Tube Roller

In December my shop teacher, Mr. G assigned me to a project two of my fellow classmates were working on. In the alternative fuels class one of their projects called for tubing to be bent. They needed a tubing roller in order to fix several chairs in the auto shop. As we do not have a tubing roller, my two classmates decided to design their own. The first step was to research as much as they could and look at several different designs and come with one of their own. The second step was to draw out their design and see if the teacher approved. After that they made their design out of cardboard and tested for any flaws. The process of testing took several weeks just to make sure everything was well supported. Finally after they finished everything on their prototype model, I was called in to take all the necessary measurements to put it into solidworks. Their original cardboard model is below.

Side View

Front View

After taking all the measurements I started making all the pieces on Solidworks which is a 3D CAD program. What is a CAD program you ask? For those of you who don't know CAD stands for Computer-Aided Design. CAD is the use of computer systems to assist in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. In this the CAD software I used is called Solidworks.

Later after finishing the prototype version I sat with my teacher and my classmates that designed it. We discussed if there were any problems with it or if there is anything we should change. The first thing we all noticed is that the original design has too many sharp edges and wouldn't be user friendly. Now I was tasked by my teacher to make more aesthetically appealing without changing the overall function. My plan was to add a uniform curve throughout the entire thing. I took the liberty of calling the second design mark II. I figured I would do the same as Tony Stark and call every different design a different mark.

Prototype

Mark I

Upon completion of the mark I design we all met again to discuss if anything else should be changed. After examining the prototype we came up with a list of new changes that should be done. These changes included extra support in some areas and less support in others. Besides that we added a concentric hole on the walls so that it could support a larger roller.

Mark II

After all the design changes were done my teacher told us he had a friend at Orange County Choppers. His friend Jim Quinn is the lead engineer and machinist at OCC. He would be able to help us by cutting out all the pieces we need with a water jet they have. Originally we thought we should send all the files separately but after talking to Jim we learned that we should lay all the parts flat on one file. The file photo is below. Finally after a couple of days my teacher received all the parts we needed.

Part File

Unorganized

Organized