Midterm: Chocolate Scooper
Process and animation
I continued with my chocolate scooper idea. Before getting into CAD, I went back to Mechanical Expressions and discovered a curve that I think would work better than my previous one.
Old
New
I sketched out my kinematic diagram, created the mechanical skeleton with it, and then created three main components of my 4-bar linkage system. I put a temporary bucket next to the linkage and found out the bar will cut through the bucket. Therefore, I thought of adding an extended arm to hold the scoop to avoid colliding into the bucket. After many trials and driving the linkages, I got the length I want.
I added a 20-degree angle to the scoop so it can capture the chocolate ball easier.
Since the scoop extends further away, I build a curved tube to catch the chocolate ball when it drops out of the scoop and deliver it right to the user.
Then I added a wall and a base to hold everything together. I cut out a semisphere dent on the base for holding the chocolate ball dropped from the tube. And a shallow indent for placing the chocolate bucket.
For the rivets, I create a middle plane first, then project the circular cutout from the bar, then drew a 90-degree arc to revolve into a semisphere.
The last few steps were adding fillet to polish the design and adding appearance for each part. I used transparent plastic for the tube, so the chocolate ball rolling down the pipe is visible. The linkage system and the base are made of stainless steel because it is heavy and easy to maintain hygiene. I picked copper for the tube holders in the demo video, but I think it might not be strong enough, so I changed it to brass.
