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  2. Lithium-Polymer (LiPo)  Batteries
  3.  
  4. Waterjet Cutter
  5. Laser Cutter
  6. 3D Printers
  7. Powder Coating
  8. Other Hand Tools
  9. SolidWorks
  10. Stock Materials
  11. DC Motors
  12. RC Servo Motors
  13.  
  14. Lab Prototype Boards
  15. Useful Links

 

Lithium-Polymer (LiPo)  Batteries

   

 

Old batteries – we used to use Nickel Metal Hydride battery packs, 14.4 V / 2700 mAh.  Same current limiting fuse.  You may see these batteres around in the lab.

 

 

Waterjet Cutter

  • We have an OMAX Waterjet 2652 (2foot x 4foot workspace).   Located in Hebb 48.
  • OMAX Layout and Make software tools
  • Layout and Make are installed on all computers in Hebb 42.   Please use the software there to verify and prepare your drawings before heading to the OMAX machine.
  • Fabrication costs us $1/min in costs.

 

 

Laser Cutter

  • We have the Versa Laser VLS 4.60. 24″ x 18″ workspace, 60W CO2 laser.   Located in the Fabratory (ChemPhys A040).
  • Short video showing the machine in action
  • list of materials that can be cut  (plastics that do not contain chlorine, wood, paper, cardboard)  (no metal)

 

 

3D Printers

 

Powder Coating

  • We have a small powder-coating booth and oven  (~2foot x 2foot x 2foot).   Located across from the Student Machine Shop, Hennings 224.
  • Video showing the powder coating setup

 

Other Hand Tools

 

SolidWorks

  • SolidWorks is available for use in Hebb 42 for the duration of ENPH 253.   You must log in to the VPN on these machines.
  • There are many software tutorials for SolidWorks, including tutorial videos, which might be useful guidance.
  • Interested in making gears and animating them? Check this out.
  • Note that newer versions of Solidworks may be available, but the educational license acquired by the UBC department lags behind by several months (normally released in mid-summer). SolidWorks is notoriously difficult when it comes to backwards compatibility, so be aware of which version of the program you are using.
Other tips on using Solidworks »

  • Designing Sheet Metal Parts (from in-class lecture, June 1/2010)
    • Solid Works Environment
  • Menus offered by Solid Works
  • Standard:   COMMAND MANAGER
  • Menus can be added / removed as needed
  • Recommended menus to set up for phys253:
    • SKETCH
    • FEATURES
    • SHEET METAL
    • REFERENCE GEOMETRY
  • How to change menus:
    • Click on ‘new’ then ‘part’
    • Right-click on an empty section of the title bar
    • Pick and Activate all menus you want to add
    • ( To remove unwanted menus, you can simply drag that item to the center of the screen and use the ‘close’ button. )
    • Menus are independently customized for parts, assemblies and drawings (if needed)  Meaning, you set your choice of menus for working on assemblies after opening an assembly file.
  • Sheets vs. Solids
    • Both are extrusions of two-dimensional shapes to become 3D bodies
    • They can look exactly the same, but the CAD models behave differently
    • Important:  Bends can be added only when parts are extruded using the ‘base flange/tab’ button from the ‘sheet metal’ menu
    • Most commonly used basic bend functions are ‘edge flange’ and ‘sketched bend’
    • Main Advantages:
    • When creating ‘sheet’ type parts, added bends can be toggled on or off with the ‘flatten’ button
  • Saving option as DXF file is available
    • Export Options:
    • Finalized designs are exported and machined using the OMAX waterjet cutter.
    • OMAX machine can not read Solid Works files
    • File type needed:  DXF (=Drawing Exchange Format)Advantages:
    • Sheet metal  ‘part’  files can be saved  directly as DXF files
    • Parts do not have to be flattened, or be converted in a 2D drawing
    • How to:  Click on ‘save as’ and then use the pull down ‘save as type’  menu to pick  DXF

 

Stock Materials

  • Chassis for robots are generally made from 24 gauge steel sheet metal. ( 24 gauge = 0.60mm = 0.0239” thickness)
  • Different thicknesses are available but should not be used, if possible. Try to use structural features for stiffness instead.
  • Different sheet metal materials: Only in special cases, aluminum and other materials are available.
  • Delrin (a type of plastic) is available as sheet stock 1/4” (6.35mm) to make custom sleeve bearings – check out the sample at the front
  • Steel rod 4mm is available to make custom length shafts (fits meccano size gears and adapters)

 

DC Motors

Geared Barber Coleman motor (FYQF 63310-9)  (at 12V)

  • no-load speed:   470 rpm      max torque:  28 oz-in  (20 N-cm)
  • no-load  current:  0.1A      stall current:  1.3 A

Un-geared Barber Coleman motor (FYQM 63100-51)  (at 12V):

  • no-load speed:   2300 rpm        max torque:  5.2 oz-in  (3.7 N-cm)
  • no-load  current:  0.13A       stall current:  2.75 A

Solarbotics geared DC motors

 

RC Servo Motors

 

Servo Motors from Hobby King

 

 Selection_002

Lab Prototype Boards

Note that physical layout may differ slightly from board to board.

 

(1) Power Input – comes from the benchtop power supply with a proprietary connector.   Supplies +15V/-15V/+5V/ground to the board.

 

(2) BNC inputs –  use cables with BNC connectors to connect the board to oscilloscopes, function generators, or other lab equipment.  Note that the shield of all equipment connected through the BNC is connected to ground on the board – this may intentionally (or unintentionally) be used to ground all of the equipment on your benchtop.

 

(3) Potentiometer – the three pins just beside the board connect to the potentiometer of the knob.  Check the rating of the potentiometer to see the resistance (most boards are 10 kohms)

 

4) BCD LED Display – a 2-digit LED display, programmed through Binary Coded Decimal.  A 5V signal provided to each pin displays the value on the LED.  You can see the datasheet on the BCD driver, the DM9368N.

 

(5) Solderless breadboard. Note that the power buses on these and ~90% of the solderless breadboards you see will have a discontinuity in them, and will require short jumpers to connect the left-side and right-side of the board.  Scroll through about half-way through this online tutorial to read up on the reasoning for the break:  Sparkfun Tutorial – Beginning Embedded Electronics.

(6)  four SPDT switches – These four slide switches are Single Pole Double Throw (read here for further information on different switch configurations and terminology).  The centre  pin is the common pin, and will connect to either the top pin or bottom pin.

 

(7) two debounced switches –   Both of these switches produce clean debounced pulses when the button is pressed.  Each button produces both an active-high and an active-low signal.   Note that any mechanical switch actually produces noise, which can be suppressed either by debouncing in hardware or debouncing in software (with increasing levels of complexity).

 

(8) power pins – all of these pins can be used to connect to the power buses on the solderless breadboard.   Note that all of these pins connect to one antoher through the board – if you have problems where an unknown part of a circuit is shorting the board, you can disconnect power to each of the buses to localize the short to a specific part of the circuit.

 

(9) 9-pin DSUB connector.  You can connect the prototype board to devices using a 9-pin DSUB connector, most commonly found on older serial port devices communicating through RS-232.

 

(10)  LED Indicators – use up to 8 LEDs on your board.   The LEDs are powered by the ULN2803A darlington transistor array, and turns on LEDs with a 5V signal is supplied to the pins.

 

 

Useful Links