On Friday, Ben and I finally were able to be efficient in the workshop. Our plan was that he would work on the front wheel locking mechanism, while I worked on a jig prototype. I figured had there been two people working on the front wheel mechanism, then we would get in each other’s way, and things would move smoother.
It only took me about two hours to take my flattened out sheet metal, the tube we bent on Tuesday, and some other scrap parts, and create a successful jig for the folding armrest. I took my measurements and arranged the pipes accordingly. The armrest, when folding, barely even moved from its spot in the slot. It was a great success, and I was extremely pleased that the folding mechanism of our chair would be easily made and repeatable. And although I do realize they may never use this jig, I feel as if there is more of a chance now that a lot of guess work out of it.
After doing this, I went and assisted Ben in the manufacturing of the lock. A major component for this part was drilling two concentric holes in angle iron. Although I am not an expert in the shop, I have a lot more experience than Ben, so it was a good partitioning of skills, as Ben takes a little more time as he is building things to make sure its all organized. It took me a couple tries with some of the beaten up drill bits, but I got the holes to line up as close to the center of the angle iron as possible. I worked alongside Ben after that, doing any tasks that he needed accomplished to streamline our process, as Friday was our last day with power until Tuesday.
I watched as the time flew by on the clock, and as it reached 5:30, I knew we only had 30 minutes left. We were putting the finishing welds on the lock mechanism and adding the last part of the mechanism. We were done with all the power tools at 5:58. Power shut off at 6:05. Now that’s perfect timing at its best.
We brought back the chair to the hotel, hoping that Zakeria would be able to use it this weekend (after testing it at the shop…it was stable and strong!) Unfortunately, we were not able to meet up with him today, but we may be able to tomorrow.
But at this time, Ben and I are very pleased with how the chair turned out and how the jig works. We dont want to waste any more materials, but it would be intriguing to try and make another armrest, and then put it onto our prototype to see if we could get everything to match up like it should. The base of the chair is not difficult to make, so if we could make the top part easily, we have almost reached our full potential on the project.
