2. Design Process - Automatic Sauté Machine

When designing our mechanism, we used a program called Linkage in order to visualize the motion of our links. Because the act of sautéing is more about the motion of the pan than a specific velocity or acceleration value, we found it very useful to be able to see our linkage mechanism and its simulated motion in order to determine the proper positioning and dimensions. Once we liked the simulation that we had on the program, we scaled the virtual dimensions to match the slider length that we were going to be using for the mechanism. This determined the lengths of our links and the overall size of the mechanism. Because we were only going to be using a single egg pan for testing, we decided to laser cut our links from 1/4 in plywood in order to have adequate strength and rigidity when moving the pan but also keep things light so we wouldn't have trouble getting the motion we wanted with our motor. Ultimately, these decisions resulted in a smooth manufacturing and construction process, however, our DC motor is where we met the most trouble. Because the shaft on our motor was perfectly cylindrical, we found it challenging to secure our input link to the shaft in order to power the mechanism. Luckily, we were able to find a hex nut with an inner diameter tight enough to friction fit onto the motor shaft without spinning independently from the shaft when powered on. We then laser cut a few more pieces of wood in order to create a makeshift clamp that would secure the input link to the motor.

After constructing our mechanism, we felt satisfied with the way we went about designing it however there were certainly areas that we would have changed if given the chance. From our experience, it would have been wise to fully simulate the motion and attempt to determine a rough estimate of the power and speed needed to properly power the mechanism. We went through three motors before finding one that was powerful enough to achieve the motion we wanted, however it required a different attachment mechanism than the other motors we started out with. Ultimately, this just caused delays and held up the completion of the finished project.