The objective of this project was to create a smooth mechanism with tight tolerances while learning about the inner workings of manual transmissions. In this sense, this project was a great success as we achieved every goal we had set. The main skills I developed through this project are mechanical assembly design in SolidWorks, sheet metal fabrication, and gear/assembly tolerancing.

I was design lead on creating the shifter mechanism itself. I designed the inner and outer selectors to slide easily over the helical gears and cause them to mesh with the output shaft.

A challenge that I encountered during this project was tolerancing the 3D printed parts that needed to either spin freely on the 8mm shaft or have a sufficient friction fit to move with the shaft. I resolved this after the first prototype by adjusting the dimensions within my CAD. Another challenge was not receiving the proper bearings or bushings needed prior to the due date for this project. We resolved this by improvising and drilling out our bearing/bushing holes to hardware sizes that were in stock in MechProto storage. Our final challenge was fitting within the 12”x12”x5” size restriction. Due to this restriction we had to scrap some previous designs that included a clutch mechanism as well as make certain parts such as the shifter detachable.