This is our first year working with Workcell. We have been on lab 1 for about 3 weeks building the arm. I am having an incredibly hard time installing the arm while keeping values within passing range. I am using the mastering jig, I am using the arm install program to hold the motors in place, but they still fail while installing the arm most of the time (not joint 1, mostly joints 2 and 4). It is so hard to get the shaft through the gears without the red plastic gears turning the metal gears on the motor shafts. I have personally spent 3-4 hours trying to fix two arms for students, and I consider myself a fairly intelligent/adept adult. My fingers feel like they are developing blisters from maneuvering the shaft so much (is does not move easily), even though I am using pliers where I can. I have mostly given up on trying to fit in the spacers on both ends, or keeping the end caps from falling off (not sure the technical term for what I am calling endcaps–the caps that attach to the metal part of the arm where the shafts go through). The shaft collar on the arm connect shaft won’t fit on the right side of the arm because the potentiometer is in the way. I started to switch the arm install program to coast throughout the process to manually turn the joints to go back within passing range when they fall out of range in an attempt to cut down on the number of times I have to detach and reattach the arm during the mastering process.
I don’t feel right telling my students to figure it out themselves when I can barely do it myself. I am having serious doubts about whether this was a good purchase for my class. My students are feeling frustrated and not at all excited about working with Workcell.
Is it supposed to be this hard? Is there something big I am missing or doing wrong? Does it get easier after the arm is installed? Or will I keep having to remove/calibrate/reattach the arm throughout the entire semester? My confidence in the arm joints staying within passing range as we continue on is very slight.
