17. Applications and implications

Assignment

UNIT DESCRIPTION

Task: Applications and Implications Propose a final project masterpiece that integrates the range of units covered.

Your project should incorporate:

2D and 3D design: Yes, Onshape 3D sketches and 3D parametric models as well as 2D inkscape CAD Additive and subtractive fabrication processes: Yes, small x-carve mill and 3D printer Electronics design and production: Yes, x-carve mill, Kicad or eagle EDA, hand soldering, programming with Arduino or other CNC firmware Microcontroller interfacing and programming: Yes, ESP32 or AVR microcontroller based CNC control, USB, Wifi or Bluetooth interface. System integration and packaging. Yes, I will integrate systems and make the wiring nice and will make cool covers to give the machine a professional appearance. Where possible, you should make rather than buy the parts of your project. Yes, I agree and will do this as much as possible. Projects can be separate or joint, but need to show individual mastery of the skills, and be independently operable. I am alone at my location, so I will need to make this machine alone by myself as a sepeate project. I hope to share the machine I design wiht others in the Fab Lab network in the future though.

See Final Project Requirements for a complete list of requirements you must fulfill.

The answers to the questions below will allow you to create your BOM (Bill Of Materials).

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Define the scope of a project Develop a project plan

CHECKLIST

[x] What will it do?

[x] Who has done what beforehand (PhlatBoyz, Nadya Peek, Jonathan Ward, Jake Read, Jens Dyvik)

[x] What will you design?

[x ] What materials and components will be used?

[x] Where will they come from?

[x] How much will they cost?

[x] What parts and systems will be made?

[x] What processes will be used?

[x] What questions need to be answered?

[x] How will it be evaluated?

What will it do?

Cut shapes out of rigid foam sheet up 580 mm (~2 feet) wide in the X direction and and infinite length in the Y direction and in thicknesses from 2mm up to 13mm. The focus will be 2D flat shapes although 3D contouring will be possible as well.

The machine will cut: 1. Depron Extruded polystyrene Sheet (XPS) 5.7 to 5.8 mm thick (sometimes difficult to source in USA) 2. FOAMULAR Fanfold DWB extruded polystyrene foam 5.1 to 5.4 mm thick (at most home improvement stores) 3. DOW Protection Board III extruded polystyrene foam 5.1 to 5.4 mm thick (difficult to source, may be obsolete) 4. Other XPS foam sheet found locally by future users.

Stretch goals would be to mill: 1. Flexible EVA foam sheets 2. Balsa wood 3. FR1 Circuit Board Blanks 4. Plywood

A rack feed system may be added to the machine to help process these materials.

What will you design?

A long shallow CNC mill with MakerSlide Z and X axis overhead gantry. HDPE plates used as end caps to hold the X axis MakerSlide and 2 or 3 other long aluminum extrusions that make up the frame of the machine. 1 or 2 roller drive Y axis with upper weighted or spring loaded rollers to drive foam sheets back and forth through the machine frame. I will eventaully design, mill and stuff my own circuit board to control this machine, this will be hard for me cause I’ve never designed, built, and programmed circuit boards before. But Fab Academy will teach me this!

Who has done what beforehand

Mark and Trish Carew’s Orginal PhlatPrinter MK1 -> Phlatboyz Phlatforum 2011 -> OpenBuilds My machine will be strongly influenced by the positives and negatives of my first CNC machine I built. I was one of the first builders of the PhlatPrinter MK1 kits. The PhlatPrinter MK1 was wonderful in 2009, but 11 years later and after many mods I realized I wanted to design my own improved Foam milling CNC machine.

Othercutter cardboard cutter a weird but ingenious vinyl cutter reciprocating cardboard cutter Nadya Peeks Modular Cardboard CNC machines Jens Dyvik fabricatable machines Jake Read Machines Jonathan Ward Fall 2008 How to Make (Almost) Anything Class MTM A-Z PCB Mill Machine That Make Website

What materials and components will be used?

  1. HDPE Cutting Boards
  2. MakerSlide
  3. 480 and 600 watt 12-48 VDC Spindles, with tiny but nice ER collets
  4. 12 to 48 VDC power supplies
  5. Hardware store pipes for rollers
  6. Skateboard deck or step grip tape
  7. 3D printed mechanical parts and covers
  8. Acrylic for windows to show off stuff inside
  9. Metric Button and Socket head cap screws (I hate imperial fasteners)
  10. Supplies that can be gotten internationally, or at least consideration for alternative materials.
  11. Nema 17 and 23 Stepper motors
  12. Timing belts, pulleys, and idlers
  13. Wire
  14. connectors
  15. wire loom
  16. switches

Some of the items above are surplus materials I acquired from a maker supplier warehouse buy out a few years back.

Where will they come from?

The materials will come from:

  1. My warehouse buy out
  2. Local Hardware store
  3. McMaster Carr
  4. Amazon
  5. Open Builds Part Store

How much will they cost?

My goal is to have the total running machine cost to be around $300

What parts and systems will be made?

The machine end plates will be custom designed HDPE plates milled on an x-carve mill. Many covers, adapters and mechanical parts will be 3D Printed The main CNC control board

What processes will be used?

  1. 3D parametric CAD with Onshape
  2. CAM with Easel, Linux CNC, FreeCAD CAM Path Workbench, Carbide Motion.
  3. 2D CAD and svg cleanup with Inkscape
  4. CNC milling with a X-Carve Mill and maybe a Roland MDX-20
  5. 3D Printing with a Prusa MK3 and or a Flash Forge Finder and or Guider 2
  6. Vinyl cutting with a Silhouette SD vinyl cutter
  7. Hand drilling and tapping
  8. Maybe a few other processes along the way!

What questions need to be answered?

  1. Can I design and build a machine of this complexity?
  2. Will I like using the machine after it is done?
  3. Can I do this without a local instructor in my fab lab location?
  4. Will I learn to design my own circuit board in eagle or kicad?
  5. Can I successfully trouble shoot the board I design?
  6. Will I learn enough to program my own board?
  7. How easy will the machine be to use.
  8. How fast will the machine cut foam
  9. How accurate and repeatable will the machine be?
  10. Will this be my first and last personal fabrication CNC machine I design and fabricate from scratch or a the first in along line of machines?!

How will it be evaluated?

  1. By the 2022 Fab Academy Final project requirements as outlined in Nueval
  2. By Neil Gershenfeld on my presentation day
  3. By Blair Evans, my local instructor in Detroit/Idlewild MI
  4. By Beno Juárez, my global instructor in Lima Peru
  5. Whether the machine makes parts for something I designed, assembled and have fun using!

Back to Home Page