Today, we hoped to finally get the pneumatic unit to work on. However, unfortunate circumstances and a nasty punctured tyre poked a hole in that plan. 🙁
Tomorrow, may be a better day.
On the bright side, we refined our clamping system by adding a long (adjustable) clamp that can reach to under some of the attachments to secure the unit in place while it is rotated upside down.
Also, we were linked up with our mentor, Jie Huang, who has some experience in Solidworks! He gave us some valuable advice – focus on a design that can lift our payload first, then look into stress/strain analysis. We will also be meeting him next week. 🙂
Finally, we procured some pillow blocks with 30mm bore diameter for use as rotating joints to connect two the two support aluminium profiles with the main lifting arm (rough sketch below). The pillow block allows 360 degree free rotation ability via the aluminium rod (30mm diameter) that fits through the 3 pillow blocks. To install control, actuators will be installed (as per our prototype designs) between the two support aluminium profile and the main lifting arm (not drawn below for simplicity).
