The build
The brief was simple to say and not simple to do: design and manufacture a small working cannon. It doubled as a crash course in the whole make-a-part workflow.
We modeled every component in SolidWorks, produced a dimensioned and toleranced engineering drawing for each one, then machined them from aluminum and assembled the finished piece. It is small, but everything that goes into a real machined assembly is in there: turning, milling, drilling, tapping, threading, and fits that actually have to line up at the end. It is the project that turned CAD from a drawing tool into something I could hold.
The parts
Four main pieces, each drawn and made to spec.
Turned barrel
Lathe
A tapered barrel turned from aluminum round stock and bored down the center, with a 3/4-16 UNF thread cut on the breech end to take the cap.
Trunnion upright
CNC Mill
The milled stand the barrel pivots in, with a bolt-circle of holes set every 15 degrees so the barrel angle can be pinned and changed.
Base plate
CNC Mill
The base the upright bolts to, with counterbored mounting holes and a chamfered edge for a clean finish.
Pivot pin + hardware
5-40 UNC
The pin the barrel rotates on, plus the small threaded hardware that ties the assembly together.
How it was made
SolidWorks
Every part modeled, then checked as an assembly so the fits worked before any metal was cut.
Dimensioned + toleranced
A full drawing for each part: dimensions, tolerances, threads, and finish callouts.
Turn, mill, tap
Turned on a manual and Tormach lathe; milled, drilled, and tapped on Haas Mini Mill and VF2.
Assemble + polish
Deburred, fit-checked, assembled, and polished into the finished cannon.
From model to metal
The SolidWorks assembly on the left, the machined and polished part on the right. Tap either photo to enlarge.
Skills
Gallery
More
There is more of my work, from the first-place competition robot to the hexacopter, on the main site.