Mobile Crayon-Melting Station
(Roy the Robot)
Project Description
We have been tasked with designing and producing a working proto-type of a crayon-melting station. The crayon-melting station will purposely be designed for people of differing physical abilities.
Crayon-Melting Station? What is that?
All Terrain Vehicle… almost
- Built atop a power-chair for ease of transportation
- Easily overcomes 0.5”+ obstacles
- Able to drive up ramp of 25 degrees
Adjustable for Patrons
- Tables must be high enough to fit a power-chair
- Minimum height of table: 28”
- Target height of table base: 32”
Safe, Even Heating Over Work Tray
- Crayons melt at 120°F and human flesh burns at ~140°F
- An electrical current is passed through NiChromewire (heating element) to achieve desired temperature
Storage for all your Needs
- Four drawers made for each art station
- Exterior dimensions: 22” x 24” x 6”
- Total storage space for art supplies: 5.60 ft^3
Maximizing Space for the Artist
- Aluminum cookie sheets 18” x 26” allow for the artist to use a large variety of paper sizes
- A hardboard cover allows the art station to be quickly converted to a normal art surface
Who Needs a Quad-copter?
- Four stations with temperature control, convertible work surface, and adjustable height allow for many artists at once
- Open environment allows for easy conversations
Design Description
Performance Review. How good is it?
Learning and Testing phase
- NiChromewire has a high resistance and is rated at 2,552°F. As a current is passed through the wire heats up. If it is too short, then the material fails
- Learning from our 10” wire failure, we designed a test fixture for NiChrome.
Epiphanies and Final Product
- Through testing, 42’ of NiChromewire reaches ~150°F. This is just enough heat to conduct through the cookie sheet and melt the crayons
- Threading the wire through hardboard proved tedious, but the end result allowed for even heating over the workspace
Battery Access/Life
- Battery is accessible in 5 seconds from the front of the station
- Complete access can be accomplished by removing tables, drawers, and tower (~30 min)
- Using two inverters, the batteries can power the heating elements for each tray
- Powered by the battery, one table can be heated for ~40 min before battery depletion
Melting Crayons
- Each station has an initial heat up time of 9-20min
- Crayons melt onto the paper, giving a painted look; this allows more variety in art work and a more professional appearance
- Four Inkbirdclimate regulators control the maximum temperature of the art tray and are programmable by the instructor
- A thermal couple is embedded under the NiChromewire to provide accurate temperature information
Conclusion
How did we do?
Requirements
- Maximize heating tray area:
- Space available under the table:
- Time to load/unload from a vehicle:
- Time for full set-up:
- Time for full clean-up:
- Height adjustable heating tray stations:
- Convertible heating tray station:
- Automatic heat control:
Target
- 18” x 24”
- 32”
- 2 minutes
- 20 minutes
- 10 minutes
- Four adjustable trays
- Convertible heating tray station
- Maximum temperature 140°F
Did not meet/Meet/Exceed
- Exceeded: 18” x 26”
- Met: 32”
- Met: ~2 minutes
- Exceeded: ~15 minutes
- Did not meet: ~20 minutes
- Met: four adjustable trays
- Met: all trays convertible
- Exceeded: programmable Inkbirdallows complete control
Lessons Learned
- Tight tolerances are very difficult to mimic.
Proper placement of holes for the drawer rails was one area that was difficult to rework a failed 1” x 2” board.Starting over, I would have made a wooden tool to have standard sizing for the holes to be drilled in the frame. - Early training of all personnel is key to later efficiencies. We were slow at the beginning of the semester due to training all team members how to use tools. By the end, the whole crew was able to work on any portion of the project at the same time.It condensed the work time by a factor of 2+.It worked beautifully!!!!
- Dissimilar metals are a challenge to weld. Different gauge steel require different temperatures and wire speed for a MIG welder.It would have been far more appropriate to drill holes in the angle iron used rather than attaching a different gauge steel and weld them together.
- Using a planer to shape wood is very effective at achieving high precision in dimensions. It would have been better to work with 2” x 2” boards and plane them to the dimension we needed.The 1” x 2” was too small and we were left adding different materials to make up for the dimensional difference.
The Future
- An umbrella or shade covering mounted on the system. Having umbrellas over the work stations would serve to make the patron more comfortable. It would also help to keep the heating trays from becoming hotter through the sun’s heat.
- A Public Address (PA) system to play music or speak robot-like. The batteries may not be able to heat the tables for a long period of time, but a PA system could easily be powered and provide for a more exciting apparatus.
- Using the inverters to power LED lights and sound. Similar to above, the lights would draw very little power and would increase the wow-factor for patrons.
- Spring-loaded pins for table height adjustment. The adjustability of the tables is functional but cumbersome. Having spring-loaded pins for adjustment allows for greater ease of use.
- Grill-cover for storage and transportation. A cover that encompasses the tables and legs would allow for safer travelling, with less wobbling.
Larry Catalasan, Hugo DuPont, Alex Inn, Chris McLaughlin, and Landry Schvaneveldt
A special thanks to Jackson Graham for teaching us about resistance in NiChromewire and, especially, to Michael Bingham and Kenzowhose vision of what could be allowed us to make it a reality.