Ceramic 3D Printer Status Update Two 11-09-16

Ceramic 3D Printer Status Update Two 11-09-16

Since the Midterm update, all parts were received from ODU’s Machine Shop. Assembly was attempted, but had to be put on hold when an issue with the belt occurred. The center hole in the top base support was too small which caused the belt to rub against it. It was decided to make the round hole into a square notch to make it easier and quicker for the machine shop to modify the part. The Top Base Support was sent back to the machine shop for these modifications. This part was finished early Monday morning, so assembly was attempted again. This time, all parts seemed to fit together properly and allowed plenty of room for the belt to move freely. With this step accomplished, assembly of the frame has been completed.

The last step in the assembly process will be to mount the stepper motors and endstops. The length of the belts will be measured, cut, and attached together to ensure the nozzle is at proper height. The extruder will also be placed in the center holder. We are still waiting on the air pressure valve and regulator. These parts should arrive in the next day or so. Testing of the clay through the extruder will occur once these parts are received.

Since the first experiment, three more batches of clay have been prepared and mixed on the ball mill. However, after the third experiment, though less runny, the clay was very sticky and indicated that major changes to the clay composition were needed to get a recipe suitable for 3D printing. After visiting Orzo Studio in Portsmouth, the recommendations were to replace the sugar, maltodextrin, and alcohol with sodium silicate and to begin the next experiment with only gold art clay and add the other clays as needed to refine the composition. Therefore, to much relief, the fourth experiment turned out much better than the previous. The clay was moldable, and not sticky or runny. The latest problem that arose was separating the clay from the grinding media.

After finishing the fourth experiment, the clay composition was a success but changes to the mixing method are needed. After an unsuccessful trial of separating the clay from the grinding media, traditional hand mixing techniques will be implemented. This method of mixing will suffice because the raw clay is prepared at 200 mesh. Meaning the clay was passed through a mesh with openings of 0.0029 inches. Thus, even after hand mixing, the clay should be homogenous and free of lumps which could clog the extruder. Further experiments will be performed to successfully hand mix the raw materials and to add other clays to reach a final clay composition.

The RAMPS 1.4 kit arrived the day after the midterm update and assembly of the board was completed shortly after. The RAMPS shield was connected to Arduino Mega, while the stepper motor drivers were inserted to the RAMPS shield. Each stepper motor was then connected to one of the drivers via pin connectors. Next, the firmware was uploaded to the Arduino. The team intended to use the Repetier firmware but has since changed to Marlin, simply because we got that one working quicker. Slight adjustments were made to Marlin under the “configuration.h” file so that the firmware would be compatible with our printer. Also, the Arduino library had to be updated to get the LCD screen to function. The 12V power supply was then connected to the RAMPS board so that preliminary testing could be conducted before the system is mounted to the framework.

The hardware side of the control system is approximately 90% complete. The endstops still need to be wired to the RAMPS shield and overall the wiring needs to be cleaned up. The primary task for the remainder of the semester will be to continue to adjust the Marlin firmware as needed as well as refining the Repetier Host slicer settings so that they are suitable for clay. The Blender software for creating 3D objects will also require more practice if the team wishes to print something other than a simple object.