Yesterday (Friday, October 7th, 2005) I skipped the meeting with lecturer about my Machine Elements' assignment. Well, actually it wasn't just me. The rest of my team -each and every of them- skipped it also. It was because we hadn't made any progress at that time so basically, we didn't have anything to report to Mr.Pulung.
It appeared that analyzing (just) a camshaft wasn't that easy after all. You see, at first we were told to analyze any form of mechanical-rotary-shaft. Since one of my team member was very interested in motorcycle stuff, so he pointed out that we should analyze the camshaft. Although I didn't know anything about camshaft (nor anything about motorcycles in this case), we agreed to do so.
Why did I agree?
When he presentate the thing to me, the camshaft was a tiny-sized and was only equipped with two bearings and one sprocket as its accessories. So I was like, "Hey, I think it's going to be rather easy."
But that was where I got it all wrong. OK, it was just that one shaft, two bearings, and a sprockett. Ideally, all you have to do is count the loading along the shaft, how much force the bearings can stand, and torsion of the shaft itself. So be it.
But no! Those weren't all. Since camshaft's job is to move the rocker-arms, we have to calculate how many force loading the rocker-arms would inflict on the camshaft itself. Plus, since there was a sprocket, we also have to calculate the power transferred by the chain, plus the role of a tensioner to the chain itself. It didn't stop there! There was this angle between the rocker-arms and the camshaft and we had to calculate that also, the properties of spring inside the valve, and so many more things that needed to be taken into account. About the angle, since motorcycle's components are made with precision, we couldn't just make guesses. This is where it went quite tough. When we couldn't find the standard in any books, we had to measure it by ourselves. Sigh!
It appeared that analyzing (just) a camshaft wasn't that easy after all. You see, at first we were told to analyze any form of mechanical-rotary-shaft. Since one of my team member was very interested in motorcycle stuff, so he pointed out that we should analyze the camshaft. Although I didn't know anything about camshaft (nor anything about motorcycles in this case), we agreed to do so.
Why did I agree?
When he presentate the thing to me, the camshaft was a tiny-sized and was only equipped with two bearings and one sprocket as its accessories. So I was like, "Hey, I think it's going to be rather easy."
But that was where I got it all wrong. OK, it was just that one shaft, two bearings, and a sprockett. Ideally, all you have to do is count the loading along the shaft, how much force the bearings can stand, and torsion of the shaft itself. So be it.
But no! Those weren't all. Since camshaft's job is to move the rocker-arms, we have to calculate how many force loading the rocker-arms would inflict on the camshaft itself. Plus, since there was a sprocket, we also have to calculate the power transferred by the chain, plus the role of a tensioner to the chain itself. It didn't stop there! There was this angle between the rocker-arms and the camshaft and we had to calculate that also, the properties of spring inside the valve, and so many more things that needed to be taken into account. About the angle, since motorcycle's components are made with precision, we couldn't just make guesses. This is where it went quite tough. When we couldn't find the standard in any books, we had to measure it by ourselves. Sigh!
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