Crash Rig

Steel - ~2m x 2.4m x .25m [collapsed](L x W x H)

SKILLS USED: LEGO, design, metal fabrication (cutting, grinding, turning, milling, MIG welding), pneumatics,

The brief was for an object to crash into a wall. To go from a stationary position to sliding along the wall at an angle.

As any professional would do, I went home that night and played with LEGO. I used this model to pitch the concept and show the action. The two white bricks on top represented the object to be moved, and the three sections of the rig were represented by the bottom Red/White/Red bricks.

I then created scale drawings in the up and down positions (this project led me to invest in SolidWorks) to get the dimensions right and ensure the collapsed assembly had the lowest profile possible.

With the help of an assistant I then fabricated the rig out of steel using standard metal working processes (cutting, grinding, milling, turning, MIG welding), and plumbed in the pneumatics. Shown here partially complete in the down position with the ram retracted and up position with the ram extended.

The only test I can show before the actual object was placed on (Gray block used as a placeholder). The whole rig starts off flat with a low profile and when fired the top platform raises and slides back to 45 degrees. An additional pneumatic ram was used to slide the whole rig giving more movement and life to the action.