Project Development
Soft Half-Boiled Egg Maker
1. Our Team Chemical Device
What it is:
Our chemical device is a soft-boiled egg maker. Its objective is to cook a quail egg till half-boiled and lift the egg up when done. The quail egg will be placed into a basket that is equipped with a temperature sensor to measure the temperature of the water in a container filled with hot water. The motor will lower down the basket filled with the quail egg according to the time delay set. This timer will run until a set time is up and the motor will be activated to reel in the basket.
Problems it will solve:
It can solve the inconvenience and inefficiency for users to cook soft-boiled eggs. First, it will solve the problem of making it automatic, so the user does not have to manually be in the kitchen to cook the egg and is able to focus on other kitchen duties. It will eliminate the problem of the user being unable to determine the temperature of the water to cook the egg with the help of a temperature sensor. Next, the user may overcook or undercook the egg so this maker is able to address that problem as it can cook a perfect soft half boiled egg every time and can cook 2-3 eggs at a time. Lastly, it eliminates the problem of the tedious task of cleaning the stove and pot after cooking the egg.
Hand sketch:
2. Team Planning, allocation and execution
Team Wasabi Group 3 Members:
1. Katrina (Chief Executive Officer/ Team Leader)
2. Ashwati (Chief Operating Officer)
3. Xin Ni (Chief Safety Officer)
4. Jun Lin (Chief Financial Officer)
Finalised Gantt Chart:
Link to finalised Gantt Chart: Here
Task Allocation:
3. Design and Build Process
Part 1. Design and Build of Pillars and Box by Katrina
Pillar 1 – Ball Bearing
Step 1: Go to to en.makercase.com > select basic
box > change unit to mm. Set the settings as follows:
Step 2: Click on download box and follow the settings below:
Step 3: Select download dxf file. Open Fusion360 and upload the downloaded dxf file for the box
Step 4: After inputting the maker box settings:
Step 5: Draw a circle with 0.42cm diameter each on two separate vertical faces
Step 6: Use sketch dimension to align the circles. Center of circle from base using the top joint will be 300mm and center of circle from right side using the top joint will be 57.714mm. Do the same for the other face.
Step 7: Finish sketch. Save as stl and dxf file using export
Pillar 2 – LCD Screen, temperature sensor and motor
(one box for lcd on one face, 2 holes same face)
Step 1: go to en.makercase.com > select basic box > change
unit to mm. Set the settings as follows:
Step 2: Click on download box and follow the settings below:
Step 3: Select download dxf file. Open Fusion360 and upload the downloaded dxf file for the box
Step 4: After inputting the maker box settings:
Step 5: Create a sketch and draw a 2-point rectangle with dimensions 68mm x 21 mm on a vertical face
Step 6: Use sketch dimensions to align rectangle. From side of rectangle to right side using top joint will be 23.5mm
Step 7: Use sketch dimensions to align rectangle. From bottom of rectangle to base using top joint will be 200mm
Step 8: Draw a circle on another vertical face with diameter 8.2mm for the temperature sensor. Use sketch dimension to align the circles. Centre of circle from base using the top joint will be 200mm and centre of circle from right side using the top joint will be 57.714mm.
Step 10: Finish sketch. Save as f3d and dxf file using export
Box – store Arduino (one finger hole)
Step 1: go to en.makercase.com > select basic box > change
unit to mm. Set the settings as follows:
Step 2: Click on download box and follow the settings below:
Step 3: Select download dxf file. Open Fusion360 and upload the downloaded dxf file for the box
Step 4: After inputting the maker box settings:
Step 5: Create a sketch and draw a 2-point rectangle for the finger hole with dimensions 15mm x 10mm on a horizontal face
Step 6: Use sketch dimensions to align rectangle. From side of rectangle to right side using top joint will be 128mm.
Step 7: Use sketch dimensions to align rectangle. From side of rectangle to right side using top joint will be 25mm
Step 8: Finish sketch. Save as f3d and dxf file using export
Laser cutting steps:
a. Start-up
1. Place material on laser cutter bed by fully opening the lid to 90°
2. Gently pull down the lid to close when done by checking interlock light, ‘L’ and ‘R’ are lighted green
3. Proceed to the workstation to set drawing for the laser cutter machine.
b. Operation of laser cutter including the basic use of Corel-Draw
|
S/N |
Steps/Description |
Action |
|
1 |
Open
Coreldraw app. |
- |
|
2 |
Open the file that is
going to be cut out/ engraved. |
Click file
> import > select design |
|
3 |
Adjust the
size and position of the selected design on Coreldraw. |
- |
|
4 |
Identify parts to cut or engrave. For cutting: Select the parts that
are going to be cut out. Change the colour to RED and the width to “Hairline”. Adjust colour settings for RED (R: 255, G: 0, B: 0). |
Open the “Outline
Pen” tab by double clicking at the bottom of
the screen to change colour and width. |
|
5 |
Send file to Laser cutter |
Click the “Print” icon,
the 4th icon at the top left of the screen |
|
6 |
Adjust the position and size of the selected design in Coreldraw by
following the ruler |
- |
|
7 |
Set Auto Focus to “ON”
(for Epilog M2 Machine) or “THICKNESS” (for Epilog Pro Machine) |
Click the button
beside or below the word “Auto Focus” |
|
8 |
For vector: Adjust speed to 10%, power to 85% and frequency to 80% |
- |
|
9 |
Import material setting from the library For cutting: Click into the VECTOR tab and select the material that is being used |
Click “Import
Material Settings” |
|
10 |
Measure the thickness of the material using a vernier calibre. For both
vector:
Set thickness to the thickness of the material being used. |
Type in material
thickness into the thickness tab |
|
11 |
Set AIR ASSIST to ON
for all processes. |
Click button beside “Air
Assist” from OFF to ON |
|
12 |
PRINT out the design |
Click on “Print” button |
|
13 |
Verify if the correct
file is sent. Take note of the time needed to cut material. |
Look at the machine panel |
|
14 |
Start cutting |
Click the green “GO”
button on the machine panel |
|
15 |
When done, leave
product in the machine for a minute. |
- |
|
16 |
Open the
lid of the laser cutter machine and tap on the cut pieces of the material to
remove the cut pieces. |
Fully open
the lid to 90° |
No engraving was done.
Hero Shot:
Part 2. Design and Build of Cylinder between 2 pillars, Cylinder Rod for Ball Bearing and Part 3. Soldering of Temperature Sensor Wires to Male Jumper Wires by Ashwati
Link to Ashwati's blog: Here
Part 4. Programming of Motor, LCD Screen and Temperature Sensor by Xin Ni and Jun Lin
Link to Xin Ni's blog: Here
Link to Jun Lin's blog: Here
Part 5. Wiring for the Arduino Components by Xin Ni
Link to Xin Ni's Blog: Here
Part 6. Integration of all parts and electronics by Everyone
Link to Final Prototype Design: Here
Steps taken:
1. Gather all the 3D printed, laser cutting components which are the faces of the pillars, box, cylinder, and rod
2. Tie the string through the strainer and attach it to the sides of the cylinder in between the knobs.
3. Tape the sides of the pillars and box with masking tape to tighten the hold during gluing using acrylic glue
4. Glue the pillars and box laser cut parts together using acrylic glue
6. Since the LCD screen will be very far away from the Arduino and breadboard, add female-to-female wires for the LCD screen to extend the wire to the Arduino and breadboard
7. Tape the connecting ends of the wires with masking tape to secure it and prevent them from disconnecting
8. Use tape and hot glue on the cover surrounding the screen of the LCD screen and paste and insert it into the hole in Pillar #2 to ensure stability
9. Take the circle head of the continuous motor, add hot glue to its surface and paste it into the hole of the cylinder
10. Line the side of the continuous motor with the white turning part with masking tape to protect the motor. Add hot glue onto the surfaces of the masking tape and attach it to the side of Pillar #2. While doing this, we made sure that the white turning part of the motor is sticking out of the cut-out hole.
11. Insert the temperature sensor into the holes of Pillar #2 respectively
12. Insert the ball bearing into the hole of the cylinder
14. Place the Arduino maker UNO board and bread board inside the box and tape it with a double-sided tape so that it will not move around. Additionally, the power bank used to power everything will be kept inside pillar #1
Hero shot for integration:
Final Assembly of Soft Half-Boiled Egg Maker:
4. Problems and Solutions
Problems faced:
1. Programming the motor to turn clockwise, stop and turn anti-clockwise
Solution: We did a lot of research from various resources followed by trying out the codes and editing it to fit our needs. So, from the research we found that the “Attach” and “Detach” commands which work very well so we used it.
2. Programming motor to connect to the entire Arduino code with LCD and temperature sensor
Solution: Since there was a problem in combining these different codes, we had to do more trial and error by changing the wiring of all the components and the Arduino Uno. From there we realized that the wire was wrongly connected to PIN 13 and not the ground pin which caused all the problems
3. Did not increase speed for 3D printing, takes a longer time to print
Solution: We had a chance to redo the 3D printing by increasing the speed of the printer to 100mm/s.
4. Putting support in our cylinder covers the hole for ball bearing, hole for motor is not fully printed and the bed adhesion is only printed half the cylinder
Solution: After several checks on our design and settings in CURA, it came to our knowledge that the particular Creality Ender 3D Printer was not able to print out our design. So, to solve that issue, we changed the 3D printer to Ultimaker. By using this it gave us perfect coverage of the bed adhesion. The holes on the cylinder were not covered too.
5. Our measurements were off by a few centimeters. We predicted that it's because the sensitivity of the measuring equipment we used (ruler) is not sensitive enough. we should have used a vernier caliper
Solution: We predicted that it's because the sensitivity of the measuring equipment we used (ruler) is not sensitive enough. We should have used vernier calipers to produce an accurate measurement.
5. Project Design Files as Downloadable Files
Files for download here: Here
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