In the Shop

     Building is under way!
     We are starting to get the hang of the laser cutter, band saw, and mill.

drawing of the acrylic top plate

preparing the drawing for the laser cutter

 
     We are working on the parts to complete the most critical module of our car. When they're done and put together, they will look like this updated design:

Selman's very attractive model

    Balls of Fury is so excited to be moving on from the design phase and to be making, what feels like, more tangible progress!

Manufacturing Plan & Bill of Materials

Click here for our spreadsheet of plans for materials and manufacturing.

Schedule

http://goo.gl/KaOxK

Strategy & Machine Concept

     We settled on a strategy that focuses on collecting balls from the base of the tower. We wanted to do this with a machine that can mostly just position itself in front of the tower and then sweep many balls under it continuously, guiding them to the goal without moving.

steps of our strategy

Our final concept does this with a sort of "waterwheel" device on the front, and a fence that extends from the back with a rack and pinion mechanism.

final hand sketch of our design

our styrofoam sketch model

 

We created a Solidworks model that shows clearly how the modules of the machine will work together and how the motors and power transmission methods will function.

Solidworks side view emphasizing how the machine interacts with ping pong balls

We are very enthusiastic about this design and look forward to building it.