IV. Manufacturing and Assembly

For the initial mechanism prototype I used laser cut wood for my links and used brass plated fasteners for the joints. I used a piece of cardboard to act as the ground of the mechanism and created holes for the brass fasteners to attach to. My initial idea for the slider was to create an actual block that would slide through a guided opening that was the same width. Figure 1 shows the initial prototype in motion.

Figure 1. Joint Assembly

It was obvious from the demonstration that there would need to be major changes in the prototype due to how poorly the mechanism moved. I decided to change the sliding block to be a sliding pin, and lowered the slot that the pin would slide through to be level with the ground. I also documented each pin's coordinate so that I would know exactly where to place each link and accurately recreate the PMKS simulation placement. 

I decided to laser cut wood for the links and ground support that the link would be attached to. I positioned each pin joint based off of the scaled coordinates I used for the PMKS simulation. For the pin joints, I used 4-40 nuts and bolts. I understood that the nuts may have trouble staying on the bolts when being rotated along with the links, so I reinforced their position with hot glue. Figure 2 shows the bolts reinforced by glue from under the ground support to which they are attached.

Figure 2. Nuts reinforced by Glue

For the sliding mechanism, I laser cut a hole the length that the pin was set to slide  and made the width slightly larger than the diameter of the screw. I also reinforced the sliding hole with clear packing tape so that the sliding pin could easily slide through. Figure 3 shows the bottom view of the sliding pin.

Figure 3. Sliding Pin and Sliding Area

On top of the sliding pin, I glued a small rectangular piece of wood so that I could glue a larger mass on top that would act as the target for the ring toss game. Figure 4 shows the top of the sliding mechanism as well as the piece of wood glued on top.

Figure 4. Finished Sliding Mechanism

For the slotted pin joint I also used a bolt with a glued nut to reinforced the link to the ground board. When tightening the nuts of the links, I made sure to not make them tight and limit mobility of the mechanism. Figure 5 shows the completed mechanism and attachments.

Figure 5. Fully Assembled Mechanism

For the motorized mechanism, I laser cut a hole for the motor to fit through and reinforced its position with duct tape. To attach the motor to the mechanism, I ended up gluing one of the sides of the detachable two-winged motor shaft to the input link, and reinforced it with a bolt. Figure 6 shows the assembly of the motor.

Figure 6. Motor Connection