top of page
This site was designed with the
.com
website builder. Create your website today.Start Now

HOUSING ANALYSIS

Blade Housing

The blade housing needs to accomplish two things: it must withstand the forces generated when cutting a branch and it needs to be as light as possible. There are multiple materials that are suitable for strength such as stainless steel, composites, and aluminum. However, the weight of these materials must be taken into consideration. While stainless steel could be strongest, it is also the heaviest and it rusts. A composite housing would be the lightest of the choices and have the necessary properties to prevent corrosion, but fabricating the components is more expensive and requires more time. This would make aluminum the best choice for the blade housing because it won’t rust, it’s light, and it can be easily machined.

Central Housing

The central housing must also accomplish two things: it must securely house the transmission components and protect the driving rod from impacts and harmful bending stress. The geometry of the central housing will be a straight, cylindrical tube to effectively house the driving rod, which will be a straight cylinder itself. The outer diameter of the tube must be between 1.2 and 1.8 inches so it is comfortable to hold. After the analysis was performed, a carbon fiber tube was the desired material because it’s strong and more importantly, it’s light.

Makita Housing

The motor housing/Makita housing is responsible for one task: to house the Makita impact driver. Since the Makita is a developed product, there wasn’t a need to take heat flow or ergonomics into consideration since those tasks have already been taken care of. Designing the Makita housing was a simple task, the Makita was measured and the housing was designed around the Makita keeping in mind that the housing pieces have to fit together. The piece was 3D printed purely to save time.

 

 

Aluminum Set Rings

The housing pieces are to fit together using aluminum rings what will be machined at Central Washington University. The purpose of these rings is to easily fit into special grooves in each housing part. The rings will be set around the central housing tube.

bottom of page