Incorporating ‘simple machines’ such as gears to make a mechanical road sweeper. Then we learnt how to vary the rotation of the brushes using different gear ratios.
The mechanical road sweeper
Starting the initial assembly
Using a double bevel gear wheel
Working together well
How the wheels will drive the sweeping action – note bevel gear on right of chassis
The chassis take shape
That bevel gear in the chassis ends up driving the gears on top to rotate the sweeper
And we are off! Sweeping pieces out of the way
Now time to experiment with the drive gear ratios – with counting of teeth – and by counting the number of rotations achieved with each combination we determine the gearing ratios.
Road sweeper base case gearing
Low ratio gearing and slow rotation
Gearing to achieving high ratio turning
And of course:
There always has to be time for tinkering around
Before someone always says… its time to write it up!
Time to write it up!
Writing up our findings about gears
And, finally…
The speed robot gives us a tow (backwards)!
The Troutbeck School 