Final Outcome and Reflections

Final Manufacturing, Assembly, and Testing

Ideally, our group would have built, assembled, and tested our prototype machine to our specifications. Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we were unable to physically create the machine. Our primary manufacturing facilities - the UC Berkeley Mechanical Engineering Machine Shop and Jacobs Design Institute - were closed for public health concerns, and much of the project conclusions must be drawn from simulation and calculations.

Conclusions

1. Even with smaller heading forces from scaling down, high modulus materials such as A36 steel for machine components are still required in order to minimize misalignment between the dies.
2. Alignment features between the dies are critical to minimizing misalignment. If there is a lot of play between parts in the machine, then there will be a lot of misalignment. Alignment rods are helpful because they can be tightly controlled for tolerancing and they can be very stiff.
3. It is essential to make design decisions to minimize deflection without over-constraining mechanisms for proper machine function and reliability.

Reflections

Overall, this project was a very effective learning experience, in which we applied our theoretical knowledge of transformation from raw materials to our prototype heading machine. Our high level goals were to fulfill the product requirements, maximize reliability, and minimize costs. Throughout the design process, our decisions were based off of these goals, which at times, worked against each other. Through this project, our team was able to critically think through many design problems, consider the tradeoffs that came with every solution, and create the best possible machine.