Well Windlass (Part 2 of 3)

Making Test Pieces

In order to test out different fastening and attaching methods that we are using for the windlass, we made some test pieces using solid works. 

 

Test Piece for Delrin Rod

Press Fit Test Piece

 We wanted to test the tight fit and the loose fit for the Delrin rod in order to figure out the perfect dimensions. In order to do this, we used a caliper to measure out the diameter of the delrin rod and made a test piece with different sized holes to test out the fit.  We found out that for the Delrin rod of diameter 6.32mm, a diameter of 6.28 was good for a tight fit and a diameter of 6.5 was good for a loose fit.
We also made a test piece for the press fits. We used a caliper to measure the thickness of the material that we were using, and and made notches with varying widths. After several tries, we found out that for the material thickness of 5.48mm, the notch width of 4.32mm was good for a tight press fit.

Test Pieces

We also decided to make small test pieces of the roof and supports of our windlass in order to practice using the piano wire. For the roof, we figured out that we needed to make our notches deeper in order for the two sides to be at an angle that we wanted.  

Roof Test Piece

 The test piece for the support worked out perfectly, and we were able to use the piano wires to secure the supports.

Support Test Piece

Printing out the pieces

After making adjustments based on our test pieces, we decided to go ahead and draw our actual windlass parts into solid works. 
In order to save material, we actually carved out part of our roof for some of the parts that we needed.

Solid Works Drawing of the Wheel

Solid Works Drawing of the Roof

Printed Parts

(To be continued....)