INME 4011 Machine Component Design 1, 2007-I

Mini Stepper Shaft Design

Julio Alvarez (444-02-0495)

Noemi Y. Rodriguez (802-03-6731)

Levi Vargas (802-03-8769)

Antonio Galloza (802-02-2329)

Department of Mechanical Engineering

University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez

May 7, 2007
INTRODUCTION

Beams are structural members designed to support loadings applied perpendicular to their

longitudinal axes. Because of these loadings, beams develop an internal shear force and bending

moment that, in general, vary from point to point along the axis of the beam. Some beams may

also be subjected to an internal axial force; however, the effects of this force are often neglected

in the design, since the axial stress is generally much smaller than the stresses developed by

shear and bending. A beam that is chosen to resist both shear and bending stresses is said to be

designed on the basis of strength.

The stress analysis of a beam generally neglects the effects caused by external distributed

loadings and concentrated forces applied to the beam. These loadings will create additional

stresses in the beam directly under the load. Notably, a compressive stress will be developed, in

addition to the bending stresses and shear stresses discussed previously.

When an engineer is faced with the problem of design using a specific material, it

becomes important to place an upper limit on the state of stress that defines the material’s failure.

If the material is ductile, failure is usually specified by the initiation of yielding, whereas if the

material is brittle, it is specified by fracture. These modes of fracture are readily defined if the

member is subjected to a uniaxial state of stress, however, if the member is subjected to biaxial

or triaxial stress, the criterion for failure becomes more difficult to establish.
OBJECTIVE

In this project we were told to design the shaft that joints the two pedals of a mini-stepper

that could support a maximum weight of 250 lb. by analyzing combined loads and stress

concentrators. We should take in consideration the type of material to be selected, deflections and

deformations in the material. We will be also considering finite life, the critical section and

security factors of the components.

DESCRIPTION

Our project consists in the design of a shaft for a mini-stepper. Our shaft has to support

the bending stresses caused by a load due to a person weight. Since our design is for daily use

this one must have a quite great utility life and be able to resist loads of common weight between

the ordinary people. In addition our design must have high safety factors since it will be used by

general public. In order to design we have to take in consideration the overall calculations

including, calculations for stresses under static loads, calculations for deflections, calculation of

material indices for material selection, calculations to find the critical sections. Also we have to

estimate stresses for the component life and safety factor.

DESIGN DETAILS

In this project were told to design the shaft for a mini-stepper (see Figure Below). We

choose some measurements that are viable in terms of manufacturing processes. The analysis

was made calculating stresses under static loads, deflections under static loads, material indices

for material selection, and calculations for dynamic loads.

 For the design of our project we first analyzed the different stresses caused by static loads

using matrices analysis.

To evaluate the shaft we decided to subject it to a load of 250 lb. on the top of the pedal

and a force of 80 lb. on the bottom of the pedal on the opposite direction. The pedal was then

evaluated at an angle of 30. There are some bending moments and shear forces only due to a

sleeve that eliminates the torsion on the shaft. By evaluating these loads we can get the shears

and the bending moments.

Mc Mc
X  and  Y 
I I
The bending stresses are:
 X  10070.4029 Psi. and  Y  17442.449 Psi.

For the Shear stresses we used:

4V 4V
X  and  Y 
3A 3A

The shear stresses are:

 X  759.47622 Psi. and  Y  1315.4514Psi.

With these stresses we find the principal stresses:  1  12585.06 Psi. ,

 2  2498.8066 Psi. ,  3  15083.867 Psi. We also find the Von-Misses stress

 VM  24253.3751Psi. and a static safety factor of n  2.48 .

 It was also necessary to determine the deflections in the shaft. As our shaft acts like a

beam there will be bending moments instead of torsion. For the deflection analysis we calculate

the deflections individually for each force components, using integration method. For E=200GPa

and I= , the deflection at the end of the shaft gives us:

v max  007407in

The deflections are analyzed to determine the rigidity of our material and to prove that

this material will support the applied loads. By doing this we can make sure that the shaft will

not deflect more than the necessary in order not to fail.

We needed to select a material in order to develop the design and determine the stress

concentrations and safety factors.

The material used to design a shaft for a mini-stepper had to be selected carefully taking

in consideration different criteria depending on the necessities. In our design the shaft needs to

be stiff and strong to resist the bending loads applied at the edge of the shaft and needs also to be

economic. For the stiffness we determine the material index using tables depending on the

condition. For bending our material index will be determined minimizing:

Another criteria used to select the material was the Strength vs. Relative cost. For the cost

per unit volume the index has to be minimized:

 To obtain a range of materials we used the material index charts for stiffness and strength

using the corresponding slope line and selecting the most appropriate materials.
Using Material Index Charts we select a few candidates with its respect properties:
Material Poisson Shear Modulus Hardness HRB UTS
Al Alloys 0.33 26 GPa - -
Steel1040 0.29 80 GPa 93 620 MPa
Cast Iron - - 97 MIN 276 MPa

Material Modulus E GPa Fracture Strength Relative cost Cvr

MPa
Al Alloys 70 190 .9
Steel 1040 200 450 .75
Cast Iron 150 690 .65

Using both indexes we selected the Steel 1040 for the shaft of our design. The Steel 1040

will give us strength, stiffness and a lower cost in comparison with other metal with similar

properties.

With the material already selected we calculate the stress concentrations, component life,

and safety factor due to dynamic loads using the material mechanical properties. The endurance

limit was obtained by:

For the safety factor we need the Von Misses stresses:

Point A

Point B
And using the modified Goodman for the safety factors we obtain:

Analyzing the safety factors we can see that our shaft is very reliable.
DISCUSSION

In this project we have analyze a shaft under static loads considering the maximum

forces. We then calculated the material indices and searched for specific necessities. We needed a

material that gives us stiffness and strength, and after comparing, we selected Steel 1040 as our

material. With the properties of this steel we then estimate the component life and safety factor

for dynamic loads.

After designing the shaft for the mini-stepper we then discussed some advantages and

disadvantages of our design. Some of the advantages are that our design is trustful with a

reliability of 99.9%, secure with a safety factor of 1.55 and 2.64 for dynamic loads and 2.48 for

static loads, easy to manufacture due to reasonable diameters and fillets and is made from one of

the strongest and inexpensive materials from the market giving us the necessary stiffness. The

inevitable corrosion due to our weather could be a major disadvantage.

A possible merit for us is that our shaft design is present in our daily lives. This shaft is

an essential part of a mini-stepper, which is used by people who want to exercise and obtain a

better quality of live. We are designing it secure, so that the people could used it with

confidence.
CONCLUSION
People in the world need means of exercising to feel healthier. There are different

methods that the people can use to exercise some requiring a trip to the gym and other are more

passives. With our design the people can exercise in their own home. In our project we design a

shaft for a mini-stepper.

Important parameters were taken into consideration during the design, modeling, and

optimization process of this shaft, always keeping in mind the customer’s budget and needs. The

analysis performed and explained with detail previously gave us an insight of which of the

material, from the three types specified, was the appropriate for our design. We wanted to make

sure that this shaft would hold the person’s weight; the load applied onto the pedals, as well as

making sure the pedals’ arrangement would resist the load. Also, it provided the strongest shaft

possible meeting the specifications established to make the design a robust one.

Based on the previous discussion, our shaft provides a robust design, and consequently a

way of increasing physical activity. In addition, our design meets the demands of durability,

safety, and maximum stiffness. The customer will feel trustful with the great resistance of our

shaft.
 APPENDIX

Calculation of stresses under static loads using matrices.

To evaluate the shaft we decided to subject it to a load of 250 lb. on the top of the pedal
and a force of 80 lb. on the bottom of the pedal on the opposite direction. The pedal was then
evaluated at an angle of 30. By evaluating these loads we can get the shears and the bending
moments as shown:

Component Forces
1) 2)
A B CY DX
Cos A  X Cos BY  Y CosCY  Cos DX 
250
X
250 250 250
A  250Cos60 A  250Cos30 A  80Cos30 A  80Cos60
A  125.00lb. A  216.51lb. A  69.28lb. A  40.00lb.

Shears
   
VX  125  40lb. VY  216.51 69.28lb.
VX  85.00lb. VY  147.22lb.

Bending Moments
 
M X 1  125in.4in. MY1  216.51in.4in. M X  500 160lb.
M X 1  500lb. in. MY1  866.04 lb. in. M X  340lb. in.

M X 2  40lb.4in. MY2  69.28lb.4in. MY  277.12  866.04 lb.

M X 2  160lb. in. MY2  277.12lb. in. MY  588.92lb.  in.

Stresses 
 
 Mc Mc
X  Y 
I I
 1.0in.  1.0in.
340lb. in  588.92lb. in 
  2    2 
X  Y  z  0
 1.0in. 0.90in    1.0in. 0.90in  
4 4 4 4

           
4  2   2   4  2   2  

 X  10070.4029Psi.  Y  17442.449Psi. 

Shear Stresses
 
4V 4V
X   YZ 
3A 3A

X 
4 85lb.  YZ 
4147.53lb.
30.14922565in. 2
 30.14922565in.2   XY  0

 X  759.47622Psi.  YZ  1315.4514 Psi.


 
Matix

10070.4029 0 759.47622 
 
 0 17442.449 1315.4514
759.47622
 1315.4514 0 


 XY Z
Finding  mean   483.67Psi.
 3

The deviatoric matrix is found as

 XX   mean  XY  XZ 
 
  YX  YY   mean  YZ 

  ZX  ZY  ZZ   mean 


The deviatoric matrix is then

 12527.7518 0 759.47622 
 
 0 14985.101 1315.4514
759.47622
 1315.4514 2457.34886



 In order to find the principal stresses in this shaft we decided to use the EIGV1 to solve
the deviatoric matrix. By doing this we obtain that:

 1  12585.06 Psi.
 2  2498.8066 Psi.
 3  15083.867 Psi.

Solving for the  VM we get:

 VM 
2 2
 X   Y    Y   Z    Z   X 
2
 2 2
 6  XY   YZ   ZX
2

 2

 VM 
10070.4029 17442.449
2 2 2
 2
 17442.449  0  0 10070.4029  6 0 2  1315.4514   759.47622

 2
 VM  24253.3751Psi.

 Evaluating for the safety factor (n) we get:

 Y
n
 VM

60,200Psi.
n
24253.3751Psi.

n  2.48


For the deflection determinations

Componentes en Fy
Fy  250 * cos(30  )  80 * cos(30  ) 
Fy  147.22lb

EIV  147.22lb
EIM  147.22 * x  C1
x  L, M  0  C1  147.22 L
EIM  147.22 * x  147.22 L
x2
EIangulo  147.22  147.22 Lx  C 2
2
x  0, angulo  0  C 2  0
x2
EIangulo  147.22  147.22 Lx
2
x3 x2
EIv  147.22  147.22 L  C3
6 2
x  0, v  0  C 3  0
x3 x2
EIv  147.22  147.22 L
6 2
v max  0.006414in
Componentes en Fx

Fy  250 * sin(30  )  80 * sin(30  ) 

Fy  85lb
EIV  85lb
EIM  85 * x  C1
x  L, M  0  C1  85 L
EIM  85 * x  85L
x2
EIangulo  85  85 Lx  C2
2
x  0, angulo  0  C2  0
x2
EIangulo  85  85 Lx
2
x3 x2
EIv  85  85 L  C3
6 2
x  0, v  0  C3  0
x3 x2
EIv  85  85 L
6 2
vmax  0.003703in
Componentes con Fy=250lb

Fy  250  80  170lb
EIV  170lb
EIM  170 * x  C1
x  L, M  0  C1  170 L
EIM  170 * x  170L
x2
EIangulo  170  170 Lx  C 2
2
x  0, angulo  0  C 2  0
x2
EIangulo  170  170 Lx
2
x3 x2
EIv  170  170 L  C3
6 2
x  0, v  0  C 3  0
x3 x2
EIv  170  170 L
6 2
v max  0.007407in
For material selection

For Stiffness vs cost:

For Al Alloys:

For Steel 1040:

For Cast Iron:

For Fracture strength vs Costs:

For Al Alloys:

For Steel 1040:

For Cast Iron:

Dinamic Loads

Endurance Limit

Non-rotating

Machined

Bending

Room Temperature

Reliability: 99.9 %

Component Live:
Stress Concentration Factors
Bending

We assume for Shear:

From Tables,
Alternating and Mean Components of Applied Forces
Point A

Point B

Safety Factor (Modified-Goodman)