Inspiration
Receiving a shoe-box-sized package all for a pack of lead! There are 22+ billion packages delivered a year, creating millions of tons of waste every year. We can reduce the amount of waste by only using as much packaging as the item requires.
What it does
Users can input the dimensions of the item (l x w x h). According to these measurements, we cut out the perfect box size with minimal waste. Our machine will also cut perforated lines for the fold lines of the box.
How we built it
After defining our product, we got straight to CADing. We needed to have accurate measurements for parts as certain parts needed to mesh with others. Our machine would need four servos all controlled by an Arduino. The servos enable the blade to move in both the x, y, and z planes. All the motors were propped into position with 3D-printed beams. To create perforated lines, we would raise the blade slightly higher than when cutting. The Arduino was coded to collect the dimensions, calculate the minimal needed package dimensions, and cut out a box correspondingly.
Challenges we ran into
Getting all the 3D-printed parts to fit our motors or other parts well! As we hand-measured materials to determine the sizes, we often came across a piece that was just a tad big or a tag too small to fit well with another.
Calibrating our servos was another huge challenge. As we used continuous servos over positional servos, it was difficult to get the servos to turn at an exact angle. Hence it was hard to get it to move a precise number of inches.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
Pushing through the whole hackathon!
What we learned
To come up with a sound design before we start building so that we minimize the parts that have to be redone.
What's next for Custom Size Box Cutter
Ideally, the users don't have to manually enter dimensions. Hence, we want to make it so that a link to the item can be used to extract dimensions and used for our calculations. Additionally, though we are already minimizing the amount of packaging used for an item, we want to take it a step further and fit more cut-outs in the areas surrounding a cut.
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