Week Four (Nov 21 - Nov 27)

There's less than two weeks until the ball tower contest! Fortunately, we have made a lot of progress on our building and manufacturing, and we think we will be able to finish by the end of this week. Last week, we completed all the machine work for the most critical module, which is completely assembled and looking good! The only small issue we had was with the axles, which we had to re-lathe so they would fit into the bearings.

We also began the construction of both the arm and the front tray this week. In terms of the arm, we cut the main piece, and drilled and tapped the bottom of the piece (so it would attach into the MCM) and the side of it (so we could attach the pieces that knock balls off the tower perches). We also cut the steel threaded rod and screwed it into the top of the arm. As for the front tray, we used the water jet on Wednesday to cut out the tray pieces. Unfortunately, one of our triangular cut outs got caught in the jet and messed up one of the side tray pieces. Therefore, we have to go back after break to re-cut one of the side trays.

In the next couple weeks, we are going to have to assemble the front tray using sheet metal screws and bent 1/16" aluminum stock. Originally we were planning on welding the pieces together, but Bob informed us that it would be easier to use sheet metal screws to assemble it. We will include a picture of the tray construction when it is complete. Additionally, we have to figure out how we are attaching the L-shaped component at the top of our arm. The spring hinge came in, but we have to drill new holes in it, and when we tried using the mill to do this, the hinge bent a little. Therefore, we think we're going to have to use a hand drill to drill the holes.

Although this is our last blog post before the ball tower contest, look for The Team, The Team, The Team to be a top contender in the 2011 Fall ME250 Ball Tower Competition. We'll each post a blog after the competition, and hopefully we have good news!