Machine Building Group Site¶
Project name¶
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Slide and Video¶
3D model of the project¶
Members¶
Students Areg, Elen, Shushanik, Maria, Ashot
Instructors Babken, Rudolf, Mkhitar, Onik, Maxime, Anoush
The birth of an idea¶
Last year, our predecessors created a 2-axis machine MESROP.
On the advice of our chief instructor Babken Chugaszyan, we decided to raise the bar and create a 3-axis machine. Due to numerous requests, we decided to make a 3D printer that prints on clay.
As a model of operation for the printer, on the advice of Babken, we settled on a model with a rotating table.
Brainstorm¶
In this week we decided to do Ceramic 3D Printer.
And first of all we brainstormed and find the motion concept.
It turned out printer with turntable and radial axis.
Making a test extruder¶
The main task that confronted us before starting the design of a 3D printer printing on clay was the supply of clay itself.
Since Areg is an artist and also a sculptor, we decided that he should make the extruder.
More details about this can be found on the website Areg
Under the leadership of Areg, many experiments were done, and this is the result we got:
The ceramic 3D printer extruder with an auger works as follows:
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Material Loading: The ceramic paste is loaded into the extruder container.
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Auger Mechanism: The auger (screw) inside the extruder rotates, moving the ceramic paste forward. In our case, the auger is a wood drill bit.
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Extrusion: The paste is dispensed through the extruder nozzle, which in our case is a pipeline component, specifically a reducer.
This process allows for the control of material flow and its even distribution, which is especially important for the precise fabrication of ceramic products.
3D modeling¶
After testing the test extruder, the team began modeling. Areg took responsibility for organizing the design.
Since there was a lot of design work planned, the work was distributed among all of us. And since it was necessary to combine all the details with each other, the team decided to organize the entire design in the Fusion360 program
Designing a table¶
The main role in the design of the table was played by Maria Hovhannisyan, and Areg designed and manufactured the belt tensioner, as well as key parts for alignment of the Z-axis with the table and to ensure stability of the Z-axis.
More details about this can be found on the website Maria and Areg.
Design of units for attaching axles and extruder¶
Elen Grigoryan took on the design of the units for attaching the axes and the extruder.
Details about the work done can be viewed on the page Elen.
Assembling 3D models together¶
Time to Assemble¶
We assembled and disassembled many times. And every time we improved the constuction and solved the bugs.
After the last assembly, we found out that the extrusion is very heavy and the motor is weak and cannot lift such a weight. And so we decided to make a counterweight to the extruder and for this we designed and 3D printed a shaft holder using which we attached a thread on which we hung the counterweight.
Machine firmware¶
The main programming work was undertaken by Shushanik Abovyan.
All the work done can be viewed in more detail on the Shushanik page.
Arduino Mega 2560 was used as the control board. babyBear 3D polar printer project was used as the firmware.
Firmware test on stepper motors¶
First of all, Shushanik tested all the stepper motors without putting any parts on them:
After that, she tested the extruder motor:
And also a rotating platform on which we placed a load to test the table’s ability to rotate the load:
Then 3 motors for X, Y and Z together:
Slicer for printer operation¶
After that, we tried to understand what slicer we could use for creating Gcode and tested the Polar 3D Repetier-Host software it has in it.
Here are the print settings that we added.
Here is how looks like a cube sliced model in the polar printer.
Since Shushanik works in Armat and they use Pronterface there, she suggested using it.
On the left side of the window, we have an axis movement controlling menu. And we can select steps of axis movement. And with this menu, we tested our machine. On the right side is the space where we can write a command and send it to the machine.
And we tested the printer with Pronterface to understand how all axes work. We had troubles with the z-axis the reason could be the force of the motor because it didn’t manage to move the extruder because it was heavy. In the future, we plan to use a more powerful motor. Here is how the machine worked.
Possible Improvements¶
- Using more powerful motors - will solve the problem that we have regarding the weight of the extruder in the future
- Increasing the stability of the Y axis by creating a structure like a tower crane with a counterweight - because there is a large load hanging on it and it tilts a little
- Replacing some parts with metal ones - In this situation, we can reduce the size and parts but at the same time with a more durable construction.
- Metal container. - add metal container with compression for storing and supplying clay.