Week 2

      This week was the first time we had a Monday class meeting for capstone. We confirmed our budget with Dr. Gordon (it is $600) and updated him on the progress of our project. Max Murphy worked on Arduino code for the motor while the rest of the team went to Josh Park's office and created a 3D scan of the foot. This will be used to 3D print a foot/ankle "brace" that fits onto Isaac's leg.

Josh Park holding the 3D scanner to scan Isaac's foot.

It was found that wearing a sock made it difficult to complete and align the different scans, so the process was redone. The colored dots helped with alignment. 

An example of the 3D scan rendering.

This was the completed scan, which Josh sent us later in the week as an .STL file.

    Later in the week, we went to the shop again and constructed a new bracket for testing the motor. We also constructed a "shield" that will help stop anything that flies off during testing (if something should fly off). The force transducer is able to screw onto the side of the bracket, which will hopefully allow us to accurately measure the forces generated.

A sheet of metal was bent to fit over a 2x4 piece of wood. The motor will be mounted to the sheet metal.

Another view of the set-up. The motor is now mounted so that it will spin horizontally, rather than vertically.

The force transducer can be attached directly to the test bracket.

This is an example of how the set-up would be used during testing. The "shield" is open at the top as the weight would be unlikely to fly out of the top if the screw were to break. This also allows us to use the tachometer while the motor is running.

     We attempted to test out the motor; however, the screw we were using hit the side of the shield and broke. We placed an order with Dr. Gordon for a brass plate from McMaster-Carr. Once the brass arrives, we would like to go to the shop and mill out the following object.

The object we plan to mill out of the stock brass piece.

This object combines both the "arm" and the "weight" portion, so that we will no longer have to use a small M3 screw and mass. This should make the system much stronger and less prone to breaking/shearing off. The round end with holes in it is where the system will mount to the motor. Brass was chosen because it has a high density and is also able to be machined with our equipment. We are hoping to receive the brass early on during Week 4 and be able to mill out our shape, as most of our testing is at a stand-still until this step occurs.
     We also continued to work on the Arduino code that controls the motor, and also started discussing how we plan to attach the elastic bands to the harness. As of right now, we are planning on sewing the elastic bands; we will fold the elastic band over itself to create a loop. This loop would then allow the ban to be taken off the harness if need be. This will likely be delayed until further in the semester, however, as testing the motor is our number one priority for the time being.