RadiaX (Mechanics)

The dual tube design is nearly finished yayy. So I can’t really tell all the things I did, but this was mostly CAD, the Important structual Parts are calculated and integrated. But this design was really fun due to the challanges I’ve experienced with it. The percicion needed, the integration of the HV electronics, Cooling, how to keep it sealed and yeah. There are still a few things missing, Luka’s PCB, a mounting for the movement shaft and the exact dimensions of the slip ring. And really important side notice, if you’re doing a longer CAD session, please safe every major step. Fusion crashed and I got the biggest scare of my life cause I thought everything was gone, so yeah thats it.

(I know the CAD looks bad but it’s just a Dummy) Today I started with the design of the dual X-Ray tube design and It’s so much worse than a single tube design, the HV is still a problem, the sword like thingie you can see in the middle is a copper cooling pipe, and copper likes to conduct electricity. Transformer Oil will be used in there, but the metal residue and just dust can have a hugeee impact on the isolation factor, than the kables which don’t like to be twisted, the weight bc I only have one mounting point, or i take a second mounting with a bearing to suport the weight and use the other mounting point just for the rotation. And yeah that’s basically it for today

Stuff I’ve done in maccondo, summary is AI written . I’ve added radial bearings to handle the radial loads and updated the CAD model accordingly. I calculated everything for the radial force distribution and integrated it into the design. I also fixed issues in the Fusion assembly and rebuilt parts of the mounting plate–flange connection because components kept moving in the wrong direction during assembly.
I created an assembly setup on the flange and mounting plate, then exported it into an animation for later use. I updated the technical drawings with additional parameters and spent around 1h45 in CAD work.
I worked through a lot of math for the scanner design, mainly the lead shielding requirements and the geometry between the X-ray tube and the screen. That took most of the time since I had to go back and forth with missing values and references, and it also changed the overall tube-to-detector geometry. The calculations are done now and fully integrated into the design.
I redesigned the entire enclosure because the old one looked like a shoe box. The new one is more like a proper housing/oven design. I also added cable mountings and defined parts of the internal lead geometry, which will later depend on the electronics.
I realized the plate could slip or put load on the stepper motor if the object isn’t perfectly centered, so I added a proper flange connection part to stabilize it.
I also started planning manufacturing, but it’s still unclear who will machine the 10mm aluminum plates or how exactly the parts will be produced.
On the electronics side, I integrated components into the assembly. I also revisited the peristaltic pump design, which I originally built, printed, and assembled with a stepper motor. It generated pressure at first, but when I tried pumping water, the stepper motor stalled. I tried troubleshooting possible causes like tube compression, friction, and PLA interference, but nothing fully solved it yet. I started a new improved pump design with better geometry, even though the first version made me question the design.
That’s basically everything I worked on so far. Lapse somehow doesn’t like me, and there are a pretty many hours missing. 12.4h after July 1