A University of Nevada, Reno Mechanical Engineering Capstone Project In Cooperation with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Division By Zero
Fabrication
Fabrication was completed almost exclusively at the Mechanical Engineering Manufacturing Lab in the Palmer Engineering building at UNR. Components designed by the team were machined by team members or Manufacturing Lab staff utilizing the lab's Haas CNC mill, Bridgeport manual mills, Haas CNC lathe, and common machine shop equipment. The exception to this is components which were laser cut, bent, welded, and powder coated at other facilities as the lab is lacking that equipment.
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A custom crate was also built for storing and transporting the load frame.
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A manufacturing and assembly plan for the load frame was created as part of the Capstone coursework and was used during final assembly of the prototype. Assembly took place over approximately two weeks.
Testing
Testing was accomplished using a manual hydraulic pump (not shown) and custom built valve manifold with force applied to a wood block used as a proxy for a test assembly. The equipment necessary to connect and use the load cell was not available to the team during testing, so the hydraulic cylinder bore specifications were used with the applied hydraulic pressure to ensure the desired force was applied to the test assembly. Applying more than 2,000 psi to the hydraulic system produced the required 15,000 lb of force.