We have been thinking about using our 3D printer more for this upcoming season. Is there any parts you recommend we 3D print? This could range from mounts for electrical component to any other parts that would be worth 3D printing.
You might browse through this thread for ideas: Common FRC mechanisms implemented via cheap FDM 3D printing
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I would recommend printing most of your electrical components a case ( helps with mounting using 10-32 hardware), and you can design slots for ZipTies to go on.
Heres an example of a rio mount case that i made for 10-32 hardware + zipties.
Additionally, this jig is super useful for cutting accurate tubing:
https://www.printables.com/model/373487-jig-for-cutting-10-hole-patterned-box-tube
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I asked a related question about 2 months ago.
@dk5sm5luigi responded with the site his team FRC1735 created: https://findrobotparts.com/
Also, about a year ago, there was a fairly long thread in which people shared what they like to 3D print for the robot: What are your favorite 3D printed parts for FRC?
Beyond that, if you go to 3D model download sites like Thingiverse & Printables and search for “FRC”, you will see plenty of interesting results.
Good luck!
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Other useful things to print, wire clips, extrusion end caps, RoboRio port covers, battery plugs and also stuff like The Pit Viper, a pit crew essential - #23 by jaedog
Other non-useful as far as parts go, but useful in other ways. Trophies. Customized trophies for giving to other teams at the competition as a GP thing to do and it gives your CAD team something to work on that’s fun and a break from the massive amount of actual robot parts. The trophies might seem a little silly but we love getting these from teams around us at competition. No matter how stressed out we are, how strange the trophy may be and whatever we got it for. It makes us very happy to get them and we try to display them all. Definitely builds a great sense of community with your event teams
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One suggestion I haven’t seen yet is crush spacers. When using REV MAXTube (and plain 1/16" wall tube), it’s good to put something inside when thru-bolting it, such that the tube isn’t deformed. We just made blocks the shape of the inside of the tube, offset maybe 0.005", with holes. It’s also possible to use a 3D printed part to hold an aluminum spacer in the correct lateral location so that you can insert it deep within a tube.
Guards are also a good one, though they are often custom to the robot. We used a pair of sprocket guards to reduce the chances of debris (or fingers!) getting into the drive for our elevator.
Constant-force spring spools can also be 3D printed, as they are primarily in compression.
Gears and belt pulleys for prototypes are also good – they only need to last long enough to try out the idea. It’s helpful to print them if you don’t want to keep a few dozen sizes around.
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Heartily second the recommendation on crush spacers. Another thing to remember with 3D-printed parts is that they actually work quite well with pop rivets – and you can design them with an internal void that holds the expanded head of the rivet.
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We printed all of our pulleys, spacers, most of our rollers, and our “locating” features.
Quick build blocks -
Spectrum prototype blocks -
https://www.printables.com/model/89617-spectrum-3847-frc-prototyping-blocks
Hypeblocks -
Anti crush spacers -
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Big fan of printed pulleys if you’re using Onyx / PA-CF. Use the 3D printed insert from TTB and you’re good to go. All of the main pulleys on 33’s double jointed arm this past year were printed.
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Last year’s thread on this had a great main breaker shroud posted by @cadandcookies. I remixed it for nuts and bolts rather than tapped holes. Worked great for us.
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Timing belt pullies are a no brainer, we have gone to 100% printed pullies and its so cost effective and customizable. Also when needed you can use aluminum inserts so the hex wont strip out, but even without inserts you can get away with a decent amount of torque.
Highly recommend testing and tuning your prints so you get a nice fit on the hex if not using inserts.
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You can also sometimes get away without using inserts by just increasing the width of the pulley or adding a thick boss on the side of it. It might not be as space efficient, but it can work if you dont have an insert on hand (or are printing a pulley that is too small for the insert).
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Our team’s past failures with 3D-printed parts:
A couple of seasons ago (It was a ball shooting game), we built a shooter with a lazy Susan gear for rotation made up of 4 separate segments. The motor/gear combo that turned the lazy Susan would get caught in the intersection of the segments, which was a disaster. Secondly, we experimented with a 3D-printed shooter hood, which promptly broke from getting hit with balls coming out of the mechanism.
In hindsight (20/20), none of these mechanisms should have been 3D-printed.
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The original Onshape document: Onshape (or Printables if that’s more one’s speed: Printables)
While this version does not include that exact design, it does include various options that have been requested over the years.
Edit: I made the counterbore versions usable with a captured nut. They aren’t exactly the same, and I highly encourage folks to remix and repurpose the design as needed, but since a lot of people have used the original I’ve been trying to make sure as many common variants as possible get captured there so they’re more visible to folks.
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Plenty of teams have ran 3D printed shooter hoods and turrets in various ways. It’s all about the implementation, material selection, etc.
Agreed. We implemented/chose materials poorly lol
In the spirit of sneaking in under the wire:
I made some configurable crush blocks for the 0.5"-pitch 10 hole pattern tubing that has become the defacto standard around these parts.
The idea was to have a single part per tube size that we could print a bunch of and keep in stock to make assemblies less prone to people (often me) putting just a little too much force into a tool and starting an irreversible trend of squished tubing.
I opted to make them retain nylocks rather than use heat-set inserts because it’s one less thing to add to our workflow. The blocks have features for anti-crush, blind nut retention and through clamping for situations where you need to attach tubing without adding any external gussets. They can also be configured with clearances to accommodate MAXTube gussets. I’d recommend using the edge clearance holes as depth stops for inserting the crush blocks - stick a through bolt one hole past where you want the block to stop and push up into it. There’s a little 0.25" boss on the outside face for folks who like using pushrods to do so.
Examples:
For 1x1x.125
For 1x1 MAXTube
For 2x1 “Heavy” MAXTube
For 2x2 MAXTube
Application Examples:
Through bolted, using the nut retention for blind bolting, and using the clamping feature.
I’d recommend printing chamfer side up for good results. The parts are configured to encourage you to put the chamfer into the tube first so that you can take advantage of the clamping feature. The default inset (10 thou each edge) was what I found best for a reasonably tight fit without being difficult to insert.
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I have a full list of 3D Printed parts our team uses on a daily basis and have held up for us since build season of 2023. Please look through this and take as many items and models as you would like. If you have any questions please ask! Team 93 - 3D Printing and Parts Thread
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