3-Jaw Chuck

Project Overview

Project Overview:

Create a 3 jaw chuck to accommodate tubes from 2-10mm in diameter

My Personal Duties:

Redesigned three jaw chuck design to fit project criteria (small dimensions, light, quick printing time)
Prototyped pieces and printed iterations using SLA

The Design

Based on the above video:

- The jaw shown as the slider in black on the top of the design will be accompanied by two other identical jaws not shown here to demonstrate the scroll plate interaction

- Jaws slide on scroll plate helical track

- Pinion rotates to rotate scroll plate and move jaws towards center (self-centering design)

Design Iterations

Current changes from original design:

First design had too tight of clearances all around (had to increase each piece's clearance to allow for fluid movement)
Lower height of design so design can be secured by M2 screws available (design was too tall for the size in stock)
Supports printed on scroll plate impeded movement so lowered support percentage and changed side anchored to base plate (was on the rack and pinion side but now on the helical scroll side)
Increase depth of scroll plate teeth and teeth on bottom of jaw to allow for more contact between turning plate and moving jaw
Changed hexagonal cut out of pinion to match standard Allen key size

Iteration 2 shown to the right

Successful:

Pinion rotates scroll plate easily
Top and bottom housing plates fit together well
Jaw moves into top housing slot

Change for future iterations:

Jaw piece fits too tightly into top housing so scroll plate does not move jaw inward
Too many support bumps on scroll plate prevents smooth moving; lower supports and sand before using

Prototyping and iteration still in progress :)