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Week 16 - Applications and Implications

group page // repo source files // objectives

Contents

• objectives
• What will it do?
• What materials and components will be used?
• How much will they cost?
• What parts and systems will be made?
• What questions need to be answered?
• How will it be evaluated?

Note: no group or source files to share

objectives >

• What will it do?
  • Who has done what beforehand?
  • What will you design?
• What materials and components will be used?
  • Where will they come from?
  • How much will they cost?
• What parts and systems will be made?
  • What processes will be used?
• What questions need to be answered?
  • How will it be evaluated?

What will it do? >

I had a couple of ideas initially for my final project ranging from modular climbing walls, to wearable assistants, but ultimately I converged on the following:

machines (operators) that pass objects (operands) (naming tbd).

Although I have a target application in mind, the special sauce of this project will be the capability of the machine group to pass objects between machines.

Given that I want to prove out the capability rather than the application, the constituent machines can have arbitrary capabilities and motion systems

For flex electronics, I’ve selected flexure motion systems for their low backlash (therefore higher resolution), with the drawback that they have low build volume. This is an acceptable drawback given that the target substrate isn’t too big to begin with.

Who has done what beforehand? >

• inspired by Dan “MeisterTek” Meyer’s Foam Crawler
• Kyle-Pierre’s continuous fabrication
• Stephen Hawes PnP videos
• ULB fablab contributions
  • 2020
  • 2021
• and more!

What will you design? >

The target application is “reel-to-reel” flex electronics.

I’m still converging on a reasonable demo to showcase (spirals, I know), but I plan to build out a subset of the following sequence:

• emboss/punch holes
  • https://fabacademy.org/2018/labs/fablabtrivandrum/students/vishnu-vraj/week1516/week1516.html
  • http://archive.fabacademy.org/fabacademy2017/fablabtoscana/students/236/project.html
  • https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3750507
• vinyl cutter
• paste extrude
  • https://mtm.cba.mit.edu/2021/2021-07_clankstack/
• PnP
  • https://openpnp.org/
• soldering
  • https://openpnp.org/
• probe

What materials and components will be used? >

• filament
  • microcenter, amazon
  • PLA
• plastic, metal sheets
  • mcmaster-carr, home depot, inventables
  • HDPE
  • MDF
  • (slippery)
• extrusions
  • misumi
  • aluminum
• fasteners
  • amazon, mcmaster-carr
  • steel
  • screws, nuts, spring t-nuts
• FR1 sheet
  • inventables
• components
  • digikey, amazon
• end effectors
  • drag knife
  • vaccuum pickup
  • paste extruder
  • IR lamp/hot air gun
  • probe tool

How much will they cost? >

while prototyping, expecting to spend more than a final build would cost. however, expecting total BoM to be somewhere in the $100s at most (excluding end effectors), competitive w/ other popular FDM machines.

I think using flexures will be interesting, since a large part of that motion system can be fabricated rather than sourced as discrete components.

What parts and systems will be made? >

What processes will be used? >

I will be designing/modifying/extending the motion systems, frames, urumbu electronics, and software driving the system.

• machine frame (200 x 200 x 200mm)
  • solidworks -> fusion360 -> CAM -> shaper origin
• flexurexy motion system
  • solidworks -> cura -> 3d printer
• urumbu circuit boards
  • altium -> post processing w/ paint.net -> mods-ce -> mdx-20
• decals
  • solidworks -> inkscape -> cameo studio -> silhouette cameo

What questions need to be answered? >

process >

• what are standard components that I should use to make my soureability as easy as possible on myself during development and crunching deadlines?
• I am moving and don’t have easy access to other labs; what are processes that keep my spirals tight, keep requirements low, and allow me to iterate as fast as possible?

concepts >

• how do flexure motion systems work?
  • how much out-of-plane rigidity is required to support end effector (what limitations are there on end effector mass, speed?)
  • what are design feature limitations based on geometry and nozzle diameter?
  • how do I design supporting mechanisms to reduce friction on flexure?
• how do I index reliably between multiple motion systems?
  • how do I emboss/punch w/o damaging the copper flex tape?
  • how do I build the indexing gears in a cost effective manner?
• which end effectors can I use that will demonstrate concepts but keep spirals tight?

How will it be evaluated? >

• 1 or more machines can run their process successfully
  • does not have to be distinct processes (eg both can be pen plotters)