The competition

The Pittsburgh Regional Science Fair was great. It was incredible to see so many projects and hear the opinions of other engineers about my project. The experience was great and it was great to meet so many different people and hear what I can improve upon my project.

New housing and holders for the metal rods

A new holder for the metal rods was printed and for the most part a success. A new housing was also designed in order to accommodate the laser range finder better. See the images of work page for more information.

Holder

The first iteration of the part which will hold the rods has been created. There are some major design flaws as only half was printed to save time. When two halves are put together, they do not line up very well. Changes have already been made and should be printed again soon.

A new shuttle has been printed and was much more successful in printing. The cylinders have been resized to fit the correct shaft. However, it appears that there were some sizing issues with the ports for the Arduino; they do not fit snugly and are raised off the base. The laser sensor also came in the mail and a prototype holder was successfully developed.

New shuttle

A new shuttle was almost successfully printed yesterday(December 10th). There was a small hiccup while printing and a third of the model was printed slightly off to the side. I was able to resolve this through sawing and some hot glue. See Images of Work tab for more details and images.

Sliding Part Sizes

The cylinders, which will be around a metal shaft and allowed to move through the use of a stepper, have been finalized. Two iterations were printed today and a good final result blossomed. See Images Of Work tab to see how they fit.

First test with the ultrasound and the housing.

The first test with the ultrasound and the housing was conducted at TechShop. Though the sensor is a tight fit with the current wiring, it still works. I was worried that the components may have gotten damaged but they were fine and worked well after fixing a small wiring issue.