4. Manufacturing and Assembly - Automatic Sauté Machine

As outlined in the Design Process section, we started the construction of our assembly by creating it virtually with a program called Linkage that was able to simulate the motion of our design. From there, we created a flat base that our entire assembly would be situated on. This base was made from a 3/4 inch square of plywood, which gave the base plenty of weight to remain stable during the motion of the mechanism. From this square of plywood, we cut a rectangle that would serve as a wall to hide the electronics behind the mechanism in order to achieve a cleaner look. As well as this, the wall served as a mounting fixture in which we secured our slider and motor to. Because we were working with wood, we were able to screw directly into the wood to create strong connections that would hold up while the mechanism was in motion. For our linkages, we laser cut them out of wood and secured them together by inserting bearing into laser cut holes at the connection points and then clamping them together with a nut and a bolt. This method of connection may have been overkill, however, we wanted to make sure it wouldn't come apart during the run of the mechanism.

Because of our material decisions and our assembly strategy, our mechanism was very sturdy when running, however, there was still problems with the construction. The biggest change we'd make in the future is to find a different method of holding the linkages together. Because the links were rotating, they would unscrew the nuts holding the linkages in place. We tried to rectify this issue by placing lock washers on the outside of the nuts to prevent them from becoming loosened, which worked to a degree as a fix but wouldn't compare to a complete redesign.