In our first year we were asked to come up with a moving intersection between two shapes, and then make it ,ourselves, in the machine shop. After a lot of time spent imagining different shapes moving in and out of each other, I came up with this. A design I was not sure whether it could actually be made or not at this point.
I wanted to make a ring with a radius carved out on the inside, matching the radius of two opposing corners of a truncated rounded cube. The remaining corners should be rounded with a radius slightly smaller than the one found on the inside of the ring. This design would allow the cube to rotate freely around an axis going between the two opposite corners. The smaller radius holds it in place in the groove on the inside of the ring, while the remaining corners just misses the inner edge of the ring due to being cut slightly more and with a larger radius.
I wanted to make a ring with a radius carved out on the inside, matching the radius of two opposing corners of a truncated rounded cube. The remaining corners should be rounded with a radius slightly smaller than the one found on the inside of the ring. This design would allow the cube to rotate freely around an axis going between the two opposite corners. The smaller radius holds it in place in the groove on the inside of the ring, while the remaining corners just misses the inner edge of the ring due to being cut slightly more and with a larger radius.
The inspiration for how to make this work came in large part from the design of a self aligning roller bearing. There were a lot of really challenging aspects of this project in machining, cad, material knowledge and math. At one point even the teacher gave up and considered it a failed experiment.
Ultimately I figured it out, due in no small part to workshop crew. A special thank you to Bert Berglund of Svetsmekano who let me use his mid-development specialised tool to make a clean radius cut to the front part of a spinning lathe. Pictured in action on the previous page.
The measurements in the drafts are not what was ultimately used, and as such are not correct. They were referred to more like guidelines for dimensions determined by the real world size and flexibility of the actual parts.
Ultimately I figured it out, due in no small part to workshop crew. A special thank you to Bert Berglund of Svetsmekano who let me use his mid-development specialised tool to make a clean radius cut to the front part of a spinning lathe. Pictured in action on the previous page.
The measurements in the drafts are not what was ultimately used, and as such are not correct. They were referred to more like guidelines for dimensions determined by the real world size and flexibility of the actual parts.
