Robot Symphony - Working & Reworking (Week 6)

If at first you don't succeed...

As the 6th week comes to a close, the deadline of the performance draws near. We know we will be ready, but not everything comes first try.

   3D Printing
    In our project, an important tool that we will be using is the 3D Printer. The 3D Printer is valuable to us because we can use it to build mounts that allow for one servo to be connected to another, allowing for x and y coordinate movement.

    The printers our class is fortunate enough to access to are the Afinia H800 3D Printers. Like other 3D Printers, the Afinia operates by turning  a whole object into thousands of tiny little slices, then making it from the bottom-up, slice by slice. The tiny layers stick together to form a solid object. Each layer can be very complex --3D printers can create moving parts like hinges and wheels as part of the same object. (Independent.com)

An in depth view of the Afinia H800

Our Problem with Printing

Here's an email that our professor sent us regarding the state of the 3D Printers. As you can see, the 3D Printers were suffering from heavy usage, because 3D Printing was a valuable asset to all groups, not just ours. This heavy usage lead to the printers extrusion gear being worn down, ultimately producing bad prints.

Here are a couple of our bad prints -- the issue stemmed from the printer either continuing to print a piece that was already clearly messed up (pictured top and bottom, you can see how the printing grid is uneven and the piece looks like a skeleton of what it should be), or the piece looks as though its only a part of what it really should be (pictured middle, the pieces are small and incomplete, although the do appear wholesome).

With the printing problems we're experiencing, we've considered other options such as duct tape, glue, or k'nex mounts. Our options will be weighed, tested, and implemented for next week.