Month: February 2012

 Weekly Meeting

During our weekly Monday meeting (13 February 2012), we met to finalize everything about the design and begin ordering parts as we were convinced we had the most effective design. During the meeting, we called Ron to settle the final details. However, when we called him he suggested that we go back to the scissor lift concept we were originally thinking. During the past week, he had been experimenting with a design and even developed a prototype. He managed to combine both of the designs in order to make the scissor lift reach floor level. This is possible by leaving an empty space in between the two supports for the platform to travel to. Ron took several pictures of his prototype and put them on the Tetra Society website. Below is a picture showing his prototype.

After comparing our two choices we have decided to use this scissor lift design, as it compresses to small size and is easy to store. More pictures of Ron Payne’s prototype can be found on the Tetra Society forum at http://tetrasociety.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=196. That same day, we also met with Mark at the UBC Metal Shop and showed him the design we will be making. He is now aware of what needs to be done and will be setting us up with time and assistance at the shop to get this design built on time.

Client Visit

The next day (14 February 2012), we picked the prototype up from Ron’s house and visited Heidi and Michael. After showing them this new design, they were very pleased by it and loved how compact it was. They suggested that we may want to consider making the battery rechargeable for the lifting mechanism. We have decided to power the scissor lift with a linear actuator since Ron is very knowledgeable and experienced with it. They also suggested that we add a netting around the scissors of the final product as a safety feature.

Future Plans

We have arranged to meet with Ron and George tomorrow (18 February 2012), at Vancouver General Hospital, where we will make the final adjustments to the design and move on to the building stage. We will also be meeting with Mark again on Monday, to discuss the design with a welder.

Weekend Meeting

Last Saturday (4 February 2012), we met once again to discuss design plans. After talking on the phone with Heidi and Michael, it was clear that they really wanted the lift to be able to reach the floor. Therefore, the design needed to be tweaked. After much consideration during this meeting, we came up with a new design. This design was inspired by the lifting system that large trucks use in their rear to lift large objects. With two supports and empty space in between them, a platform would be able to move in between them and reach floor level. The oven door would be able to fit between the platform and the ground supports, allowing the platform to span into the oven without adjusting the oven rack. We also believe that a winch or motor would be able to lift the platform up and down in combination with some sort of pulley system. Below is a SolidWorks image of the new design.

Tetra Society Visit

On Thursday (9 February 2012) we visited the Tetra Society workshop at Vancouver General Hospital to present our new idea to Ron and George. At first they   seemed to not be very interested in the new idea, but after deeper explanation, they started to show great interest. They suggested that it would be best to build a mock-up model of our design and show it to Heidi to see her reaction. Using the measurements previously made, we were able to cut pieces of wood into reasonable dimensions and put together a rough mock-up model.  The platform was made so that it can be easily adjusted to different levels while showing it to Heidi. A picture of the mock-up model is shown below.

Project Progress

Earlier today (10 February 2011) we brought the mock-up model to Heidi’s place and we were very happy with her reaction. Both her and Michael thought that this design could definitely work. This coming Monday, we have arranged a meeting at the metal workshop at UBC to discuss what exactly we need done and how they can help us.

Meeting with Ron and George

Over the past weekend we had a team meeting  (28 January 2011) with Ron and George. In this meeting, we discussed possible design ideas and we were pleased to see that they had the same type of concept in mind. Three main tasks that are necessary for the device to handle were discussed and possible solutions to each task were discussed in detail. The three tasks discussed were lifting, transferring, and moving. Lifting can be done  by a scissor lift, a column lift, or a crane lift. Transferring can be done by using a trolley system, collapsing boards, rotating boards, or a full extendable drawer. Lastly, moving can be accomplished by casters. One thing that we must consider is the different combination of caster types we will use (ie rigid or swivel).

At the end of this meeting, we agreed that our preferred concept consists of a platform, retractable arm, scissor lift, linear actuator, base, and casters.

Site Visit

We visited the client’s home (30 January 2011) with George in order to answer any final questions and to test the client’s true abilities. In order to test the client’s true abilities, we created a very crude prototype of our design. At the site, we split into two groups, one to ask any remaining questions and perform the required tests with the prototype, and the other to make measurements and photograph the kitchen. Also, we came up with a rough model of our initial design, which can be seen below, in order to give the client a better understanding of what we were thinking.

Overall, the site visit went very well as we got all of the necessary tasks done and we were pleased that the client, Heidi, and her husband, actually had something similar in mind to what we came up with. They also noted that they plan on moving soon, so the device we create cannot be site specific. One concern that we have is that they requested that the device is able to lift from floor height (or at least 3 inches above the ground). We find that this may be a problem as the casters will already lift the device a lot, and the scissor lift (when at it’s lowest form) will also need to be a small height above the ground.

Directly following the site visit, we had a team meeting where we discussed what we had learned from the visit. As we have the measurements of the kitchen, we are now ready to finalize the design and consider ordering parts.

Future Plans

After meeting again during the week, we feel that modifying the oven may cause this project to be simpler. By adding a slider system to the oven rack, the oven rack could easily slide out and a retractable arm could extend from the side, spanning a much smaller distance than originally anticipated. We believe we have found  supplier that makes sliders to fit our exact needs (sliding oven trays). We are currently trying to get in contact with them for further information.