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machineweek

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README.md
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README.md

Machine Design

Intro

Machines in a week
It's easy, so to speak
In minutia is mayhem

OK, welcome to Machine Week.

If you're reading this, chances are you're about to design a machine, and then build it, and then 'bring it online', and then do something with it. Exciting! There's a great deal of complexity here! I have done this a few times now1, and every time it's a new adventure.

This document will serve as a guide for how to make (almost) a fairly standard 3-axis machine. !ALERT! ~ This is a design process ~ !ALERT! so please bear with any ambiguities, and the inherent nonlinearities present. For example, I already have a machine in mind, that I want to build (for reasons) - you may have an entirely different type of machine in mind, for different reasons. When possible, I will take asides to explain my reasoning, but overall, I intend this to be (1) a guide - for how to build this machine or slight deviations thereof, and (2) an exposition on (almost) how I go about considering machine design. Mostly, I hope to demystify CNC D&B2

In this order, we will do:

Design:

  • Draw a Layout (Rhino Suggested)
  • Detail the Axis
  • Detail Interconnects

Manufacturing:

  • Do Material Layout in Rhino
  • Program CAM in Fusion
  • Do the Milling

Assembly:

  • Put it together!
  • Alignment, alignment, alignment!

Electronics Assembly:

  • Plugs, Switches, Power, oh my!

Motion Control

  • TinyG with a Big Heart (and minimum acceleration!)

Machine Communication

  • Chilipeppr
  • Learning about GCode

End Effectors

  • Open Season: Design your own!

Layout

First thing, you'll want to get a hang of what rough sizes / shapes / orientations your machine is going to have.

  • X, Y or Z ? mm? relative scaling? Relative Stiffnesses?

Parametric Axis

Axis Blocks

  • Connect ur axis

Doing the Milling

  • First we go to fusion
  • Then we do the milling

Plugging in Motors

  • Coils are connected
  • One and two

Configuring TinyG

Talking to, loading firmware on, TinyG

  • Arduino, I hope?
  • Chilipeppr (rad alert!)

Gcode Basics

  • may it RIP

Footnotes

  1. Link Machines
  2. Design and Build