Our final presentation was very successful. Most of the feedback regarding out current design state and progress has been positive. The most important outcome of this set of presentations was the thought of designing the rails to be narrower. Narrowing the rails would reduce 3D printing time and material usage for both our team as well as the bogie team. Another benefit of this option is that the gap at the switch sections that must be crossed by the bogie will also be reduced. We have agreed with the bogie team to investigate this further. Our goal is to build another prototype to test during the winter intersession.
Happy Holidays!
Tuesday, December 19, 2017
Week 11-14: Rapid Prototyping
Rapid prototyping has been very successful. For our rapid prototypes two sets of linear rails were produced. This allowed us to test the mating between our modular sections. A total of 6 hangar brackets were produced utilizing a 3D printer.
The aluminum rails were produced in house at Spartan Superway. All that was needed was to cut the aluminum stock to size, mark the hole locations and drill the holes. The drilled holes were then counter-sunk so that the mounting screw sat flush in the track.
The hanger brackets were a bit more of a tedious endeavor. One of the goals was to reduce the amount of time necessary to print the brackets. Using typical print settings, each bracket was estimated to need about 6 hours to complete. With a total of 60 brackets to produce this would take approximately 360 hours. To reduce print time we decided to increase the nozzle diameter in our 3D printed. Initially a 0.4 mm nozzle was installed in the printer. This is common since it provides a good balance between speed and print quality. First we tested a 1.0 mm nozzle. After a few test prints we established that the produced bracket print quality was unsuitable for the project. This large of a nozzle diameter produces inconsistencies in the printed dimension. A 0.8 mm print nozzle was then tested. This nozzle worked quite well. All of the printed parts were dimensional accurate and the surface quality of the print was more than acceptable. Most importantly, print time was cut in half to only 3 hours per bracket.
The only thing left to do was to assemble the linear rail sections and test them with the bogie. This ended up working quite well as shown in the video below. Unfortunately, we were not able to prototype a turn or switch section as of yet. Since we will be focusing on a double rail both of the rails must be concentric. We fear that the bending machine available at Superway will provide inconsistent bends. Our suspicions were confirmed after we tried to bend a test strip. We will be looking into utilizing a ring roller for these sections.
The aluminum rails were produced in house at Spartan Superway. All that was needed was to cut the aluminum stock to size, mark the hole locations and drill the holes. The drilled holes were then counter-sunk so that the mounting screw sat flush in the track.
The hanger brackets were a bit more of a tedious endeavor. One of the goals was to reduce the amount of time necessary to print the brackets. Using typical print settings, each bracket was estimated to need about 6 hours to complete. With a total of 60 brackets to produce this would take approximately 360 hours. To reduce print time we decided to increase the nozzle diameter in our 3D printed. Initially a 0.4 mm nozzle was installed in the printer. This is common since it provides a good balance between speed and print quality. First we tested a 1.0 mm nozzle. After a few test prints we established that the produced bracket print quality was unsuitable for the project. This large of a nozzle diameter produces inconsistencies in the printed dimension. A 0.8 mm print nozzle was then tested. This nozzle worked quite well. All of the printed parts were dimensional accurate and the surface quality of the print was more than acceptable. Most importantly, print time was cut in half to only 3 hours per bracket.
The only thing left to do was to assemble the linear rail sections and test them with the bogie. This ended up working quite well as shown in the video below. Unfortunately, we were not able to prototype a turn or switch section as of yet. Since we will be focusing on a double rail both of the rails must be concentric. We fear that the bending machine available at Superway will provide inconsistent bends. Our suspicions were confirmed after we tried to bend a test strip. We will be looking into utilizing a ring roller for these sections.
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