Crane Design Project

Johns Hopkins Mechanics Based Design Laboratory

January 2022-May 2022

Baltimore, MD

Milling, Lathe, Laser Cutting, Solidworks CAD Modeling

Lift a 10lb weight 1 inch from the floor in under 2 minutes and with a boom maximum deflection of 0.5 inches.

This was a team project and I worked alongside two other students in the design calculations, SolidWorks modeling, machining and assembly of the crane.

Our crane displayed reliable and repeatable lifting of the weight in under 20 seconds.

The main challenges of this project was that the crane had to be built from acrylic, the budget was only $25, and all parts had to be purchased on McMaster-Carr. This meant we had limited material to work with and had to perform design calculations to optimize our solution. This included design factor selection, boom deflection analysis, booms stress analysis, gear tooth loading analysis, and over power output estimation. This taught me the importance of designing efficient solutions to problems and collaborative problem solving.