Low Cost Mechatronics Trainer [LCMT]
Looking for some help in designing low cost trainers to teach basic Mechatronics principles?
Team CollaborATE funded by an NSF ATE grant with Anne Arundel Community College, College of Lake County, and Florida State College in Jacksonville as partners is doing just that. The trainers we’re developing will complete a real function and will be designed on a systems level platform with the ability to isolate sub systems for teaching and then integrate as a whole. Professor Tim Callinan at Anne Arundel Community College is leading the design and development of the trainers.
Each trainer will cost under $1,000 to build and can be used to accommodate two students in a laboratory setting. The curriculum will be a laboratory manual with supporting documentation.
This website will share everything needed to build and use the trainers in the classroom. Since this project is a work in progress, we will be updating the site as new material is developed, so check us out periodically.
Thanks to a great bunch of students who have worked hard and created some great designs and drawings. I hope you had fun....James Kaifer, Billy Kaifer, Tyler Hynson, Mark Morello, Will Schwab, Sean Mackey, Greg Doyle, Joe Tonkin & Stuart Thomas.
For more information contact Tim Callinan at tmcallinan@aacc.edu. Site updated on 6/4/2019
LCMT BUILD DOCS
Everything that is needed for a college or school to build a trainer will be provided here. The drawing files will be PDFS and/or DWGs and should be printed on at least 11x17 size B paper. (Using a size D plotter is a much better idea)
A free DWG viewer can be downloaded here.....https://www.autodesk.com/products/dwg
All the Solidworks project files that are needed for the 3D printer (STL FILES) and the laser cutter or router (DXFs) are contained in the Solidworks ZIP file. Use a ZIP program like 7ZIP or WINRAR to unzip the files.
SOLIDWORKS REV B FILES DOWNLOAD HERE (3/7/2019)
ELECTRICAL SCHEMATICS & PLC CODE DOWNLOAD HERE (3/7/2019)
CIRRICULUM & VIDEOS
Here is the current LCMT LAB MANUAL (JUNE 2019) DOWNLOAD LCMT LAB MANUAL
Summer Working Connection Lab Books Level 1 & 2 DOWNLOAD HERE
Our plan is to create many videos that demonstrate building and using the low cost trainers. Here is the YOUTUBE playlist of the trainers. The 47 videos explaining how to build and use the trainers can be viewed here....
LOW COST MECHATRONICS TRAINER VIDEOS
Here are some links of curriculum material that we've been given permission to use in the manual. Use a ZIP program like 7ZIP or WINRAR to unzip the files.
ELECTRICAL MECHANICAL PNEUMATICS PLCS SENSORS
HELP & FORUM
If you have questions during building one of the trainers join our forum and post the question. Someone will get back to you. The LCMT forum is a place for all teachers and instructors to help each other out so dont be shy.
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/low-cost-trainer
If you find any technical mistakes in the trainer and curriculum - please send me an email tmcallinan@aacc.edu
DISCLAIMER!!! AAAAGHGHHHH!!!
All rights are reserved. Using these designs and content does not give you ownership or intellectual property rights to the content presented on the website, forums, or in the related materials. By using this content, designs, or services you agree to the terms specified in this disclaimer.
All designs and products were created for the CollaborATE project, which received funding through a grant provided by the National Science Foundation’s Advanced Technological Education program (award number: 1601172).
The Low Cost Mechatronics Trainer website, design and resulting products, drawing files, solid work files, videos, and forum are designed to be educational in nature and are not intended for resale, commercial use, or to be used in any manner other than its published design.
The CollaborATE team, including its partner institutions (Anne Arundel Community College, College of Lake County, and Florida State College in Jacksonville) assume no liability for the use or misuse of these designs and files by the end-user. Mechatronics, working with tools, devices, pneumatics, and electricity can be dangerous. It is the responsibility of the end user to assure that all safety requirements are met and that they work safely. The content owners assume no liability for any injury resulting from its use.
The website, all designs, and files are made available for fair use and the owners assume no obligation to host, maintain, and update this website and its content beyond a time that they determine. The website owners are under no obligation to provide this content in any other format, delivery method, language, or to provide technical support for the use of the content.
Requests made to, replies received from, or any other communications between the user and content owners or forum hosts are non-binding, and no expressed warranty or other assurance provided constitute a contract between the owner and requestor.
The forum is hosted by Google Groups, and all users registered with Google are expected to follow all rules, terms of service, and the privacy policy of that site.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
To attribute this work, use: Tim Callinan, Anne Arundel Community College
To cite this work, use: Callinan, T. (2018). Low Cost Mechatronics Trainer, NSF grant # 1601172