started by laser cutting our links out of 6mm thick acrylic. We used hot glue to create a more cohesive look. One major issue we had to overcome was adhering the acrylic to itself. We found that because of the materials smooth surfaces, manufacturing legs for our machine became challenging. Our solution was to purchase acrylic specific glue that was able to create a chemical bond.Ultimately, we decided to create our system in a large box.snug press fit for the bearings into our links. Additionally, a 450 x 350 mm base plate was cut to build our system on top of. Below is an image of our links and base plate.
In order to allow to attach a motor to the machine, we laser cut legs for it. Additionally, to affix the cat toy to the output link, we attempted to glue the toy to the small hinged attachment on the output link. These had the same problem: hot glue does not create a strong enough connection for acrylic. To solve this problem, we purchased acrylic specific super glue that chemically bonded the two pieces together. Using this, we created four legs, gave the entire system a bottom baseplate and created a new hinged attachment which held the cat toy. We also created a small table with M3 holes to hold the heavy motor and it was attached to the bottom baseplate. Attached is an image of the machine after day 2 and the acrylic glue we used.
Finally, we laser cut our cam-walls. They were firstly affixed to each other with the acrylic glue and then attached to the top plate. One difficulty we had was the size and weight of the cam-walls. Careful pressure needed to be applied while fabricating them as they would often collapse under their own weight. Finally, we added the Arduino, breadboard, motor controller, and joystick and affixed them with velcro.
