3D Printed Parts on an FRC Robot?

[Michael Hill]

Originally Posted by AdamHeard

What machine did you use to cut the two (presumably) aluminum rings?

If you lasered or waterjetted the plate, you can cut gearteeth directly into it and skip the printing portion.

First off, the aluminum rings haven't been made. I just did a 3D printing test as a proof of concept.

During the regular season, I don't know the exact model our sponsor uses, but I believe it's somewhat older machine (from what I was told, there's no head tilting for taper removal). If you can tell from a close-up picture, this is the machine (and sponsor) that does our waterjet work: http://www.rpgindustries.com/11301/11385.html

If there really is no taper reduction, I'm a little cautious about having gear teeth cut. He could do wire EDM (he's cut some gears for us in the past), but I really don't like to use up his machine time since he already loans us our build space. So we try to limit ourselves to just a single waterjet job per season, and it's usually a 1/4" plate job. Though I'm sure he'd do more for us if we asked.

The other thing 3D printing lets me do that waterjet wouldn't is adding the belt flange directly on the 3D printed part. It's not a huge deal though because it can always be added on after the fact. It's just another part I don't have to worry about making.

In the end, I've just made it sound like I need to send our sponsor an e-mail