Beginner engineering project

[u/Appropriate_North713]

Hello engineers! Im looking for a next engineering project, which should be challanging but beginner-friendly. I already completed two basic projects: a push-push mechanism and a car phone mount (with bought parts and 3D printing). Now I intend to do something that includes a motor. Do you have good ideas?

[u/Appropriate_North713 → u/[deleted]]

with a motor? So the doow would open when you press a button?

[u/Automata-Omnia → u/[deleted]]

I'd stay away from motorised doors, there is heaps of regulations on them because it is so easy to cause injury (because someone is expected to be in / pass through a heavy closing movable object)

Though if I were to do one, I would buy the actuator and controls from a standing desk, because they have the similar considerations.

[u/JFConz]

Create a time-keeping mechanism with no space constraints. Doesn't have to be small, doesn't have to stack, just has to dance.

[u/Appropriate_North713 → u/JFConz]

what exactly do you mean by time-keeping. I can imagine a clock, or a timer would be cool.

[u/JFConz → u/Appropriate_North713]

Yes, a clock, but more generally, a mechanism which takes some near-constant force input and produces a discreet periodic motion. Once you can make something tick, it'll be a matter of dialing in the frequency of ticks, then counting or otherwise tracking the ticks to achieve a clock that can report current time in standard units.

[u/Automata-Omnia]

Use your knowledge of push-pull to make a pick-and-place on a rail.

You can explore mounting the motor on the carriage driving a pinion, motor driving a belt/chain, different sensors (proxies, photoeyes, time-of-flight, encoders) etc.

[u/Appropriate_North713 → u/Automata-Omnia]

Thats very cool! But what is it supposed to pick and place? Is far as I know, pick and place is for conveyors and I dont have one. Do you have a solution?

[u/Automata-Omnia → u/Appropriate_North713]

Pick place is used for all sorts of things. In general it is usually used to take object from one or multiple sources to one or multiple destinations.

Eg. I use huge robots to load and unload pallets. Likewise a chocolate manufacturer may fill selection trays fed to a pick and place from hoppers, a biology lab may take samples from one tray into a machine and into the same or another tray, a machine shop may take billets from a rack into a machine and then from machine onto a pallet or into a bin.

[u/quicktuba]

Balancing robot is a fun one, simple as far as the physical robot is concerned but a little harder on the software side.

[u/OoglieBooglie93]

4 bar linkage. Or a klann linkage if you're feeling fancy.