Thursday, March 5, 2015

Brainstorming, Design, and Iteration!

Last lab, our team started brainstorming for our yoyo:

Clare had lots of great ideas already sketched out:

steampunk...


time turner...
 avatar...


We discussed what our goals were for the semester and for a potential yoyo.
We all agreed that an ideal yoyo is:
  • Awesomely designed!
  • Easy to assemble.  We don't want to spend hours and hours putting our yoyos together.
  • Robust (we don't want them to break)
  • Quality (shoddy parts=sad assembly time)
While we all loved Clare's steampunk theme, the thought of moving gears seemed daunting and time consuming.  Emma came up with brilliant idea of...
A Compass!


The compass maintains the same aesthetic as the steampunk watch, but has only one moving part and still takes advantage of the circular shape of the yoyo.

Clare drafted up the compass face in Illustrator.  We are going to waterjet the faces out of aluminum!

 
Illustrator Design

We met up at the MechE Lounge to discuss the general plan for the yoyo mold design and to divide up the rest of the tasks among us.  We decided that our own personal yoyos should include real magnetic compass needles (the 44 others will have plastic needles).

Sketching to clarify design of components (Injection molded body, snap ring, and needle.  Thermoformed clear plastic window.  Waterjetted aluminum face feature) as well as how the nut and set screw are fit in the assembly.

Beckett and Kate were CAD leads for the body part, James took on designing the needle, Connor consulted with Dave on how to best thermoform the window feature, and Emma was in charge of spin calculations and team organization.  Clare continued as team Illustrator master, assisting with the needle drawings.

Modeling!
We iterated through several yoyo designs, essentially choosing between "one compass with a two sides" or "two compasses made into a yoyo".  The slim profile won out.  
 


Three design iterations.  We decided on the left-most design, for its slim profile and more cohesive design.


Dimensioning!
After CADing with keeping depth of the nut/set screw, part thickness, and critical dimensions in mind, we made engineering drawings.  When dimensioning, we kept our press fit features in mind (instead of +/- .005 inches for press fit parts, the exterior parts were -.005" tolerance and the interior were +.005" to ensure that parts will not fall apart.   Here are some examples:

 Body


 Gear Detail for Needle



Thermoformed Window


Full assembly

Below is a neat table of our specifications for the Yoyo!


Item
Dimension
Target Value
Tolerance
How to Measure
Assembly
Total Mass
.15 lbs
± 0.02 lbs
Scale

Max Diameter
2.464"
± 0.003"
Calipers

Max Rotation Speed
800 RPM
±150 RPM
Tachometer

String Gap
.15"
± 0.005
Calipers





Compass Face
Outer Diameter
2"
± 0.005"
Calipers

Thickness
.0625"
± 0.005"
Calipers

Inner Hole Diameter
.25"
+ 0.005"
Calipers





Compass Needle
Ring Outer Diameter
.44"
± 0.005"
Calipers

Ring Inner Diameter
.25"
- 0.005"
Calipers

Max Height Dimension
1.69"
± 0.005"
Calipers





Extrusion Pole for Needle
Outer Diameter
0.23"
0.005"
Calipers

Inner Diameter
.20"
0.005"
Calipers

Height
0.22"
0.005"
Calipers





Cap for the Extrusion
Max Diameter
0.37"
0.005"
Calipers

Inner Ring Diameter
0.15"
0.005"
Calipers

Height
0.10"
0.002"
Calipers





Thermoform Cap
Max Outer Diameter
2"
+ 0.005"
Calipers

Cap Outer Diameter
1.76"
+ 0.005"
Calipers





Yoyo Body
Cavity Diameter
2"
- 0.005"
Calipers


Now that we are done designing our yoyo, the next step is to design our molds for thermoforming and injection molding.  This upcoming week will be busy: CADing and dimensioning drawings of the molds, writing our machine code to minimize machining time, and writing up a manufacturing plan.  We're up the challenge! We even made a TeamGantt so make sure we are on track when making these Yoyo's! 

Signing off,
Team 2.00yoyo





Monday, March 2, 2015

2.00Yoyo: Meet the Team

Get ready for an exciting manufacturing adventure! Team 2.00Yoyo is ready to create the coolest yoyo in history. We are composed of the best team members each bringing their special expertise to the team. This semester, we will be designing a compass Yoyo with steampunk inspiration in mind. As of today, the yoyo will have moving parts and metallic color. 
AND NOW...MEET THE TEAM WHO WILL BE CREATING THE BEST YOYO! 
The Designer
Clare Zhang is a junior studying mechanical engineering. When she is not enginerding, you can find her working tenaciously at illustrator. Her beautiful art work can be seen scattered throughout MIT on ATS (MIT Association of Taiwanese Students) posters or freelance posters. With all this talent, it'll be impossible to sketch an ugly Yoyo design!  



The Head of Public Relations
Connor Humber is a senior in mechanical engineering. As a member of the logs, he is not shy to project his voice in front of an audience! He can even confidently do a British accent and convince people he is from Cambridge, UK! He will teach our team how to advertise the best Yoyo. 


The Adventurer 
Kate Tatar is a Junior majoring in mechanical engineering.While Kate prefers to use her engineering knowledge to teach and help others, through mentoring in SWE, UROPing with DLab, and building a mouth-controlled joystick in the Assistive Technology Hackathon, she enjoys using her classes as an excuse for fun projects like laser tag, a rainbow gokart, and now a yoyo!
Kate enjoys doing Zumba with Emma, hiking, and making art in her free time.


The Tinkerer 
Becket Colson is a junior majoring in ocean engineering. When he is not buried under PSETS, he builds amazing inventions whether in the Marine Robotics Team or the first ever Assistive Technologies Hackathon. He even already started prototyping the yoyo with his personal 3D printer! 



The Enforcer
James Tao is a junior majoring in mechanical engineering. Already he has been keeping the team on track, reminding us about meeting days and stopping the team from going on tangents. With previous experience as an executive member of the MIT Anime Club, he knows how to organize and keep a large number of people on track! 


The Cheerlearder
Emma Nelson is a senior majoring in mechanical engineering. Though she is graduating, she will continue her masters at MIT focusing on heat and mass transfer. Her role is keeping team moral at a high level. When work gets hectic towards the end of the semester, Emma will keep everyone positive and make sure the work gets done!