Engineering

[bugzpodder]

I have an engineering project on my hands, and i was given some (mechanical, electrical, and pneumatic) parts to make a machine that drills two holes in the wood. The drill is pneumatic operated.

We are suppose to build and design a frame out of wood. having no experience in engineering, i am looking for some help/resources. so could anyone give me the name of some useful websites/books that might be helpful in completing this project?

[Starman]

Is the frame you need to build just a jig to hold the drill and other accessories?
Or is it the finished part, the one you are going to make multiple copies of?

ie. Do you need help with the jig or do you need help with what the jig/drill etc is going to make?

[DavidHooper]

Sorry bugz, I don't know much about engineering.

[bugzpodder]

yes, the frame is mainly for holding the drill with some emphasis on stabilitity and noise control. its going to be made out of 2x4 plywoods. apparently we are only allowed to use wood.

also do you have any info on Programming Logical Controller type stuff? i think the software we are using is at http://www.ab.com/plclogic/pico/picosoft.html

[Starman]

>only allowed to use wood ???

Does that mean no metal fastenings - screws, nails, or hinges ?, no glue ?, it would be possible, but would make a difference to the design.

[bugzpodder]

yep all of these things you mentioned are allowed, except i am not sure about hinges. i think they said only "nails,glue and fasterners" are allowed. i think the screws are a type of nail? or at least that is what i am told.

[Starman]

OK. I am imagining something with a table to slide the workpiece onto that has a couple of adjustable stops so the workpiece is always in the same place when fully inserted.
I mentioned hinges as I wonder if the drill holder would need to be depressed onto the work to make the first hole, then lifted to allow the workpiece to be moved to a new set of stops (or just turned over if the two holes are the same distance from the edges) for the second hole to be drilled.

'make two holes in wood' is a bit of a broad spec. Do you know what it is that this machine needs to produce?

[bugzpodder]

given a 2X4 piece (or maybe some other size), drill two holes (which are symmetric about the center line of the wood) of medium size.

But the materials given are only enough to move the drill in one direction (ie up/down, or forward/backword). so i guess manual operation is needed to drill the 2nd hole after it drills the first one.

[Starman]

The simplest analogy I can think of is a hole punch for paper.
The type that makes 4 holes for inserting into a ring binder.

When you insert the paper (workpiece), you locate the long side against a backstop (normally just part of the punch body), and the short side of the paper against a moveable plastic slide that sticks out the end of the punch.

On a larger scale, you would have a flat table large enough to support the workpiece, with adjustable stops for the side and end. When the jig is set up, this will position the drill in the same relative place for each workpiece.

The plunging action of the paper punch would be anomolous to plunging the drill into the wood.

There would need to be an adjustable depth stop for the drill, you may not want the hole to go right through the wood (kitchen unit hinge or dowel holes for instance), and you wouldn't want the drill body or chuck to touch the workpiece.

Adjust the table stops so that the drill is on the centre line (set up by drilling right through, turning the workpiece over and checking the position of the hole against the drill bit - adjust the stops as necessary), and the drill is cutting at the required distance from one end. In operation, insert workpiece, plunge drill and withdraw it, reverse the workpiece and repeat drilling action.

If this sounds anything like what you are after then all you need is:
A table with adjustable stops.
A sliding mount to to hold the drill, to allow it to plunge, with an adjustable depth stop for the slide. The position of the sliding mount should be adjustable longitudinally to set the distance of the hole from one end of the workpiece (latteral adjustment is by the table stops).
And some way of fastening the table and drill mount together.


You may want to consider some form of safety guards and switches as it's not too good to have a machine that allows you to insert your hand into the drilling area while the drill is revolving - it can make a nasty mess on the carefully set up table and the blood may get onto the workpiece and spoil it.
They do say that you should count your fingers before you start and again after you have finished - if the numbers are different then you're doing something wrong.


This does sound very manually operated though. You could have a switch that fires the drill to plunge when the workpiece is inserted to the correct depth - but I wouldn't like to put my hand in there. Maybe just somewhere for the operator to stand, and the firing switch in a safe position near there.

Another consideration would be debris removal, after several operations there will be a build-up of sawdust on the table. If this gets between the table stops and the workpiece then the next piece will not be fully inserted (like a build up of little circles in a paper punch - you may have experienced this) and so the holes would be out of alignment. Perhaps you could use a bit of spare puff from the pneumatic equipment to clean the table?

[JPicasso]

Hey! plc! whoo whoo, my first career was spent in many
a filthy condition, getting those stupid things to work.

Which was actually easier than getting the electricians who
wired them up to work.