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Re: Practical 3D printed parts
Lots of good examples out there. I am impressed with everything Triple Helix has done with the parts.
Last year we had only started getting into printing. On the robot we printed a couple of things. One was some bushing which fit inside the outer tube of our lift and let the inner tube slide up easily. We also, printer out our gyro holder and some thin flexible fingers for our shooter to help keep the frisbees aligned.
Oh, and we printed out a bunch a little key chain wrenches to hand out.
This year we are looking for opportunities. I can certainly see some manipulator parts depending on the game this year.
For FTC we have a couple of teams already doing some things. One team CAD'd and printed flippers to pull the blocks into their bot. We also had some of the old clip style samanthas so one of the kids found a CAD of the back and we added some bolt down tabs. (Pic attached)
We also started experimenting with plastic parts with hole textrix hole patterns. Specifically to get different heights through different thicknesses (pic attached).
As another poster commented layer separation can be a problem. For other projects at home (like the robot hand I posted earlier on another thread) I have used acetone painting and acetone vapor baths (safety is a huge consideration). Other than that though ABS is very strong. Even with 20% honeycomb in-fill and 3 shells the parts I have printed are very strong. Just look at how well the 3d printed extruder gears on RepRaps hold up. The one on my Prusa I2 has thousands of hours on it.
The other issue mentioned is print time. I have had parts take 6-8 hours to print (parts of the robot forearm) and an hour or so is not un-heard of and you will have failed prints usually after half the print. If you have other CAM capabilities (CNC mill, laser cutter, etc.) they can be much more efficient. And yes the commercial printers generally can be run faster than the RepRaps we use but for complex prints.
The other big limitation is build area. The printers we use have an effective build area of 180mm x 180mm x 170 mm. So you may need to cad bigger things as separate parts that can be joined. ABS glues very well with Acetone and bolts are easy.
I really look forward to seeing what neat ideas teams come up with. I hope to see more threads like this one. Maybe, we should look at tagging FRC and FTC parts when posted on Thingiverse or having a standard thread hear on CD so folks can always see what is new.
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