Corner C-Channel
dbaker01
Entry ID #: 2815
Created: Thu, Nov 3, 2016 4:03 PM
Vex Corner C-Channel By Team 8110R "The Knights" Vex Corner C-Channel By Team 8110R "The Knights" Why Was It Created? The reason for the creation of this part was to solve the issue of having to create right angles with the C-Channels for the frame and structure of robots. If your bot needs to have as little weight as possible for its main task, such as lifting itself off of the ground, then having to use braces and two C-Channels together to create right angles can be hindering to it. With this new part, it would both cut the weight and also keep a solid right angle. How Would It Be Used? This part would mainly used and attached just like a regular C-Channel being used for the frame of a robot, however the right angle of it allows for it to be easily used for right angles and box shapes. The flat corner could also be used to attach it to a flat surface, allowing for a series of them to form a rib structure. It could also be used as a ram, with the right angle keeping items within the brace. We've designed three versions, one with 17.5" long arms, one with 12.5" long arms and one with 7.5" long arms, these varying sizes allow for the part to be used for making the structure of a robot, to making angles for special uses. How Was It Made? I designed this part mainly using the mirror tool in two different ways. Firstly, I started with sketching the rough shape of the top half of a C-Channel's main form and mirrored the sketch to flip vertically to make the sketch the full C-Channel shape. It was then extruded out to the desired length that I wanted first. I then deleted the one of the corners of the Channel, then mirrored the part across that to make a mirror of the channel, with the cut corners meeting together. After I made sure that the part was exact in keeping its measurements and cut off the top shared corner of the part, the main body of the part was completed. Secondly, I used the mirror tool to mirror sketch features to save time. Since a C-Channel has the small square holes to fit screws and axles into, I would have to replicate these holes onto my part. After taking measurements of these holes in relation to size and positioning, I sketched one of the holes in the top left of one of the C-Channel branched. I then mirrored this sketch vertically and horizontally to cover all of the Channel, the mirrored copied and pasted these sketched onto the other branch. I could then cut out the holes all at once, instead of having to sketch each individually if I went without the mirror tool. I then used this method to get the holes on the top and bottom of the C-Channel and also to get the triangular indentations that are along the tops and bottoms of C-Channels. After I added in the slit at the cut corner to attach it by that, the part was done. I then cut off the ends of the Channels to get the different sized version, similar to how you would get differently sized C-Channels regularly. The Autodesk Inventor Professional 2016 Educational Institution Version was used for the creation of this part. Conclusion This project taught me how to apply my knowledge of AutoCAD to design and visualize a part for use. Being able to plan a part, then make a model that could be adjusted or used to recreate it is very useful, enough so that I would use this in the future for my planned job in engineering, since that field requires a lot of design and this software was useful for that process. This could help a robotics team by allowing them to plan out their robot in a 3D plane before building it to check for any problems or issues that couldn't be seen in the designing stage.
