Explained your individual contribution to this project on your own website .
My group members are Esteban Gimenez, Pablo Huerres, Nicolo Gnecchi, Marc Conagla and me. Our group machine web page has the full description and process we followed to reach the final machine.
We were fascinated by Jens fabricatable machine concepts and that is the line we wanted to explore. We based our machine on the award plotter machine. We wanted to upgrade it with a modularity railing concept (based on pressfit joints) and an adaptation to more fabable materials. The first week, we basically did some test on materials and techniques for a first prototype. We did the design on acrilic as it is a very fabable material and can be transform with bot cnc and laser. Cutting the acrilyc with the laser gave us a fast prototyping experience.
We did most of the work together, as the process was mostly linear and most of the steps could not be done without the first one. My main task this week was to fully understand Jenks machine in order to make a fast prototiped version of our own and adapt the parts to our machine and prototype techniches. I was encharged of going trought all the documentation of Jenks github on fabricatable machines and make sure I understand the way it works and the main parts. As a result of this I made a couple of diagrams.
I also was in charge of redrawing the machine and the machine parts to fit our requirements. I downloaded the 3D-model and simplified and rearranged it for the techniques we were going to use for our prototype:
- Rails: Laser cut acrilic
-Frame: scrap wood strips
-Gears & slide blocks/tighteners: 3D printed
-Motors: Nema 17
-Electronics: Arduino, CNC shield and polulus steper controllers
We wanted to make the machine size acording to a module from a whole plywood sheet, but this week we worked with scrap material and the dimensions responded to the availability of them.
After the machine was mostly designed, I helped with the rest of the task when it was needed. The next task was to do some test pieces for the rack and pinion. The tolerances of the techniches and materiasl we were using were very important for the right fitting of the rack and pinion.
Meanwhile my teammates tested the motors, uploaded the GRBL to the arduino, and found all the electronic pieces we were going to need.
At the end of the week we cut all the pieces and built it. We found that the modular joint we designed for the acrilic rails, was an obstacle for the smooth run of the x rail. We add the redesign of the joint to the To Do list.
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