Weekly Progress

We collected the 3D printed parts of our shutter and started to assemble it. Unfortunately, as the 3D printer was unable to print the parts precisely, the dimensions of the screws and their holes were not accurate and hence incompatible. We had to manually adjust the diameter of the holes by using a screwdriver to … Continue reading Ramping it up

We presented our progress at Progress Check 1 by providing a live demonstration of how all our prototypes have been failing so far, as well as pitching our new idea that was developed on 17 June. Find our slides at this link: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1-rBmlqIA3VzK15CogGcvAaiNTKQonxXfwaZx1kbSh54/edit?usp=sharing  Boots made an appearance at the Progress Check 🙂 . To begin … Continue reading Progress Check 1

We developed a new idea to sort our pipette tips in the correct orientation. It is summarised in the drawing below. Drawing of our idea of a sorting mechanism. (Credits: Yuki) Our idea was to have a rotating wheel in a box full of pipette tips and a ramp, as shown in the drawing on … Continue reading Pivoting time!

We sent the new design of our mould for 3D printing after exporting the 3D model we designed on Autodesk Fusion last week into an .stl file. After collecting our 3D printed mould and shaking it with pipette tips inside the box, we realised that our idea did not work and that the pipette tips … Continue reading Funnel time…

We collected our 3D printed mould from the 3D printer. Upon shaking the box with some pipette tips inside, we realised that the mould was not big enough for the pipette tip to fall out of the box through the cylindrical hole at the bottom (i.e. the 3D printer did not print our design as … Continue reading New new shaking design!

With some reassurance that the idea we had the previous day works (from the success of our cardboard prototype), we created a 3D model of our idea on Autodesk Fusion and converted it into a .stl file for 3D printing. Screenshots from the .stl file of our third prototype. (Credits: KK)

We returned to the lab to try shaking our prototype to test if our new idea works. It did not. The pipette tips refused to go into the holes. Upon examination of the prototype, we realised the problem was because the tips and the circular holes were on the same flat horizontal plane, and that … Continue reading Testing our shaking idea (again)

We returned to the lab to try shaking our prototype to test if our idea works. It did not. Yuki trying out our shaking idea on the prototype. We identified the problem as the tips getting stuck in the rectangular holes if they rolled towards the holes in a manner that was parallel to the … Continue reading Testing our shaking idea

We met up to discuss how we can rotate all the pipette tips so that they are in the same orientation. We came up with the following design by drawing: Our idea was to create long rectangular holes along each side of the base of a box, such that when some pipette tips are dropped … Continue reading Yapping Session 1

We attended a workshop on Motion Studies and Advanced 3D Modelling, where we learnt how to do 3D modelling on Autodesk Fusion. We also presented our new and improved project idea (Automated Pipette Tip Box Filling Machine) to Dr Ho and Mr Leong, where we received approval for the idea. We also identified that our … Continue reading Workshopping (again)