This week we did more testing! When testing the spooler, we realized that the plastic is not hot enough to extrude. Any temperature at which the plastic melted showed that the PLA was stretching and thinning out. Tried to add a base between extruder and spooler, but plastic would stick to surface. We also tested different types of shreds: finer …
This week the Thermal Orientation Testbed team worked to continue to make improvements to the structure and accuracy of the testbed. Our controls team worked to mount limit switches to control the rotation of the test bed. They are also looking into a emergency stop for safety and for an inclinometer which will help us monitor the orientation of the …
This week, we selected the sponsors that we needed to manufacture MPOWRD. For the tube bending of the frame, we chose Tube Technology. This small company helped create the lever arms. Due to the very small size of the company, there was very limited information on the company history available on the Internet. For the power coating frame, we chose …
The housing has been redesigned, it has been made larger and with an additional tube for the food dispensing has been incorporated to provide the supplement cartridges with more space so that they can be placed above the food bowl. Ideally, we will have four supplement cartridges each being 30 mL, the food storage compartment is to hold 3lb to …
This week materials for the production of prototypes have arrived, each group member will initiate the production of their subsystems. Subsystem one, she has begun by modifying the manual food dispenser. The two main components are the food storage container and a motor. The food dispenser mechanism has begun testing and was found to dispenses ¼ cup with some error. …
This week, UAV Forge has begun working to improve their organization and task-management system. With a progress discussion with the UCI Senior Design Project management, we were motivated to improve our work by addressing the lack structure we have in this project. As they say, you’ll only get what you put in. So we are working hard to accomplish our …
One good news is we finished the hand mold and already tested the strength of our linkages and bars. Aluminum turned out is a really good material for this project. We will finish the 3D scanning in week 5 and hopefully the main parts in week 6.
Over the weekend prior to week 3 the S.P.A.M. team came back from retreat in Carlsbad. The team definitely knew each other on a personal level and became ready to tackle the rest of the quarter! Coming back to UCI, the team designed, 3D printed, and tested a new mesh that will be installed to the bottom of the grinder. …
The outcomes and objectives from our team’s Week 2 workshops revolved around performing some trial tests with our current plastic grinder setup as well as benchmarking different laser diameter controllers for the extruding process and spooling process. The first grinder tests were done as the baseline tests to see how well the grinder would perform as is. For the first …
Hello everyone! We are excited to be a part of the MAE 189 community. We are a team of environmental, mechanical, computer, and electrical engineers as well as art students that have been working for almost two years on developing a system to recycle plastic waste into useable filament. Our external website can be found at: http://bit.ly/ucispam Know more about …
