Date of Award

2018

Degree Type

Capstone Project

First Advisor

Bahram Nassersharif

Abstract

Team 22 was approached by the Magnetic Seal Corporation to solve a problem: develop simple electro-mechanical safety guarding for an edge-breaking and chamfering lathe. To accomplish this, the current situation was thoroughly researched, the machine inspected by the team, and a preliminary patent search conducted to survey the current body of knowledge for machine guarding. Through lessons learned from this literature search, including mounting methods, shape considerations, and a means to electrically link the guard engagement to machine operation, 120 concepts were generated by the team and classified into four groups. A Quality Function Deployment comparison was performed and in addition to sponsor feedback, a preliminary design for the guard was modeled, drawn, and prototyped.

This design uses a steel frame to hold interchangeable polycarbonate panes with three con- toured holes cut therein. One hole is provided for the operator to break the outside diameter of a part, another hole expressly for the inside diameter, and a relief by which a grinding wheel can approach and apply a chamfer feature into the part at variable angles. The holes are arranged and sized so that an operator cannot fit both edge-breaking stone and finger at once, and were a slip to occur, the hand would naturally move either against the frame wherein the pane would prevent contact, or away from the machine entirely. Aluminum sheathing is used to fully enclose the operation and prevent egress of debris or dust into the operator area. A two pin support approach was theorized, but not prototyped, for attachment of the guard to the machine.

Through inspection of this prototype and simulation within a faithful 3-D replica of the edge-breaking machine, this design was verified to fulfill MAGSEAL's requirements. The use of the safety guard will not increase cycle time and hypothesized to not be an inconvenience to the operator. Additional work will be carried out to fit the device to the lathe, incorporate electrical integration into the power system, and adapt the guard to the full range of processed parts.

Comments

Sponsor: Magnetic Seal Corporation

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