Foosball John Ratino

Post date: Oct 10, 2017 7:22:32 PM

At the beginning of this project, I set out to make a foosball table. Although I did not finish, I learned a lot about who I am and what my capabilities are when I set my mind out to do . At the beginning I though that I was just going to make a small scaled mini foosball table as my actual project. But, I decided to make a full size table because I thought it would challenge me more and push my limits. Based off my initial designs I changed my ideas a lot from what I originally thought I was going to do and how it was going to look when it was finished. Exemplified in my blog post I went from a design idea to a completely different design idea using the website makercase in my journey. In order to make the full scale table I had to learn how to use the big Shop Bot machine in order to cut out the big table. I was not excited to do this as the machine is pretty big and uses a lot of settings that you have to get right in order for it to cut correctly. I successfully learned how to use the machine and cut out the letter J with a pocket in it which turned out better than I thought it would. From the beginning of the project I wish I would have used the website makercase and not wasted time while making the original prototype that I tried to do because I could have gotten farther along then I did during the class. But, I did get to see my change of ideas in this which I thought was pretty cool to see how much it did change. In the end during this project I am most proud of not the project itself but what I did during the project. I never gave up even though I had to keep printing out cardboard prototypes and constantly redesigning my prototype.

These are the prototypes for the shop bot. They are different than my earlier protos because there are less notches to connect the parts together. The reason I had to do this was because the shopbot cannot make cuts that intricate that will work like the laser cutter because it is a drill and not a laser. I also need to move the ball return hole down so it is on the playing field. I designed this model so that I can scale it up 6 times and it will be the right height. This is helpful because its the only change I have to make for it when i convert the file to the shopbot. 

This is the first thing I made using the shopbot. It worked very well just had to sand it to be smoother. I also know how to use the machine now.

This is just part of the process on how I lam learning to use the machine. This page is the page where you set all of the options you need to know before cutting like, the material dimensions, the drill bit, how far to cut, how many times the bit wil cut and how much the bit will cut each time around.

Next I have to learn how to use this machine to make the full size table because the laser cutter is not big enough. I am planning on watching some tutorials at home so that next class I will know how to use the machine and the software.

This is my idea for the ball return part of the table. The ball is going to go into the goal of the playing field and drop down into the ball return and you will be able to get the ball out f it.

I am going to try to model the legs off of this one so I have to move the four leg holes out farther because I feel like this will give the table a better structure and hold up longer. Also for the legs instead of doing the makercase thing I am going to just use 4x4s and put them in the holes of the corners of the table because it will be sturdier. I will need 4 30 inch 4x4s

These are the finished prototypes. They worked pretty well but I have to think about hole placement and the size of the legs.

This is what I did for the legs, they just go into a square on the underside of the table. It worked pretty well but I will not be able to use that method on the fully scaled project.

This is when I just started making the legs of the table which I am still playing with how they are going to work. I am thinking that I am going to cut out four squares on the bottom so that the legs just fit right in. Along the sides of the legs I am going to have poles of some sort in order to stabilize the table.

This is the second file for inkscape I tried with the maker case design but I messed up the hole placement and retuen hole placement which I am going to fix in the next print

This is the printed makercase  prototype which worked pretty welll but it helped me come up with a better idea for the playing field sheet. Instead of making it a notch I am going to use two smaller strips of cardboard to hold up the playing field.

I redid my prototype with the website makercase because I like this design much better and it works a lot better as well.

This is the sort of mechanism I am trying to use for the actual guys on each rod. I just used a simple screw in order to hold it down in place which worked for the most part but it is not the exact same time. I also will need to print out the guy more solidly in order for it not to break during the actual game.. 

This is the final product of my first 3d print for the players which exceeded my expectations.

Beginning of printing  on the actual printer

Beginning of printing on computer

This is the first model for the players that I downloaded off of thingiverse and printed out surprisingly well.

This is the printed first scaled down model/prototype. I leanred from this that my sides need to be longer and the bottom playing piece needs to be redesigned so it actually fits in the side walls of the table.

This is the first prototype design that I designed on inkscape and the printed is the picture above. It is scaled down to 1/6 of the dimensions that the normal full size table will be.

These are my first sketches to make a foosball.