Well Windlass (Part 3 of 3)

Assembling the pieces

We used most of the class time on Friday (2/14) to assemble our parts. We first cut out our Delrin rod using a band saw. We cut 3 4cm pieces and two 10cm pieces. 
Then we used the drill press to piano wire the roofs together and also the supports.
We used a running-fit for the roof using a 1/16in wire and a tight-fit for the supports also using a 1/16 wire. It was a bit of a challenge to get the piano wires to properly fit into the holes that we drilled, but after we successfully wired our pieces, it was very strong and sturdy.

Final Well Windlass

Testing out the product

After we assembled our windlass, we attached a string to the 1L soda bottle, secured the other side to our wheel, and tested out the windlass. 
The soda bottle was surprisingly heavy, but we could get the bottle to lift up to the top of our roof, which is about 17cm. 
Even though the wheel rotated smoothly and was secured tightly onto the support, the soda bottle was heavier than we had expected, and some bushings became a little loose if we did not turn the wheel properly. However, the device spanned the 12cm gap and the triangular shape made it extremely stable. 
If we could make another iteration, I would try to make another small wheel (or more of a pulley) at the top of the roof so the friction between the string and the delrin would be lower, making it easier to lift up the soda bottle. I would also try to make a better handle for the wheel. 
Thinking a little about the definition of work, we know that with a given amount of work, if the displacement is bigger, the force applied is smaller. Applying this principle, we could have made the wheel a little smaller so that it would have to revolve around more times (increased displacement) but we could apply less force when lifting the soda bottle.
The reason that we made the wheel this size (7cm in diameter) was because we wanted to turn the wheel a fewer number of times than if we had a small wheel. It would be good to find the perfect, balanced size for the wheel taking these two factors into consideration.

Overall, the project was a great way to apply the fastening and attaching techniques and gave me a chance to think about different principles that we learned in mechanics.

Material Usage

Delrin Rod

• Three 4cm rods
• One 10cm rod
• One 15cm rod
• TOTAL: 29cm (under the limit)
  

Delrin Sheet (3/16 thickness)

• Roof: about 312 cm^2 for both roofs (It's actually slightly less, but I estimated)
• The support for the wheel and one of the support bars were cut out from the roof

•  Wheels: 38.47 cm^2 for each wheel, 76.94 cm^2 for both wheels
• Support: 17cm^2
• TOTAL: 312+76.94+17=405.94cm^2 (under the limit)

String

• 120cm