Final
Links
Questions
What does it do?
It is a paper-handler, not unlike a “rotary tool”, for using inside a laser cutter. The original intention was to build a paper 3D printer, and this is one of the steps in the process.
Who’s done what beforehand?
LOM machines by Helisys Inc., patent expired. LOM (SDL or colour 3D) machines by M-Cor. Many examples of stacked/sliced models. Incl. this project on Printables.com, by user @JindrichCerny_999259.
What sources did you use?
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What did you design?
Initially, and for the Midterm assignment, I did a more complex design, and set out a number of itterations. I got to somewhere between version 0.3 and version 0.4.
The machine now moves the paper, but still requires manual intervantion to jog it onwards.
What materials and components were used?
Salvaged mechanical parts, stepper motors rods and bearings from old printers Full BOM
Where did they come from?
The laser module came from Laser Tree, which I think is in Szechen, CN. The Duroflex came from Northern Ireland, MFS, which is a very popular company for resins and fibrglass materials.
How much did they cost?
The laser module was the most expensice part, which I believe was €82.58 incl. VAT. (And there was €25 delivery from Digikey Marketplace) Exlcuding salvaged parts, a little less than €220.
What parts and systems were made?
Custom scripts in Grasshopper (and an attempt in FreeCAD, but it’s not solved yet).
Laser cut parts made use of Boxes PY, customised from templates. And original parts designed in Inkscape and Rhino.
3D printed components, were mostly original designs. 3D printed handles by Emkatech (Mike) added at the end.
What tools and processes were used?
- Electronics design, input, output and production including manual SMD.
- CNC cutting for the frame,
- Laser Cutting for the smaller brackets,
- 3D Printing,
- Casting,
- AI, documented in respective parts of this site. Used for generating code, and researching electronic components.