We decided to investigate the solution space of the blossom mechanism due to our concerns about the previous mock up. The main concerns about the mechanism was that the rods could get stuck and jam on the way down as well as some concerns about the stability of the model.
After some quick brainstorming and ideation we came up with a solution were we changed the strings of the mechanism to stiff rods. This was thought to prevent the rods of the flower to get stuck on the way down as they would be forced down.
This ideation of the mock-up was functioning as we wanted and we decided to proceed with this mechanism. We didn't finish the mockup completely because it would be too far from reality to give us useful information. Then we proceeded with CAD-drawings and 3D print to get the edition of the mockup closer to reality.
After several error prints and some Ender 3 troubleshooting we were able to build an early prototype of the blossom mechanism with rods. It turned out the model had several small disparities which led to janky motion if at all any motion. This was mainly due to the rods jammin’ both ways. The tolerances need to be very small and the print has to be very precise, which was why we decided to iterate on the mechanism again.