The clip-in bearings were laser cut from the sheet of polyoxymethylene (more commonly know by DuPont's trade name, Delrin). Although we felt our design would function properly, we were advised to only cut out one clip to double check that we were correct. Fortunately, we designed the clip properly and it will be able to clip in. The clips will guide the inner part of the flipper arm while allowing it to glide through easily.
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| Delrin Clip-In Bearings |
The end piece of the flipper arm required two main pieces to be manufactured: the support piece and the arm grabbing piece. The support piece was fabricated from 1/2 inch square stock. The material was cut to length and then the square section was milled out. Holes were drilled into the piece for attachment to the grabbing piece.
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| Aluminum Support Piece |
Finally, the grabbing piece was manufactured. In order to create the bend in out piece of aluminum, we first had to anneal metal. The purpose of annealing is to heat the metal above the recrystallization temperature create a homogeneous structure. This in turn will induce increase ductility and relieve internal stresses in the material. After we annealed the metal, we quickly quench using water. The pieces was then bent to approximately 30 degrees (+/- 10 degrees) and holes were drilled using the mill. The support piece and the grabbing pieces were attached to create the end piece of our flipper arm.
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| Assembled Grabbing Piece and Support Piece |
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