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Mechanical Design 1 Project:
Tripod Reimagined

In my mechanical design 1 class my team and I were tasked with re-designing a given product for someone with grip strength impairment. We were given a tripod, and decided to redesign the camera attachment to make it easier for someone to take the camera on and off the tripod. The original tripod had a clip that seemed hard to manipulate and lock, especially for someone with grip strength impairment. We decided to redesign that sub assembly for a slide and lock mechanism that could be released via a lever on the side of the accessory. 

After some discussion and initial drafts of different ideas, we went with a dovetail style plate that slides into the assembly and locks into place with a cam similar to a door lock. The assembly features a spring loaded back plate which is engaged to keep the plate locked between the latch and the spring force of the back plate. The lever mechanics are based on door latch design, and allows the plate to be unlocked with either a push down or push up on the handle. This compresses the latch spring and allows the camera plate to pop out after the latch is fully retracted. 

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We conducted complex stress analysis in Solidworks to make sure the 3D printed part could withstand enough force to not break at the tripod attachment point. We accounted for a factory of safety (FOS) of at least 5. 

Finally we prototyped the complex parts from ABS 3D printed plastic and machined the dowel rods for retaining ring slots as well as the aluminum back plate. The dowel rods were press fit into the custom machined back plate and everything was assembled using precision hardware. The latch did need an additional machined plate because the stress was not analyzed for this part and it broke internally as a result.

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We created a technical drawing for our most complex part, the housing, which was 3D printed.

Final Product Photos
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