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Unread 27-11-2013, 16:58
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BigBlue BigBlue is offline
Head Captain of 3824 with LittleRed
AKA: Fletcher Blue
FRC #3824 (RoHAWKtics)
Team Role: Leadership
 
Join Date: Nov 2013
Rookie Year: 2010
Location: United States
Posts: 2
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Re: FRC Blogged - FIRSTŪ Choice Adds Additives

Quote:
Originally Posted by LittleRed View Post
Very true... Our team is lucky to get to use Ultem. Though we also have a printer made by the same company at our school that has very high quality prints made out of ABS.

I am also interning at ORNL along with two other Team 3824 members. We have been designing FIRST specific parts in CAD that will end up online for FIRST teams to use. On a day to day basis, we use all three of the printers available through FIRST choice, and they are all able to handle the parts we have been designing. Just experiment, don't be afraid to try new things.

As for the performance of the parts I understand you may not want an important bracket made out of ABS or PLA supporting 30+ pounds on a competition robot, it is great to be able to print a bracket in a number of hours so a team can continue progressing its design.
Also don't forget that materials are constantly being expermented with and innovated on the printers available on FIRST Choice. There's ALOT of new materials coming that can be printed on these printers. Also, I know of some experimentation with rubber materials and those could be useful in robotics with shock absorbtion. Students who have access to this technology will be able to innovate and use these materials in ways no one has ever thought of before. There are some service bureaus that are donating parts to FIRST teams this year that have this capability. That is, in part, the reasoning behind why Oak Ridge National Laboratory mentors on FIRST team 3824 have been pushing for the printers in FIRST Choice. They want to see what young, educated, and almost free minds can come up with using this technology!
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