Experiments with Printing Robobuilder Grippers
Experiments with Printing Robobuilder Grippers
by PedroR
Wed Apr 27, 2011 7:22 pm
Hi all
Despite being very quiet lately on the 3D Printing for Robotics forum, we've been hard at work with our Thing o Matic.
We've printed (part of) the Gothic Cathedral you see in the video, we've been printing some samples to potential MKB customers and testing different Robobuilder gripepr designs (by l3v3rz).
(btw if you're considering buying a ToM and want to evaluate the print quality sends us a sample design that we'll print it and send it back to you).
Bellow are some pictures of our preliminary attempts. We really want to make this into a product of our store so we're working to choose the best design and making tests to get the best print quality as well as robustness. (in real world it's not only about the resolution of the printer; you need to design things that work and resist!)
This is our favorite gripper design by l3v3rz. This is the first print we've done (you can see it needs improvement). We've been perfecting the print strategy to have more resolution (look better) and to be more robust. This is the gripper right out of the machine after removing the support material (no post processing techniques were applied on this gripper).
Here is a closeup of the gripper closed. (There is a nice video of a Robobuilder holding a pen with this gripper on youtube but I can't seem to be able to find at the moment...).
These were experiments with another design by l3v3rz. The one on the left still has the support material that accompanies it when printing. The one on the middle is a final version after removing the support material and the right one I believe was an attempt to print in a different position to see if results were better.
Here is a closeup of a gripper right out of the machine still with the support material and then the gripper without.
"Support Material" is a feature of the ToM to help printing parts with overhanging bits or hollow parts like these grippers. Once you enable the option, the printer automatically calculates where the material is needed.
When the build finishes the support material snaps off.
Regards
Pedro.
PS: These grippers WILL be available in our store very soon. We're just waiting for Black Plastic to begin "production" as we want to be selling them in black.
Having the Automated Build Platform will be clearlly an advantage to make the batches of grippers.
Despite being very quiet lately on the 3D Printing for Robotics forum, we've been hard at work with our Thing o Matic.
We've printed (part of) the Gothic Cathedral you see in the video, we've been printing some samples to potential MKB customers and testing different Robobuilder gripepr designs (by l3v3rz).
(btw if you're considering buying a ToM and want to evaluate the print quality sends us a sample design that we'll print it and send it back to you).
Bellow are some pictures of our preliminary attempts. We really want to make this into a product of our store so we're working to choose the best design and making tests to get the best print quality as well as robustness. (in real world it's not only about the resolution of the printer; you need to design things that work and resist!)
This is our favorite gripper design by l3v3rz. This is the first print we've done (you can see it needs improvement). We've been perfecting the print strategy to have more resolution (look better) and to be more robust. This is the gripper right out of the machine after removing the support material (no post processing techniques were applied on this gripper).
Here is a closeup of the gripper closed. (There is a nice video of a Robobuilder holding a pen with this gripper on youtube but I can't seem to be able to find at the moment...).
These were experiments with another design by l3v3rz. The one on the left still has the support material that accompanies it when printing. The one on the middle is a final version after removing the support material and the right one I believe was an attempt to print in a different position to see if results were better.
Here is a closeup of a gripper right out of the machine still with the support material and then the gripper without.
"Support Material" is a feature of the ToM to help printing parts with overhanging bits or hollow parts like these grippers. Once you enable the option, the printer automatically calculates where the material is needed.
When the build finishes the support material snaps off.
Regards
Pedro.
PS: These grippers WILL be available in our store very soon. We're just waiting for Black Plastic to begin "production" as we want to be selling them in black.
Having the Automated Build Platform will be clearlly an advantage to make the batches of grippers.
by PedroR
Tue Jun 07, 2011 1:10 pm
We've been printing a batch of Robobuilder Grippers (14 sets to be exact) for an order from a Universiity.
In this video, we were printing the "thumb" part of the grippers. To reduce print time and be more efficient, we print 4 thumbs at a time and use support material (a optional, fully automated feature of Makerbot that automatically adds support plastic under parts that would other be hanging over thin air).
We start with the bulk output from the 3D printer and using an X cutter and a set of pliers, remove the support material to expose the fine printed thumbs.
Pedro.
In this video, we were printing the "thumb" part of the grippers. To reduce print time and be more efficient, we print 4 thumbs at a time and use support material (a optional, fully automated feature of Makerbot that automatically adds support plastic under parts that would other be hanging over thin air).
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We start with the bulk output from the 3D printer and using an X cutter and a set of pliers, remove the support material to expose the fine printed thumbs.
Pedro.