Week of 2/24 - 2/28

At the start of the week, I was aiming to create a way to spin the motor from far away so that the motor magnet would not interfere with the electromagnet and the sensor. I briefly contemplated using gears but since I am aiming to have the motor quite some distance away, I decided that the better option would be to use a band of some sorts. I was given a band by my shop teacher and it was the perfect length for what I needed to do with it.

Using the measurements I took from it, I created a frame so that I could attach the motor to one end and the spinner to the other end. I had to retry a few times because the laser cutter was not cutting some parts, but eventually I got it to work and it came out perfectly. I attached the motor and it fit, so I needed to next make the wheel that would spin the band itself. I created a small wheel that had a divot for the band to fall into, and I tested it on its own to make sure it worked and it did.

I also needed a new spinner so I created a new one but the diameter was too small and the band had no traction, so I switched it to a larger radius and that fixed the issue. I eventually got everything attached and tried testing it, but both parts were still too unstable and kept tilting towards each other, which would make them either fall out or untension the band and make it stop working.

This has led me to try and think of a way around it. I decided that instead of having a frame on only one side, I would just have a frame on both sides so that it had support from both ends and could take much more tension and speed before getting knocked out of place. I haven't created this new side yet, but this is an image of one of the failed cuts showing how I want to proceed with this.