Engineering Projects/Rubberband gun/Howard Community College/fall2012/p3-503-cq

Problem Statement
Improve the design of the rubber band gun and attempt to get rid of any deficiencies the rubber band machine gun might already have.

Team Members
Cooke

Qazi

Summary
Through out project cycle 3 during our work with the rubber band gun project we have tried to fix a couple of problems the previous team had. For example we removed the drive shaft that was causing the "wobbly issue" and are worked on trying to improve that or replace it as a whole. We also found the wooden pegs to be troublesome at the back of the barrel and the guns front legs themselves to be not equal to each others lengths causing the gun to be slightly slanted. We worked primarily on the drive shaft however and we have made good progress.

Story
Week #1

- We are working on getting the rubber band machine gun from wobbling. When attached with a drill it jerks back and forth and we need to address this problem. It's basically a problem with the motor part of the gun to which the electric drill is attached.

Week #2

- We are working towards fixing the wobbly issue of this rubber band machine gun. The wobbly issue is basically the jerking of the gun and it actually jerks back and forth due to the barrel of the pulley system not being straight.

- We created a video showing the issue that is happening with the gun regarding the "wobbly parts" and edited it to enhance the viewing experience for the viewers.

Some Pics we took during our work on the rubber band machine gun in week #2

- We are researching a replacement for the barrel of the crank shaft of the rubber band machine gun. A metal rod of some sort would eliminate the problem we keep having with the hole in the barrel not being drilled straight and causing the entire gun to jerk back and forth when the electric drill is attached to it.

- We made a quick picture guide as to how ball bearings work and their functionality. Also found out that they are our best bet to get rid of the wobbly issue. Use ball bearings and a metal rod to replace the current drive shaft that we are using/trying to fix. Here's the 4 picture guide:

Week #3

- We used some different parts to try to enhance the rubber band machine gun

- We also tried to fix the wobbly parts by changing out the system in which the drive shaft consisted of. We tried to take out the entire wooden part as a whole and instead use one metal rod type thing that goes through the entire part of the gun. This will theoretically remove the entire wobbly issue as a whole and hopefully make the gun work efficiently as a whole with out the gun jerking back and forth.

- We took pictures of the parts that we used or attempted to use to better enhance the rubber band machine gun

Week #4

- So far during week #4 there was a picture diagram/guide made to show the different assortments of drill bits available and a bunch of research was done as well on drill presses and other tools and machines of that sort.

here is the picture guide showing the different types of drill bits:

'''Each row contains a set of pictures. Every new row has a different type of drill bit and the same drill bit remains only within the row that it is in'''

Decision List
None

Material List
- Wood (Free)

- Bolts, screws, washers etc... (Free)

- Electric Drill (Free)

- Skateboard wheels and the ball bearings within the wheels(Free)

- Metal rod (free)

Software List
None

Time
23 Hours

Tutorials
"Wobbly Parts" Issue Video

Next Steps
- Enhance the rubber band machine gun further by:


 * Improving the drive shaft part of the rubber band machine gun


 * Replace some of the wooden parts that are susceptible to breaking with better materials


 * Replace the wooden pegs at the back of the barrel with something more proper and that will work better


 * Level the gun by making both of the front legs the same length


 * Add gripping on the gun at the bottom of it to prevent sliding on smooth surfaces


 * Adding a laser to it for better accuracy when firing