I worked in autoCAD to revise and model a new arm for the platform. I ran into autoCAD’s limitation in making moving model and had to map out the positions of the arms for each frame of movement. I used 3 frames and mapped an arc to determine the path of the trapdoor through the deck to estimate how much clearance each design would need.

Since the travel of the platform is a swinging arc, I would need a need to have a mitered edge or a method to swivel the deck out of the way so the trapdoor can shift into place without compromising the strength of the deck.