Extendoff
AKwandou
Entry ID #: 9242
Created: Thu, Dec 10, 2020 3:43 AM
Introduction Standoffs are one of the many VEX components that are essential in building a functional robot to complete certain tasks. They serve a wide variety of uses from structural support to interacting with game objects. However, sometimes getting the correct standoff length can be difficult, and they can often be annoying to swap at a moments notice. Therefore, our team decided to create an extending standoff (extendoff for short) that would allow teams to adjust the length of a standoff quickly. How to Use The “extendoff” consists of two components - the inner and the outer piece. The inner piece functions as a normal standoff that has threads on both sides. However, if a team needed to extend the inner standoff a few inches, they could add on the outer piece that would function as an extension of the inner piece. There are holes along the two components that can be aligned and locked in place with standard 8-32 x 3/8” VEX screws. The distance between holes are the same as the distance between the holes in c-channels and the inner and outer extendoff piece sizes are the same as the original ones. How We Made It We used Autodesk Inventor 2021. We started by creating a simple standoff using sketches, extrusions, and the thread feature. After that, we used more sketches to create holes along the extendoff that corresponded with the holes on a c-channel and threaded the holes for the screws. Going Forward This project helped our team practice CAD by working on a simple project. It exercised our ability to brainstorm, design, and prototype on a project that could potentially be useful for the team. We learned many important tools when using Autodesk Inventor, such as the thread tool that allows us to create realistic threads and sketching which is the baseline for a custom part.
