Do you use 3d printed mounts?

[Michael Hill]

We used them for camera mounts, ultrasonic sensor mount, and pneumatic tank mounts (after finding out http://www.andymark.com/product-p/am-2008.htm is too small for http://www.andymark.com/product-p/am-2479.htm, even though they say it's the recommended mount). And it's way too small.

[AlexanderLuke]

Just a quick run over the things we have printed in recent history:

• Versaplantery Gearbox Mounts
• Pneumatic Cylinder Mounts
• Encoder Mounts
• NavX MXP Covers
• OM5P-AN Radio Mount
• Aiming light Mount

We have done a lot more for prototyping and proof of concept models, but these are things that have ended up on our robots in the past three seasons. We are looking into possibly expanding how much work we do in the 3D printed space, but we will see the extent of that next season.

EDIT: I realize that the OP was asking for mounts that save space in mounting electronics, and that I mentioned more than just that. Thought I would show the realm of what we have done.

[346CADmen]

Originally Posted by Michael Hill

We used them for camera mounts, ultrasonic sensor mount, and pneumatic tank mounts (after finding out http://www.andymark.com/product-p/am-2008.htm is too small for http://www.andymark.com/product-p/am-2479.htm, even though they say it's the recommended mount). And it's way too small.

Did you actually order these or was there a typo in your post? The Andy Mark pages you reference do NOT show them as being compatible. And those pages describe the components diameters as being 2.5" and 2.7". While that may be trite, I think cost is a concern too. Printing a clip like the one shown, for our team, would be much more expensive (filament isn't cheap) than the COTS part.

[Steven Smith]

Originally Posted by 346CADmen

Did you actually order these or was there a typo in your post? The Andy Mark pages you reference do NOT show them as being compatible. And those pages describe the components diameters as being 2.5" and 2.7". While that may be trite, I think cost is a concern too. Printing a clip like the one shown, for our team, would be much more expensive (filament isn't cheap) than the COTS part.

Not 100% sure what is or is not compatible, but the second page (tank) he linked states "A mounting bracket is available to order (am-2008), but is not included when ordering just this item."

We buy ABS at ~$12/lb, so the 0.066lb bracket should cost roughly $0.80 to print vs. the $2 list price (which is also very reasonable). While I wouldn't get in the business of printing them to save my team money, if I happened to need one and my options were to rush order one (and pay shipping on a single item) versus print one and have it in a few hours, I could see justifying printing one.

[MailmanDelivers]

My team had severely limited space on our robot which required us to be pretty creative on where we place our electronics. We ended up creating several 3D Printed Mounts that helped hold our Electronics spread throughout the robot in creative places.


I believe my team has a document on our drive with a small sentence or two explaining each part. If anyone would like a further look I can add it later.

[BrendanB]

One of our sponsors had a Flashforge 3d printer they grabbed off Amazon when it was dirt cheap (around $700) and we borrowed it for a few meetings at the end of the season.

All of the red parts on the robot were 3d printed plus more you can't see.

We used them to print our own hex spacers and printed a ton of extras in 1/8" increments. Made later additions a breeze.

Instead of buying sprocket spacers for our wheels we just printed our own to save $4 a wheel x 16 wheels plus spares.

On the left we 3d printed a versaplanetary stage so we could offset the intake motor so we could mount our gearboxes the same but have enough clearance so when the intake rotated back we didn't risk it hitting an output shaft.

Other items we printed was a USB/Ethernet tether connector board that was really useful having one spot to plug in. We also printed some ultrasonic mounts that would snap on to the rings of our PVC but we never got them on the robot.

125 has used 3d printed parts for several years and had advocated that printing spacers is much easier and consistent compared to making them by hand. We agree!

[Jay Trzaskos]

Over the past 4 years 148 used 3D printing for a number of applications. Normally printed parts are used to prototype and refine the concept, as well as test packaging, before parts are machined for strength and durability reasons.

A few of the parts prototyped using 3D printing over the past 4 years includes:

• camera mounts
• targeting light mount
• various encoder mounts
• encoder gears
• electronic system mounts
• choo-choo cam
• noodle-fan mount

The most impressive (to me) application of a 3D printed part on a 148 robot was the custom traction wheels used on our 2013 robot, Viper. These wheels incorporated a 2.5" OD traction wheel with the required pulley for the smallest iteration of the Butterfly Drive used to date.

[BDRessler]

Our team uses our 3D printer almost exclusively for mounting things like sensors and motor controllers.

[marshall]

Originally Posted by BDRessler

Our team uses our 3D printer almost exclusively for mounting things like sensors and motor controllers.

[Brandon Holley]

We've used 3D printed parts for a number of years now, I think our first ones probably went onto robots around the 2008 timeframe.

Since then we've done all sorts of stuff from simple brackets for sensors/electronics, to protective housings for cameras, molds for urethane components and even bearing blocks for power transmission in our 2015 elevator.

We picked up some new sponsorship in the off-season from Markforged. We just started making parts, but to say we're blown away may be understating it. The parts strength and finish is unbelievable. Parts are incredibly stiff. We're gonna be doing some testing on our 2016 bot in the fall off-seasons and maybe even pushing the limits in some totally new realms that were thought to be 'unprintable' by myself and probably all of the larger FRC community. Pic below of our first part. Nylon base with carbon fiber wound inside each layer. First 4 layers on either side had carbon wrapped concentrically around the contours. The middle 32 layers had isotropic carbon laid down, rotating 90deg each layer



-Brando

[DrewMatic]

We use 3d printed items to mount cameras and a case for our gyro. As well as pneumatic tank mounts. We used the 3d printer to also make frame caps in 2015 (recycle rush) because we didn't use bumpers.

[Cothron Theiss]

Originally Posted by Brandon Holley

We've used 3D printed parts for a number of years now, I think our first ones probably went onto robots around the 2008 timeframe.

Since then we've done all sorts of stuff from simple brackets for sensors/electronics, to protective housings for cameras, molds for urethane components and even bearing blocks for power transmission in our 2015 elevator.

We picked up some new sponsorship in the off-season from Markforged. We just started making parts, but to say we're blown away may be understating it. The parts strength and finish is unbelievable. Parts are incredibly stiff. We're gonna be doing some testing on our 2016 bot in the fall off-seasons and maybe even pushing the limits in some totally new realms that were thought to be 'unprintable' by myself and probably all of the larger FRC community. Pic below of our first part. Nylon base with carbon fiber wound inside each layer. First 4 layers on either side had carbon wrapped concentrically around the contours. The middle 32 layers had isotropic carbon laid down, rotating 90deg each layer



-Brando

So what is this part for? What kind of load do you expect it to see? And if you don't mind me asking, was this printed on a custom Printer, or just custom materials? And how long did this print take?

[Brandon Holley]

Originally Posted by Cothron Theiss

So what is this part for? What kind of load do you expect it to see? And if you don't mind me asking, was this printed on a custom Printer, or just custom materials? And how long did this print take?

This is a 1:1 swap of our drivetrain gearbox plates, same exact geometry, etc. The part will see some fairly dynamic loads. Historically, plastic gearbox plates are a non-starter as you really need the stiffness of a metal material to keep the plate from deflecting under high load in the drivetrain. Small amounts of deflection can screw up your gear mesh and lead to a number of different failure modes.

This was not printed on a custom printer, it was printed on a Markforged Mark Two printer: https://markforged.com/product/mark-...fessional-kit/

The print took a bit under 3 hours to complete.

-Brando

[Cothron Theiss]

Originally Posted by Brandon Holley

This is a 1:1 swap of our drivetrain gearbox plates, same exact geometry, etc. The part will see some fairly dynamic loads. Historically, plastic gearbox plates are a non-starter as you really need the stiffness of a metal material to keep the plate from deflecting under high load in the drivetrain. Small amounts of deflection can screw up your gear mesh and lead to a number of different failure modes.

This was not printed on a custom printer, it was printed on a Markforged Mark Two printer: https://markforged.com/product/mark-...fessional-kit/

The print took a bit under 3 hours to complete.

-Brando

That's really quite impressive. Any reason why the part looks to have such a low resolution? Do you need flat edges to better adhere the carbon fibers wrapped around the first four layers?

[Brandon Holley]

Originally Posted by Cothron Theiss

That's really quite impressive. Any reason why the part looks to have such a low resolution? Do you need flat edges to better adhere the carbon fibers wrapped around the first four layers?

I had a bad STL import and wanted to print just to see what I was dealing with (aka laziness). Next iteration will be nice and smooth.