tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37068365327863146732024-03-06T02:17:17.182+01:00Unfold ~fabDesign Studio Unfold's Digital Manufacturing and Ceramic 3d Printing BlogUnfold Fabhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04335201925996450866noreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706836532786314673.post-2483630502375244442018-04-30T11:22:00.000+02:002018-04-30T11:22:13.012+02:00Reviving an old Bits from Bytes Rapman<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
It's been a long time since I posted here, unfortunately no more time to write lengthy articles... Maybe someday.<br />
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For those landing here when looking for information on the since long deprecated Bits from Bytes (BfB) Rapman that we used as the 3d printer to bootstrap our first ceramic 3d printers from, here's some info on how to revive those machines. We still use them today since they were included in some of our installations like l'Artisan Électronique from 2010. This installation is still continuously exhibited and now even part of the Centre national des arts plastiques, (CNAP, the national art collection in France).<br />
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Since we feel the look of the machine is an integral part of the installation, we keep on maintaining it using original parts. But we also updated one machine to modern electronics and firmware. I've never had the time to do a good writeup of that but fortunately enough, others did. Here's a good blog (still updated) by Alvaro Salgado documenting the process, the most recent post is about replacing the extruder. Most posts also have a Spanish version besides the English posts:<br />
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<a href="http://3drevival.blogspot.com/">3drevival.blogspot.com</a><br />
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There's also still an OpenBFB Google Group that I setup when BfB pulled the plug on their support forum, not very active but good information is hosted there:<br />
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<a href="https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/openbfb">https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/openbfb</a><br />
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And here are 3D files that I extracted form the BfB tutorial PDF that can be used for reverse engineering purposes:<br />
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<a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:463203">https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:463203</a><br />
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unfoldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05764158643994709997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706836532786314673.post-85366727018274228952014-12-26T11:30:00.000+01:002014-12-26T11:30:00.824+01:00Road to Better Paste Extrusion, episode 3: Industrial quality 3D printing of paste materials with ViscoTec Moineau PumpLong overdue update in the <a href="http://unfoldfab.blogspot.com/search/label/Road%20to%20Better%20Paste%20Extrusion">Road to Better Paste Extrusion</a> series. As I've hinted at in my <a href="http://unfoldfab.blogspot.nl/2014/03/reprap-magazine.html">Paste Extrusion article in RepRap Magazine</a>, last year an engineering intern -Steffen De Schrijver- spend six months at our design studio <a href="http://www.unfold.be/">Unfold</a> to work on paste extrusion as part of his master thesis. Steffen worked mainly on investigating two pump mechanisms, the Archimedes Auger Screw (<a href="http://unfoldfab.blogspot.nl/2012/08/road-to-better-paste-extrusion-episode.html">again</a>?) and the Moineau Pump, both in a DIY and in an industrial version. In the coming weeks I'll work through all the material, results and observations and write up a few posts. So expect a long one on revisiting the Archimedes Auger Screw as this was the most important part of Steffens research. But I want to jump straight to an industrial Moineau pump we successfully tested as a print head. You might have already seen some of the results of this work announced on your favorite 3d printing blogs last week: <a href="http://3dprintingindustry.com/2014/12/15/viscotec-dosing-technology/">3D Printing Industry</a> and <a href="http://3dprint.com/29913/viscotec-dosage-paste-extruder/">3DPrint.com</a>. A good impulse to write up my experiences with this system.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;">Endless Piston Pump (courtesy ViscoTec)</td></tr>
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For those who have followed along here, you probably know that I am a big fan of the Moineau pump principle. From the surface this pumps looks pretty much the same as an auger pump but the geometry of the auger (the rotor) and housing (the stator) are a bit more complicated. In a Moineau there is no continued path down the rotor but several sealed cavities between rotor and stator which progress down when the rotor is turned, hence it’s other common name: progressing cavity pump. Think of it as an endless piston pump. Every cavity has a known volume so with each rotation a specific volume is being discharged from one or more cavities. The intricate geometry ensures that the cavities alternate to avoid pulsations in the extrusion.<br />
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So as opposed to an Auger, there's close to zero relation between material properties and the volume or flowrate of the extrusion.<br />
Knowing the merits of the Moineau and having fiddled with moderate success with a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWDGTfmd7IA">DIY Moineau designed by Tomi Salo</a> -a little more on this in a later post- I approached ViscoTec, a manufacturer of industrial progressing cavity pumps small enough to be used as an extruder, with the idea to test their dispensing pumps in a 3d printer setup.<br />
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We're happy to announce that, together with Unfold, ViscoTec developed a professional solution for continuous 3d printing with a wide range of viscous pastes and gels including those with abrasive and other fillers. As you'll see from our tests, the same pump can dispense both water or viscous clay with the same reliability and without any recalibration associated with the material change. Regardless of the material being extruded, for every rotation of the pump an exact and predictable volume of material is being extruded.<br />
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The solution consists of an extruder with dedicated controller that can be integrated in nearly every 3D printer and will be available Q1 2015. Unfortunately this is not a solution for hobbyists but aimed at professional businesses and research institutes developing advanced <span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">food applications, high </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">tech</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"> ceramics or medical/bio printing to just name a few.</span></span></div>
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In this movie you see our test setup with one of ViscoTec's existing dispensers from the Preeflow range fitted on a Bits from Bytes 3000 printer (retrofit with Ultimaker Ramps electronics) and printing an espresso cup in porcelain clay. More demo's soon which show the start stop capabilities.</div>
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This is ViscoTec's promo video demoing printing with silicone:<br />
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When researching the viability of different DIY and professional extruders Steffen performed a couple of bench top tests to check how accurate each system was in consistently extruding the exact same amount of material with varying material properties and inlet pressures (the material is fed into the pump by air pressure). We did this test both with water and porcelain clay each time extruding 1 minute at a fixed speeds and weighing the extruded material on a scale with 0.1 gram precision. We did the same tests with auger based systems.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">bench top testing with gravity fed water (left) and pressure fed clay (right)</td></tr>
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Below you see the results from just one series of tests at different speeds using clay. The measured values are within the error margin of the scale and the imperfections like air bubbles in our clay mix. This test was performed at both 4 and 5 bar of inlet pressure with the exact same averaged results.</div>
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As a progressing cavity pump is truly volumetric, one can calculate the amount of extruded material for each rotation which is a huge benefit and very close to how filament based 3d printers works.<br />
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As a bonus, playing with an water drop:<br />
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My current setup to control the ViscoTec pump is very much a hack as these pumps uses servo's with rotary encoders (closed loop) and are controlled using 0-24v set point and start/stop signals as opposed to the somewhat simpler to control stepper motors in typical RepRap based setups. We build an Arduino based controller to convert STEP/DIR signals to something the ViscoTec Preeflow pump controller understands. Our demo system doesn't do retract currently as it was too much work to implement and not immediately necessary. But the final solution offered by ViscoTec will have all those capabilities and be much simpler and compatible with RepRap based and other 3d printers.<br />
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If you are interested in employing professional paste extrusion in your business or research and want to employ our expertise in paste extrusion, please contact us at <a href="mailto:3dpconsulting@unfold.be">3dpconsulting@unfold.be</a><br />
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If you are interested in a 3D printing related job near Munich Germany, ViscoTec has a job open to work on their 3d printing efforts: <a href="http://www.viscotec.de/media/2014_12_ViscoTec_Business_Development_Manager_3D.pdf">Business Development Manager 3D-Druck (m/w)</a></div>
Unfold Fabhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04335201925996450866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706836532786314673.post-6360297000944152122014-03-25T18:41:00.000+01:002015-06-22T23:49:15.999+02:00Printing Things Book<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Happy to announce that our book <i><b>Printing Things,</b></i> <i>Visions and Essentials for 3D-Printing</i> is finished, off to the printing press and available now for preorder at <a href="http://shop.gestalten.com/printing-things.html">Gestalten</a>.</div>
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We've worked hard over the last several months to compile this book together with Gestalten. Featuring over 100 projects from various artists, designers and makers exploring a new wave of creative 3d printing applications facilitated by the unprecedented lowering of barriers into production. Together with an understandable technical introduction into 3D-printing, we've written eight key essays that delve into the complex topics that these paradigm-shifting technologies bring up: Empowerment, The Right to Copy, Interface and Interact, Body Topology, The Aesthetics of Complexity, Building Blocks, Exploring Machines and Materials & Crafting New Industries.</div>
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Thank you Sven and Robert from Gestalten for this great opportunity to work on Printing Things, Sarah for cracking the whip and have the book finished on schedule, Floyd for the design. Thank you Tamar for going beyond 'just' editing all the submitted project texts and adding valuable insights and context. Thank you to our team at <a href="http://www.unfold.be/">Unfold</a> (Hugues & Penny) for assisting in compiling the long list.</div>
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<span style="color: #141823;">You can buy the book at</span><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> <a href="http://amzn.to/1K83iKu">Amazon</a></span><span style="color: #141823;"> (or </span><a href="http://amzn.to/1BHTeW0"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">german</span></a><span style="color: #141823;"> edition), </span><a href="http://shop.gestalten.com/printing-things.html"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Gestalten</span></a><span style="color: #141823;"> (or </span><a href="http://shop.gestalten.com/dinge-drucken.html"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">german</span></a><span style="color: #141823;"> edition) or ask your favorite bookstore.</span><br />
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Unfold Fabhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04335201925996450866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706836532786314673.post-11131261722669150912014-03-19T03:56:00.002+01:002020-05-22T12:41:25.666+02:00RepRap Magazine<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>Update May 2020: </b>RepRap magazine is long gone but here's an archived copy of the magazine:<br />
<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/yjb1ntrv6huz12e/reprap-magazine-3.pdf?dl=0">https://www.dropbox.com/s/yjb1ntrv6huz12e/reprap-magazine-3.pdf?dl=0</a><br />
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<strike><b>Update:</b> The issue of RepRap Magazine is live, head over to reprapmagazine.com or download the PDF directly:</strike><br />
<strike>Download Lo-Res PDF (9MB)</strike><br />
<strike>Download Hi-Res PDF (25MB)</strike><br />
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wow... it's such a long time ago that I have posted something here. Like always, not a lack of fabrication activity, just a lack of spare time (and sometimes incentive...) to document. Hope to get to it again.<br />
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Coming up one of these days is the new RepRap Magazine with a cover feature written by yours truly on paste extrusion. It recaps much of the things we've tested and learned and blogged here at Unfold ~fab over the years. The article also includes some new experiments which I will write up a bit more about here when the magazine is out. I really hope that by writing this lengthy article on the state of paste extrusion that more folks will get involved in the development of paste extrusion tool heads.<br />
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Looking forward to seeing the rest of the magazine and get into contact if you enjoy getting your hands dirty in extruder development!<br />
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ps. Our two person design studio <a href="http://www.unfold.be/">Unfold</a> is currently residing in Fort Collins, Colorado, USA with a Franzen fellowship for Digital Craft at Colorado State University. If you based in that area and interested in discussing paste extrusion, let us know. We'll be there for two more months.<br />
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unfoldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05764158643994709997noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706836532786314673.post-77099857898354781582012-08-06T09:00:00.000+02:002015-05-03T21:48:40.127+02:00Road to better paste extrusion, episode 2: Auger ValvesAfter the <a href="http://unfoldfab.blogspot.com/2012/04/road-to-better-paste-extrusion-episode.html">previous lengthy post</a> (and the time it represents) the short conclusion was that a paste extruder merely working by pressurizing a syringe full of material in order for the material to extrude is not a reliable method for use in RepRap machines. It's simple, it's straight forward, served us very well but impossible to predict and control the flow rate.<br />
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The next episode of chronological brain dumping, an auger valve extruder prototyped and tested in the first halve of 2011.<br />
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Convinced that one doesn't need to reinvent the wheel, I started to search for industrial areas and applications where they have similar needs: precise extrusion of paste materials. The field I found the most closely related is the fluid dispensing technology used for the precise deposition of dots or lines of sealant, adhesive, silicone, epoxy, glue, resin, soldering paste etc.<br />
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The basic setup of most fluid dispensing implementations looks like this:<br />
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There is a material reservoir which holds the material under the necessary conditions (stirring, heating etc). Next there is the feeding system, to transport material from reservoir to dispensing, for low viscosity material this can be gravity feed but higher viscosities need a pressurized syringe or large pressurized container. High viscosity material feeding can be done by using a feed pump (not in drawing). Right before the nozzle is a device called the dispensing valve.<br />
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Lets skip the first two for now and jump straight to the dispensing valves, the operating end of this system. I was immediately drawn to them because they sure look like badass extruders!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwoT8kP4b3rvFBRC-MAoxKSNzjY_2PYJsrCJ0G8e2t9HeLb4reTCM7jKR_NC7EFPrUk0Eg4QvoEWkTpc07DuWdxt9X8WMwrFSylzx1s4AQ9La93l3tbmA8lxWCrQF05C1vLzWZJDNPWaw/s1600/T-H-Dispensing-Valve.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwoT8kP4b3rvFBRC-MAoxKSNzjY_2PYJsrCJ0G8e2t9HeLb4reTCM7jKR_NC7EFPrUk0Eg4QvoEWkTpc07DuWdxt9X8WMwrFSylzx1s4AQ9La93l3tbmA8lxWCrQF05C1vLzWZJDNPWaw/s1600/T-H-Dispensing-Valve.jpg" height="270" width="400" /></a></div>
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There is a whole range of valves used in these industrial applications. After researching many suppliers websites and catalogs (with often confusing and contradicting use of terminology), it becomes clear that they fall into only a few categories and most of these devices are, as their name implies, simply valves.<br />
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As a non native speaker I had to remind myself what a exactly a valve is, its like a faucet in your kitchen. A device that can switch a flow of material on and off. Nothing more but also nothing less.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTNNbOk7d0_USOF-g3u3tXEu-sgjsIbKj2DGmdPxpyPOwkqZlP6iUEuvNEDUiQg0efESMkdzpfKKBeNI6jN8xagfwjNVOtJSEU5aMCkgZGzMHIoRks4157ifYu5M3lc1TId9wPkpY3tjI/s1600/valve.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTNNbOk7d0_USOF-g3u3tXEu-sgjsIbKj2DGmdPxpyPOwkqZlP6iUEuvNEDUiQg0efESMkdzpfKKBeNI6jN8xagfwjNVOtJSEU5aMCkgZGzMHIoRks4157ifYu5M3lc1TId9wPkpY3tjI/s200/valve.png" height="168" width="200" /></a><i><b>Valve</b><br />a device for controlling the passage of fluid through a pipe or duct.</i></blockquote>
<i>New Oxford American Dictionary </i><br />
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In this basic valve category we can find fine apparatuses like the Poppet, Needle, Diaphragm, Spool and Pinch Tube valve. They differ in working principle and therefore are better suited for different applications. The Poppet and Spool valve seem the most suitable for high viscosity paste materials, even abrasive and filled pastes (what clay is). They are all operated by air pressure and follow digital logic, open or closed. One can regulate these valves only with set screws which increase or decrease the diameter but this is a fixed setting, not something you control during operation. So it boils down again to two other 'controlling' parameters, time of opening and feed pressure and we know those two from the last episode. This types of valves would make a nice addition to the previously discussed pressurized syringe systems by switching the on/off action to the nozzle side of your system instead of pushing the whole body of material. Think (in faucet analogy) of the pressurized syringe time/pressure system as trying to control your kitchen faucet water flow all the way up at the water tower... No, it makes sense to add the faucet or valve right where you need it, just like a water tower, a syringe is constantly pressurized and will only feed material when there is a demand. </div>
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But I was not interested in these 'valves' because while a nice potential improvement for the starting and stopping of your extrusion, there is still no way to predict and control the flow rate. We still have to visually verify how much material is extruded through the nozzle at any given moment or use complicated flow meters and regulating gear.</div>
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(To be complete, in many industrial applications previous episode's simple time/pressue syringe is used but I would rather not even call that a valve, and we dismissed this principle for an extruder in that episode)</div>
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So first conclusion is that what we're after is not a valve so much but a pump.<br />
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There are various other speciality valves that I will look at in later posts like Peristaltic or Progressive Cavity valves. But there was one type at this point in time (feb. 2011) when initially researching industrial dispensing valves that was very different from the simple valves and immediately caught my eye: the Auger Valve. Some promo snippets:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"The XXX series of precision auger valves is suitable for dispensing medium to high viscosity pastes, epoxies, solder pastes and other filled materials."</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"The valve uses a feed screw (auger) to dispense fluid with a rotary displacement action, allowing ultra-precise control of the dispensing process."</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"The XXX Auger Valve is a precision dispense valve specifically designed for metering controlled deposits of solder pastes, thick sealants and other particle-filled materials."</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"Fluids can also be accurately dispensed in continuous beads in widths that range from 0.010” – 0.050” (0.25mm - 1.27mm) at rates up to 4” (102mm) per second."</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"The unique design ensures that material is constantly present at the feed screw inlet, while the controlled rotation of the feed screw moves the material from the feed to the discharge point. Discrete control of the forward and reverse rotations of the feed screw controls the amount of material discharged."</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"With a feed screw made of Delrin®, the valve is designed for use with two-compound and abrasive materials."</i></blockquote>
These quotes gathered from the various vendors of auger valves sounded like a sales pitch aimed straight at me:<br />
<br />
-high viscosity paste: check<br />
-abrasive filled materials: check<br />
-ultra-precise discrete control and metering: check<br />
-continuous lines: check<br />
<br />
Auger valves works like this: The material is fed from a continuously pressurized syringe or external reservoir into the top of the valve. The valve consists of an auger screw fitting perfectly in a cylindrical housing which at the bottom ends in the nozzle. The pressure on the syringe is just enough to feed the material in the valve where it will hit the auger and stops there because of the increased friction caused by the narrower size of the fluid path along the screw thread and ultimately at the even narrower nozzle end. The screw is actuated by a motor and this rotation forces the material down the screw thread out of the nozzle. The flow rate is controlled by the RPM of the motor.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSyUrYhYkME8-Nh541IoMbo1kVh1dijJQUGovIwASBQquZh__e19UXRsSx_WOyX4CUaJNIGpFd8EBwZJPSciNJ2QXdyiHc-DKJPCY4l6ERBA7NTjnSRt-iUUUR9tdG3fMDEBhDvgKqWAY/s1600/dispensingtips.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSyUrYhYkME8-Nh541IoMbo1kVh1dijJQUGovIwASBQquZh__e19UXRsSx_WOyX4CUaJNIGpFd8EBwZJPSciNJ2QXdyiHc-DKJPCY4l6ERBA7NTjnSRt-iUUUR9tdG3fMDEBhDvgKqWAY/s400/dispensingtips.JPG" height="400" width="270" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">source: dispensingtips.com</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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These valves are used a lot for precise dispensing of solder paste in SMD electronics and are offered by various brands like Nordson EFD (<a href="http://www.nordson.com/en-us/divisions/efd/products/valve-systems/dispense-valves/Pages/auger-valve.aspx">794 Auger Valve</a>), Nordson Asymtek (<a href="http://www.nordson.com/EN-US/DIVISIONS/ASYMTEK/PRODUCTS/JETS-PUMPS-VALVES/HELI-FLOW-SERIES/Pages/DV-7000-Heli-Flow-Pump.aspx">DV-7000</a>, DV-8000), Techcon Systems (<a href="http://www.techconsystems.com/fluid-dispensing-valves/rotary-auger-valve">TS5000</a>, <a href="http://www.techconsystems.com/fluid-dispensing-valves/disposable-material-path-rotary-auger-valve">TS5000DMP</a>, <a href="http://www.techconsystems.com/fluid-dispensing-valves/interchangeable-material-path-rotary-valve">TS7000</a>), Fisnar (<a href="http://www.fisnar.com/valves_pdv1000">PDV-1000</a>), IntelliSpense (<a href="http://www.dispensinglink.com/Screw%20Valve.htm">Auger Valve</a>), GPD Global (<a href="http://www.gpd-global.com/co_website/fluiddispense-prod-hyflo.php">HyFlo</a>, <a href="http://www.gpd-global.com/co_website/fluiddispense-prod-microdot.php">MicroDot</a>).<br />
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These things are rather expensive (upwards from 2500$) but when you look at them, they consist of a DC motor with optional gears/encoder and on the other end the screw housing with fluid inlet, nozzle end and the screw. If we substitute the motor end with 'standard' RepRap Nema steppers then what we need is only the screw assembly, the extruder's 'business end'. Thats why my attention was immediately drawn to Techcon's TS5000DMP because it has a 'Disposable Material Path' hence the DMP in the name. The DMP is the whole screw assembly in small and affordable <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyoxymethylene">delrin</a> plastic package. The cheapest that I have found is around 25€ at <a href="http://www.dosieren.de/en/shop/products/cat/consumables/pr/disposable-feed-screw.html">dosieren.de</a> (and up to 125€ for the exact same bit, industrial premium prices...).<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqysIQ6bEm65PWFn_brNjrxAug7eTfR8BayMfNFpDm0yt2klCa0KjWzfSlAhucGIvNZEsyaXL_QqQpD08Bs4XtpFfdNtGaYL8dFgXwpBQLFVL9wFL91IMgAJZ4b6SVctPct9iwfMwykXc/s1600/Ts5000dmp_29932.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqysIQ6bEm65PWFn_brNjrxAug7eTfR8BayMfNFpDm0yt2klCa0KjWzfSlAhucGIvNZEsyaXL_QqQpD08Bs4XtpFfdNtGaYL8dFgXwpBQLFVL9wFL91IMgAJZ4b6SVctPct9iwfMwykXc/s1600/Ts5000dmp_29932.jpg" title="Source: adhesivedispensing.co.uk" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">source: adhesivedispensing.co.uk</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkMEjGrHX_cXu0bULj7h3DTBbluzppWxbBXu2WmZyCI1sx3DUDHRwEe97cNAFZ9V7kz40ZWEm3TEDJCWwRBIopwGxjDI4Daej0VBr1OGRXcAngvRvJmrkqMpibqNDgZp2_EQQFafC8PEk/s1600/TS5000DMPabc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkMEjGrHX_cXu0bULj7h3DTBbluzppWxbBXu2WmZyCI1sx3DUDHRwEe97cNAFZ9V7kz40ZWEm3TEDJCWwRBIopwGxjDI4Daej0VBr1OGRXcAngvRvJmrkqMpibqNDgZp2_EQQFafC8PEk/s1600/TS5000DMPabc.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">source: adhesivedispensing.co.uk</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The inlet side has a male luerlock, the nozzle side a female luerlock, the auger is sealed with an o-ring and has a square slot for the motor shaft, you can have the augers with different pitches.<br />
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Ordered a couple of the medium 8pitch DMP's and designed a very simple extruder head that mounts on the bfb Rapman for doing the experiments. The extruder is basically two halves that hold the DMP and both bolt together on a stepper with the extruder carriage plate in-between. An new carriage plate was needed because both the syringe and the extruder had to pass through. Its not designed for easy replacement of the DMP, was just to get the job done. The files can be found on Thingiverse: <a href="http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:28018">thing:28018</a><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7dlhF_4WPDo6nteoAEvfciA1FuXp7wavNzolB3Z0Qu446QHJaKBuFqgJbvHPi0PcfnIV03_mN9PbXmAgCn6RlBgssf1qJsne2T1iRHM0v2LvPkvrSekp2VCqsMnUFs1cJYmHFBVBcpYc/s1600/IMG_1339.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7dlhF_4WPDo6nteoAEvfciA1FuXp7wavNzolB3Z0Qu446QHJaKBuFqgJbvHPi0PcfnIV03_mN9PbXmAgCn6RlBgssf1qJsne2T1iRHM0v2LvPkvrSekp2VCqsMnUFs1cJYmHFBVBcpYc/s400/IMG_1339.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">extruder</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCOQOABpx_KtQHBbGredj2TaZ_-caMjBcWwO9XiVkSUSrkjj-hnk_RhGKWlPLDQQk0DDaRfTvqciUGp1DnhyMuTREmFznVi9gHo7bKAXhmox-LGXBVN48sPeRDAAV2VXBZlDH_1TXye2w/s1600/IMG_1327.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCOQOABpx_KtQHBbGredj2TaZ_-caMjBcWwO9XiVkSUSrkjj-hnk_RhGKWlPLDQQk0DDaRfTvqciUGp1DnhyMuTREmFznVi9gHo7bKAXhmox-LGXBVN48sPeRDAAV2VXBZlDH_1TXye2w/s400/IMG_1327.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">extruder half open in the middle and custom carriage plate</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK-KGM_u9ylrFF0S2tr5NWViZYl3QP9MFosO1auVjEHpJOu31auPbGYVQAW87ZHAwNYcyq5c8qdTdlNfDaUIqOc5D_E55jgbRn-t_CVPUYH4Hq1jQARRTy-PlPgRue-Ql66EuAKfSoCMk/s1600/IMG_1336.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK-KGM_u9ylrFF0S2tr5NWViZYl3QP9MFosO1auVjEHpJOu31auPbGYVQAW87ZHAwNYcyq5c8qdTdlNfDaUIqOc5D_E55jgbRn-t_CVPUYH4Hq1jQARRTy-PlPgRue-Ql66EuAKfSoCMk/s400/IMG_1336.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">stepper and DMP parts</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCcOwwoKl7OAIGj2XY7FphoR8suFcheuSA-64djbNAjExFcP9WjYzCMl1BDvSAfarxB7IWvbCLjBzMF00TxD5eJaw0oYgv7XuU9KDKFwGoQWBeXESvLKPgs3FHqfgp9DwvEe_CgMHMKz0/s1600/augerprinting+(4).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCcOwwoKl7OAIGj2XY7FphoR8suFcheuSA-64djbNAjExFcP9WjYzCMl1BDvSAfarxB7IWvbCLjBzMF00TxD5eJaw0oYgv7XuU9KDKFwGoQWBeXESvLKPgs3FHqfgp9DwvEe_CgMHMKz0/s400/augerprinting+(4).jpg" height="267" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Extruder mounted on the Rapman</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The first tests with clay were fantastic, this was exactly what we needed. It behaved very much like your standard plastic filament extruder. Turning the stepper on resulted (after priming) in an immediate flow of clay proportional to the speed. So you could easily speed up and down the flow of the clay. Stopping the stepper resulted in an immediate flow stop and no material passed the auger form the continuously pressurized syringe, when that pressure was set just high enough to feed the clay in the auger. We did some initial test with clay, chocolate and potato mash and those looked all promising. The following movie was shot using my original iPhone so looks a bit crap but you get an idea how it prints. This test object has three separate single wall shapes to test the on/off capabilities.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/uutyb7Du0yw?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs9dOtlr9Oquba0E-QQh6pBZ7VFXarWd0cejMPbhYRtsUgW_c3KD-NMvXZyfsIru3rCAxGA5v7-OJFrKdKHxVx24Rofc43TjmkSLy2eEMkNo_9cetsQfu-cXgCr8HkNhLpu-jePOMywH8/s1600/augerprinting+(3).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs9dOtlr9Oquba0E-QQh6pBZ7VFXarWd0cejMPbhYRtsUgW_c3KD-NMvXZyfsIru3rCAxGA5v7-OJFrKdKHxVx24Rofc43TjmkSLy2eEMkNo_9cetsQfu-cXgCr8HkNhLpu-jePOMywH8/s400/augerprinting+(3).jpg" height="267" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Tests to reduce ooze which is much more annoying in clay because it drags the whole print with it. Prime and reverse were used and jitter to make the point each layer starts at random</span></td></tr>
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<br />
But after some further extensive testing with porcelain clay the system became less and less reliable and odd symptoms started to occur: flow rate became unreliable during a print and adjustment was needed, material leaked past the auger when the motor was not turning. Closer inspection of the auger confirmed a suspicion, that the delrin plastic augers were being grinded down by the ceramic material. The auger showed already degradation after a couple of minutes, therefore the auger was less capable at transporting the clay and increasingly the air pressure started feeding the material instead of the degraded screw thread. Vieweg (dosieren.de) conveniently also sells stainless steel augers for use in the DMP, they come at a more hefty 125€ a piece. After installing one of these augers another problem arose, the steel auger and the abrasive clay were eating away the housing. The problem being that it is rather difficult to get the auger to perfectly align with the housing so when it sits at the slightest angle it will grind the housing. I have printed a couple of extruder heads and made adjustments to about every part between stepper and DMP so that the auger would nicely sit in the housing but that proved very hard with RepRapped plastic parts. Maybe one of the reasons that original auger valve was 2500€, precision engineered... I also found complete stainless and even ceramic augers + housings but they were not of the 'disposable' category and cost 600€ and up.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibofcsaYas-5zadYS0YWwa207aHke1KwOaNGAk_116LTFk4mX_f3K9v59cNabuYb8gN4h2s1uqkea_eaYBCNDNA1LLhFLdIxeS-ML7Nctd6YGpcUsT8c3O5rq0A7NHnomv_2olvlwYAfM/s1600/IMG_1333.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibofcsaYas-5zadYS0YWwa207aHke1KwOaNGAk_116LTFk4mX_f3K9v59cNabuYb8gN4h2s1uqkea_eaYBCNDNA1LLhFLdIxeS-ML7Nctd6YGpcUsT8c3O5rq0A7NHnomv_2olvlwYAfM/s320/IMG_1333.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">left stainless steel, right delrin plastic (different pitch)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr3B7Y8yo4GZ5sT9Qo2acN7BaV2IjBEwF9hep4i-lS0H38sDs00FM_Mwd1JtmgV4dh48LT6Q-v1Rtv2ssmY_Gp813Oq_DbLOOzaqQ668DCJh_vra0g90KtZpSd2SYr_LQChU7QLiTczJ8/s1600/IMG_1343.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr3B7Y8yo4GZ5sT9Qo2acN7BaV2IjBEwF9hep4i-lS0H38sDs00FM_Mwd1JtmgV4dh48LT6Q-v1Rtv2ssmY_Gp813Oq_DbLOOzaqQ668DCJh_vra0g90KtZpSd2SYr_LQChU7QLiTczJ8/s320/IMG_1343.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">hole in the inner tube, you see the auger through</td></tr>
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<br />
So the promising DMP part is not really up the task, I also had the feeling that it was underdimensioned for the purpose of extruding continuous and with a rather large flow rate. The stepper was turning at 100-200RPM to get to the speeds needed. But its not because this DMP bit is not up to the task that the whole auger principle is down the drain for our purpose is it?<br />
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Imagining that the rapid wear and tear problem would be solvable than there was another observation that was against what we need in a reliable predictable paste extruder. I did a couple of tests to see what happens when you changed the air pressure on the syringe that feeds the material into the auger and, obviously, below a certain point the pressure would drop too low to feed the auger but above that point the output of a fixed speed turning auger would vary in relation to the input pressure. Definitely not as much as when you would use a direct air 'frostruder' system but still more than enough. So that means that after all a change in material viscosity would still result in a changing flow rate at the nozzle and there would be no way to say that at a certain RPM you would get the right width of your extruded line, you would still need to fiddle with the air pressure. DAMN.<br />
<br />
I know some people tried building auger valves using drill bits like these guys from Bauhaus University Weimar: <a href="http://www.uni-weimar.de/medien/wiki/GMU:RapMan/Claystruder">GMU:RAPMAN/CLAYSTRUDER</a> Before writing this post I checked if they got any further success with this system but unfortunately not.<br />
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While revisiting all my notes bookmarks on the topic I stumbled upon the following pdf: <a href="http://www4.uic.com/wcms/images2.nsf/(GraphicLib)/Archimedes_Pumps.PDF/$File/Archimedes_Pumps.PDF">Archimedes Pumps</a>. This is by far the best technical (but very readable) description of how an auger valve works, its operating principles and strong and weak points. In two different paragraphs the relation between viscosity and flow rate (in a previous post I described the relation between viscosity and air pressure, a small change in material viscosity means a change in flow rate under a constant pressure).<br />
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<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Any changes in material flow characteristics affect the volume of material dispensed" </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Positive displacement implies that a specific volume of material is displaced within a specific mechanical actuation. Positive displacement is not influenced by changes in temperature or viscosity. The Archimedes screw pump is very consistent, but this consistency depends on the viscosity and flow characteristics of the material. Archimedes screws have been marketed as positive displacement pumps, but “viscosity metering pumps” is a better definition."</blockquote>
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<br />
So the auger pump is not a true positive displacement pump (sometimes referred to as a metering pump) and the conclusion is that that is what we're after!<br />
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<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Positive Displacement Pumps, unlike a Centrifugal or Roto-dynamic Pumps, will produce the same flow at a given speed (RPM) no matter the discharge pressure. Positive Displacement Pumps are "<u>constant flow machines</u>"</blockquote>
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<div>
Next episode: Positive displacement pumps aka "constant flow machines" (I like that, sounds good)</div>
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ps. If there is anyone (or you know someone) with day job experience in the dispensing industry please chime in with your thoughts on these observations.<br />
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Some extra links and references:</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">General descriptions of various valves with pro and contra can be found on several supplier and manufacturer websites:</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">http://www.sealantequipment.com/metering.htm</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">http://www.fisnar.com/media/technical/0407MeD-Valves_pd.pdf</span></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">http://www.fisnar.com/media/technical/Valve_Chart.pdf</span></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">http://www.adhesivedispensing.co.uk/valveguide.htm</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">more links to various auger valves:</span></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">http://www.nordson.com/en-us/divisions/efd/Literature/Brochures-Data-Sheets/Valve-Systems/Valves/Nordson-EFD-794-Data-Sheet.pdf</span></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">http://www.nordson.com/en-us/divisions/efd/Literature/White-Papers/Solder/Nordson-EFD-Auger-Valve-Dispensing.pdf</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">http://www.dispensetips.com/pages/auger.html</span></div>
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Unfold Fabhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04335201925996450866noreply@blogger.com33tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706836532786314673.post-55477603311333993672012-08-05T21:44:00.002+02:002012-08-05T21:44:31.261+02:00Congratulations.<br />
Around this time summer last year I got an email from an Israeli student who had build a RepStrap and was doing experiments with printing porcelain:<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Hello.<br />I'm an industrial design student from Israel (H.I.T institute in Holon).<br />recently I built a 3d printer that prints Porcelain clay (<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfFBkZYZlxU">short video</a>). </i></blockquote>
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<i>I must say that your project inspired me in many ways, so thank you! </i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>If I may, I would like to ask you a few questions </i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>1. one of my main problems is that the porcelain collapse after about 4-5 cm (depend on the shape).<br /> how do you prevent the clay from collapsing?<br />2. I am using a 1.2 mm nozzle, i wonder what diameter/type of nozzle do you use?<br />3. I am trying to build a feeding system that will allow an "endless" feeding material (instead of<br />changing syringes all the time) - do you have any idea or have you guys tried anything like that? </i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>I was thinking of using peristaltic pump, but the "pulses" bother me.. </i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Thank you very much,<br />Best Regards,<br />Eran Gal-Or.</i></blockquote>
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Regularly we get these kinds of emails at Unfold and we always try to help out as much as possible but often these discussions die out after a couple of emails, students loose interest or aimed to high etc. But almost 300 emails later, bouncing off ideas on paste extruders (and lots of him hanging out at #reprap, reading, tinkering, building an Arduino controlled dolly and what else) Eran graduated this june with a fantastic, massive 80x80x80 cm darwin style printer that prints porcelain in a continuous way using a commercial moineau pump and a refilling plunger type extruder he developed. Enjoy the movie! …and the arduino controlled dolly movie pans :)<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/N1LF14QhNyY?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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He's preparing documentation on a blog, I will relay the link when its online and look forward to it.<br />
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Congratulations Eran on a job well done!<br />
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ps. a lot of the stuff we've been talking about with Eran is also what I am slowly trying to document in this blog. Tomorrow another lengthy post.<br />
Unfold Fabhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04335201925996450866noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706836532786314673.post-35444056439100474782012-07-21T22:59:00.005+02:002012-07-21T22:59:42.209+02:00Call<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><a data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/page.php?id=138586236204562" href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Unfold/138586236204562?ref=stream" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Unfold</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">is looking for a pottery studio or ceramic artist in </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Istanbul, Turkey</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">(or nearby) who would be interested in participating in a ceramic 3d printing project for the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><a data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/page.php?id=183406961690577" href="http://www.facebook.com/istanbuldesignbiennial" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Istanbul Design Biennial</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">2012. Please send us a message or leave it in the comments. Please forward this call to people you know that may help us further. THANKS!</span>Unfold Fabhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04335201925996450866noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706836532786314673.post-15539928755007881792012-06-05T15:34:00.000+02:002012-06-08T09:02:02.101+02:00print, print, print...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
As indicated in the previous post, we have not been siting idle the last year, in this post an overview of some of the stuff we've been printing in porcelain.</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Please note that while all the information on paste extrusion and other development shared elsewhere on this blog is open and free to use when attributed, the images of our work enclosed in this post and the actual designs pictured in them are copyrighted and ownership of Unfold. All pictures are by Unfold unless otherwise indicated. If you want to use these images in a publication, please ask permission: <a href="mailto:hello@unfold.be">hello@unfold.be</a>. </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Update: S</span>orry for putting it so seriously here upfront but we had some issues in the past with this and I wanted to clarify this better. By all means feel free to use them in blogposts on our work, attribute us and the photographer and link back to this blog or our website <a href="http://www.unfold.be/">www.unfold.be</a>. </span></div>
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Let's start with the latest work, a carafe and set of cups that we made for the design fair in Milan last month. This was shown as part of the Belgian presentation PERSPECTIVES at the Triennial di Milano. The cups are already more than a year old but the carafe is the first functional object based on the formal and structural tests shown further down in this post.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi65T4DFvE9ehVCxUpx9q3vquO9n6j8Ods8Gl0Q24jLgmOJ41UYWcNgA7nUdmOK405_xT6U3M7IzKMEjN6kz2O8_0KVvIxzuYaRpzyZhrdbfD1INbgIAMXTocz1JTaDjNMt8fhPgxzvWO0/s1600/IMG_2041.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi65T4DFvE9ehVCxUpx9q3vquO9n6j8Ods8Gl0Q24jLgmOJ41UYWcNgA7nUdmOK405_xT6U3M7IzKMEjN6kz2O8_0KVvIxzuYaRpzyZhrdbfD1INbgIAMXTocz1JTaDjNMt8fhPgxzvWO0/s400/IMG_2041.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-UwLfGmI9JD5I1tKCJGsq9jUkDE9Lwd6qqtHwMRsrilphxRUVx8Ojon_Twnf_VDrtjiXC8DXoDAsDi8jhbqkMG-4qoucZ2anltO_g5_kl7bjUKz2ZUSmYB0OZyvntu6ZbKNW1dG1lnNo/s1600/IMG_1999.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-UwLfGmI9JD5I1tKCJGsq9jUkDE9Lwd6qqtHwMRsrilphxRUVx8Ojon_Twnf_VDrtjiXC8DXoDAsDi8jhbqkMG-4qoucZ2anltO_g5_kl7bjUKz2ZUSmYB0OZyvntu6ZbKNW1dG1lnNo/s400/IMG_1999.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB-CUT4jqvAodMbcIbBTR87MpR28uTNTn6ZsxLYblVhEMBibRa-PfFcVIMLvfbh74DfRzbIhsz0hFWIAv0iSg4n5_PNx5DfswTj4QZY2qend-k3koqad2aEE0SiqgJ6gCs7hl4jq9T3_s/s1600/DSC_0100.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB-CUT4jqvAodMbcIbBTR87MpR28uTNTn6ZsxLYblVhEMBibRa-PfFcVIMLvfbh74DfRzbIhsz0hFWIAv0iSg4n5_PNx5DfswTj4QZY2qend-k3koqad2aEE0SiqgJ6gCs7hl4jq9T3_s/s400/DSC_0100.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">photo by Annelies Vaneycken</td></tr>
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The cups originally were just a testbed to see how a twisted square polygon results in subtly folded triangle patterns. Its a single parametric cup from which we created 64 variations with different amounts of segments in the radial and vertical direction, 4 survived all with only two steps in the height.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYmvAgF5c0HI4aXL-MrjZyWTBxNTP0Jv2oGvVs3QQK30jstqPqtyvR646upglloKLeiZPBuehxGJ37OyNsT75v0ng9s1DnRjfwFfTlRI42sxTPAL1So1igrE96IubwpUPgKG7stBwHZlc/s1600/UNFOLD_VK_1671.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYmvAgF5c0HI4aXL-MrjZyWTBxNTP0Jv2oGvVs3QQK30jstqPqtyvR646upglloKLeiZPBuehxGJ37OyNsT75v0ng9s1DnRjfwFfTlRI42sxTPAL1So1igrE96IubwpUPgKG7stBwHZlc/s400/UNFOLD_VK_1671.jpg" width="297" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">photo: Kristof Vrancken</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJEdhMmE9wRm-SvbVC9wWDQ1wJgtJvvWpyxxDjUhMaM3olVUvYC3HQTFTag8luurCs_tt6OOz2VLferuKSJI0yersv1CCKgLL70zJA1O4iY5Ogf8lNi-SBrOM-nrJtb4bMOYS5dseP7F4/s1600/DSC_2095.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJEdhMmE9wRm-SvbVC9wWDQ1wJgtJvvWpyxxDjUhMaM3olVUvYC3HQTFTag8luurCs_tt6OOz2VLferuKSJI0yersv1CCKgLL70zJA1O4iY5Ogf8lNi-SBrOM-nrJtb4bMOYS5dseP7F4/s400/DSC_2095.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy_LkkOwfGoJ7cR4dyGYlI5nmhlJKVR2vQulFcybXLyUmEYzKTFhMAfQ6m5lCGoL-pfKAFSi3p_ENkuZ7TS0-lsgtx38ae4TLZDQ8c1GMUj9ymRn8QEj7skNhRsLPzS2_kzTfhmN7ff9g/s1600/UNFOLD_VK_1705+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy_LkkOwfGoJ7cR4dyGYlI5nmhlJKVR2vQulFcybXLyUmEYzKTFhMAfQ6m5lCGoL-pfKAFSi3p_ENkuZ7TS0-lsgtx38ae4TLZDQ8c1GMUj9ymRn8QEj7skNhRsLPzS2_kzTfhmN7ff9g/s400/UNFOLD_VK_1705+(1).jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">photo: Kristof Vrancken</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ6k_tiPZUKOnsw1HW9ZWjAtA0oyql-KOBEznNI_B71zcjXaHkNge7YvQMWD1gBrP6EJ4rL49HWCgH4MR-hcgNBBRKzALY22rF0EUT-ROGgVQ3N0-IuG5fPNOu5eU4GbtqFAsNkzzhgr8/s1600/UNFOLD_VK_1761-14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ6k_tiPZUKOnsw1HW9ZWjAtA0oyql-KOBEznNI_B71zcjXaHkNge7YvQMWD1gBrP6EJ4rL49HWCgH4MR-hcgNBBRKzALY22rF0EUT-ROGgVQ3N0-IuG5fPNOu5eU4GbtqFAsNkzzhgr8/s400/UNFOLD_VK_1761-14.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">photo: Kristof Vrancken</td></tr>
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The carafe is a story an-sich because 90 percent of the design in actually not done in 3d software but designed straight in vector tool paths, only the basic outside shell is a 3d file, all infill and the folded structure are designed using our own custom software called Gcode Stacker which takes SVG vector files as input and spits out Gcode. Every SVG layer is a Gcode layer. This gives finer control over machine paths and enables you to do stuff impossible in 3d>Gcode toolchains like for example intersecting lines. Gcode Stacker is experimental and developed together with <a href="http://www.wereldderindianen.be/">Indianen</a>. I will spend another post on this in the future but here are some screenshots so you get the idea:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI26c1YL7Xvz1etJqlS0SaNdGk7-ET836ZWG17azVyv8aE4KoM07B9kHbOfdGYLPrxPE9POK2XW-_n4zQLKyO8Xzfu-ffSJVyzXHFra_B6JnxMESn01RyIvcw82tiCD6a4wF_QgDEztus/s1600/Schermafbeelding+2012-03-31+om+17.33.20.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI26c1YL7Xvz1etJqlS0SaNdGk7-ET836ZWG17azVyv8aE4KoM07B9kHbOfdGYLPrxPE9POK2XW-_n4zQLKyO8Xzfu-ffSJVyzXHFra_B6JnxMESn01RyIvcw82tiCD6a4wF_QgDEztus/s400/Schermafbeelding+2012-03-31+om+17.33.20.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Illustrator top view of layers plus faux 3d 'preview' </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfIw9kDlUSh6SaWQ2pRg5e0FsAOVpPsQaggZOUBFfpEfvpoiY3ntORpemNhE635GOXKhBBHj_kg-ag4xrbfLgTPZjQuU7v_yzsXRQwL3ObLQzR5P7vggLElenOfDQlULJHeWEl8ftNmZM/s1600/Schermafbeelding+2012-04-01+om+11.58.11.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfIw9kDlUSh6SaWQ2pRg5e0FsAOVpPsQaggZOUBFfpEfvpoiY3ntORpemNhE635GOXKhBBHj_kg-ag4xrbfLgTPZjQuU7v_yzsXRQwL3ObLQzR5P7vggLElenOfDQlULJHeWEl8ftNmZM/s320/Schermafbeelding+2012-04-01+om+11.58.11.png" width="271" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detail of layers in Illustrator</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIOdwhNGuizJ7N3qIw_a2TBvVwR_5icm5JIWiu2xKV92GdUdEwWVmyhZTQgefoyupY8ytHDY51qNqt54MSvkRvyRn2zZN5FCFvBqPCTxaNcWLygXBBnWrCzw1DBYokY8STjps6Dbl-f4s/s1600/Schermafbeelding+2012-04-03+om+16.40.27.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIOdwhNGuizJ7N3qIw_a2TBvVwR_5icm5JIWiu2xKV92GdUdEwWVmyhZTQgefoyupY8ytHDY51qNqt54MSvkRvyRn2zZN5FCFvBqPCTxaNcWLygXBBnWrCzw1DBYokY8STjps6Dbl-f4s/s400/Schermafbeelding+2012-04-03+om+16.40.27.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Base of the vase SVG loaded in Gcode Stacker</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div>
The carafe is the first experiment in a series of objects that are based on research done last year with two terrific interns here at the studio: Linde and Arthur. The goal is to create objects that are more structural and in which there is an interplay between an inside complex structure and a shell like you see in many organic things like plant cut throughs, seeds, diatoms etc. We also looked at origami and folding, medieval ornaments (Arthurs favorite), double walled structures and much more. The various test objects were designed in 3d, in Illustrator or in a combination of both. We filled tables with source material and printed lots of things in plastic. A selection of those was then tested in porcelain. Here you see a table with sources and plastic prints up for discussion:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw1G2JssgT2T8FsQv4EgOUPPGR9GCz1IY3E7TzP0IWejHzpbx1Ijm5fTnb_kmvm95_6f-2s1u0LIDVTTogr3G7BdBlpR6ZRUSIzzjFw0PCtTDElHDZ1Ph9S4VDemKfkRxb6uD6DVHynUg/s1600/TABLE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="156" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw1G2JssgT2T8FsQv4EgOUPPGR9GCz1IY3E7TzP0IWejHzpbx1Ijm5fTnb_kmvm95_6f-2s1u0LIDVTTogr3G7BdBlpR6ZRUSIzzjFw0PCtTDElHDZ1Ph9S4VDemKfkRxb6uD6DVHynUg/s400/TABLE.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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And some of the results in porcelain, we often try to use the same diameters and repetitions so we can compose them into stacks to see how it looks:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjUG6U81sa5jmdyOM-ak5ZwySm_Q7qab963Ga3xiOnz5zyYohg9NWfU1AYvMBYWJvBVI7DC8tMpVLC4n8x497_oGcALzkOQui0SaLrrNchNWUttJFwTuM4f09TycA3UzZPWhF2BCOkyOo/s1600/DSC_2238.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjUG6U81sa5jmdyOM-ak5ZwySm_Q7qab963Ga3xiOnz5zyYohg9NWfU1AYvMBYWJvBVI7DC8tMpVLC4n8x497_oGcALzkOQui0SaLrrNchNWUttJFwTuM4f09TycA3UzZPWhF2BCOkyOo/s400/DSC_2238.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKAOYhzXY7MY4Qy9wMdJ-rO6yat3g0pA3BR_wnDKuV_zPuxKtL-pcBRsnL2jFtUuixPTi713OQMaekU_Lko0hrr9bR13MCTTidHvW8j2N1jsNp5aDd2axmHol7tUTz8vdYrOiZLx4Z-m4/s1600/IMG_1274.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKAOYhzXY7MY4Qy9wMdJ-rO6yat3g0pA3BR_wnDKuV_zPuxKtL-pcBRsnL2jFtUuixPTi713OQMaekU_Lko0hrr9bR13MCTTidHvW8j2N1jsNp5aDd2axmHol7tUTz8vdYrOiZLx4Z-m4/s400/IMG_1274.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqwVrqQm3rIdQD4yKpuZdQzJ9G3MGjJ0lrPHYLhd_JTTio7i7-cPJuyam46Miw471sYwVZrl33TKpcYIJgdkPAcxAYfU-eP_joMo5t9cQJUNJJq3oRVqd_D63WS4PtpfYuoWeqom2vXF4/s1600/UNFOLD_VK_1565-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqwVrqQm3rIdQD4yKpuZdQzJ9G3MGjJ0lrPHYLhd_JTTio7i7-cPJuyam46Miw471sYwVZrl33TKpcYIJgdkPAcxAYfU-eP_joMo5t9cQJUNJJq3oRVqd_D63WS4PtpfYuoWeqom2vXF4/s400/UNFOLD_VK_1565-3.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">photo: Kristof Vrancken</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8W5RHA4HUZpFcPPEUMKB3hy6KMFrphHO9Ly97rtGWM3OrFm8gBr8YkoSFdf1KgLbHzw83VSpZhbpFRNXIJUbDtEHWGvCi3y5HfEZ52E1balBbN0Ytbkbw3b4R4QBOvozLwei4tKBzoMo/s1600/UNFOLD_VK_1603.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8W5RHA4HUZpFcPPEUMKB3hy6KMFrphHO9Ly97rtGWM3OrFm8gBr8YkoSFdf1KgLbHzw83VSpZhbpFRNXIJUbDtEHWGvCi3y5HfEZ52E1balBbN0Ytbkbw3b4R4QBOvozLwei4tKBzoMo/s400/UNFOLD_VK_1603.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">photo: Kristof Vrancken</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOx2IqgYleEVv6uRkGu0ylpFTyUutpJwAZP72pCIG4yx2HBHQlaAFzOiJs_d6tysxW_D6MSV8CQwmB23M2Lki0n4iXksBC7GpRGQjnWOOVoU82PNL1RcG1ZcToHiG6xwqrtjildzKYYTg/s1600/UNFOLD_VK_1638.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOx2IqgYleEVv6uRkGu0ylpFTyUutpJwAZP72pCIG4yx2HBHQlaAFzOiJs_d6tysxW_D6MSV8CQwmB23M2Lki0n4iXksBC7GpRGQjnWOOVoU82PNL1RcG1ZcToHiG6xwqrtjildzKYYTg/s400/UNFOLD_VK_1638.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">photo: Kristof Vrancken</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOoK1vh0C7GETRy5lvTGTWonqkiNGEhSkYw401psCm6zkgEJS4p9xqaD-EbhMmiR47qFe7AIdfvGqMeKeZYwS1xNfkomsA-ZDGZfHfilimtLPijhNB69-obU8Y0XQUqQPnjHEN3y3T74I/s1600/DSC_1023.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOoK1vh0C7GETRy5lvTGTWonqkiNGEhSkYw401psCm6zkgEJS4p9xqaD-EbhMmiR47qFe7AIdfvGqMeKeZYwS1xNfkomsA-ZDGZfHfilimtLPijhNB69-obU8Y0XQUqQPnjHEN3y3T74I/s400/DSC_1023.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One nice benefit of designing in tool paths is the ability to draw<br />
a single line that intersects itself.</td></tr>
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Next some new prints from <a href="http://www.unfold.be/pages/projects/items/l%E2%80%99artisan-electroniqu">l'Artisan Électronique</a>, the installation we did in 2010 in which the ceramic printer is combined with a virtual pottery wheel on which visitors can shape designs that we print, fire and exhibit as part of the presentation. The installation has been traveling a lot since then and we got over 10.000 user submitted designs (very large percentage unprintable btw). In the beginning we printed 10 cm high, later 15 and now the max size of 20 cm height (which shrinks to about 17cm). We print them with a rather course layer height of around 1mm to emphasize the traces of the making process. The small accidents are something we nurture.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqAMnw6-LPA0nchv1KfWYMXnsiIWJhCxRW5Y5A3fqG96DDX_wfTOYgkx7pjsFFiJ1MdmQP2pbHFIyjDesHjWL4LhGcOC0TNMDAWcMXRfi_5fleRhxdk_rNFERWdeIsWq5TNu_JIjHye50/s1600/Printers1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqAMnw6-LPA0nchv1KfWYMXnsiIWJhCxRW5Y5A3fqG96DDX_wfTOYgkx7pjsFFiJ1MdmQP2pbHFIyjDesHjWL4LhGcOC0TNMDAWcMXRfi_5fleRhxdk_rNFERWdeIsWq5TNu_JIjHye50/s400/Printers1.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">part of the print farm :)</td></tr>
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And last but not least some spectacular failures:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCBHrlrNOfbIitQvGSNCgaMScDeqEsxl8Oj8s-GxDLXwree8CvrS8DGnOFGlCH2wW_uKurpn0XJztZcLxcfgEZ2pwum5XR6KA1w-TbZR05iOH0rnt-GJQXDzY1pPi-6qkHYSWLQjBx9zM/s1600/DSC_2171.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCBHrlrNOfbIitQvGSNCgaMScDeqEsxl8Oj8s-GxDLXwree8CvrS8DGnOFGlCH2wW_uKurpn0XJztZcLxcfgEZ2pwum5XR6KA1w-TbZR05iOH0rnt-GJQXDzY1pPi-6qkHYSWLQjBx9zM/s400/DSC_2171.jpg" width="267" /></a></div>
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Voila, a small selection of the hundreds of prints from the last year. We will soon launch a small webshop section on our website www.unfold.be were you can buy a selection of printed items. At the moment any serious production is out of the question until we find that holy reliable extruder :)</div>
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The post on auger/screw extruders is almost finished so thats up next.<br />
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</div>Unfold Fabhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04335201925996450866noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706836532786314673.post-56412149560274349402012-04-22T00:25:00.000+02:002014-12-25T15:01:11.094+01:00Road to better paste extrusion, episode 1: RecapHello all, an awful lot of time past since the last meaningful post at Unfold Fab but fear not we have continued experimenting and printing lots of ceramics.<br />
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In a series of posts I will try to recap and document all the experiments we've done in the last 2 years in order to try and get a reliable and usable paste extruder. I just never found the time to put the notes, sources and thoughts on virtual paper, you know that feeling don't you? Ed. took me again couple of weeks to wrap this one up :)<br />
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A year ago I started documenting this process also on the RepRap wiki (after a friendly push from Adrian B.) so I will try to update that page also as much as possible. Some content from that page will also be recycled here. <a href="http://reprap.org/wiki/Ceramic_Extrusion">You can find the Ceramic_Extrusion page on the RepRap wiki</a>. But anyone, feel free to also jump in and edit that page.<br />
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So why 'better' paste extrusion? Whats wrong with the method we used here in our studio (<a href="http://www.unfold.be/">Unfold</a>) since day one and in fact are still using most of the time today?<br />
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It might be good to revisit the beginning...<br />
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When I started researching methods to print clay with DIY 3d printers in late 2008 there where basically two printer options, <a href="http://www.fabathome.org/">Fab@Home</a> or RepRap. The Fab@Home was ready for my intended use since its default extrusion method used a syringe to extrude silicone. But it was, and still is, a rather expensive machine (close to 3000$ in early 2009). The choice for RepRap was based on price and maybe more importantly on its community. RepRap had a vibrant community, that exploded exponentially over time while Fab@Home didn't (well, doesn't) feel like moving a lot. I got into contact with Erik de Bruijn (now <a href="http://blog.ultimaker.com/">Ultimaker</a>) and he kindly introduced me into all things Reprap at the fantastic <a href="http://www.protospace.nl/">Protospace</a> Fablab, there he showed me his darwin machine made from cast parts manufactured by Bits from Bytes. I was never interested in building a machine from scratch because I wanted to work WITH, not ON a 3d printer and so decided to go for a kit. Bits from Bytes had just announced their Rapman kit, to my knowledge the first complete RepRap derived kit which included everything to start immediately, so I instantly pre-ordered one of the first handful.<br />
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And because clay doesn't come in 3mm filament, so the quest for an extruder started.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><b>Claystruder 0 (Stepper Driven Plunger)</b></span><br />
This extruder is based on the principle of a plunger being driven down a syringe barrel using a (stepper) motor. Since Fab@Home used this principle it sounded smart to start here. This can be done either with an expensive linear stepper motor like on the <a href="http://www.fabathome.org/wiki/index.php/Model_1_1-Syringe_Tool">Fab@Home Model 1 Syringe Tool</a> or with a more standard motor and gears. Examples of the later are the Fab@Home <a href="http://www.fabathome.org/wiki/index.php/Tools:_Model_2_Syringe_tools">Model 2 Syringe Tool</a>, a very early <a href="http://staff.bath.ac.uk/ensab/replicator/Pix/syringe-pump-h.jpg">Syringe Pump Prototype</a> by Adrian Bowyer, Zach Hoeken's <a href="http://wiki.makerbot.com/frostruder-mk1">Frostruder MK1</a> or Viktor's (VMX) <a href="http://forums.reprap.org/read.php?180,18770">Syringe Tool</a>.<br />
This design never left my drawing and cardboard mockup phase because around that time I met with Bre Pettis in New York right after they launched Makerbot. He described that the Frostruder MK1 was a dead end for Makerbot and that they did some experiments with air pressure to frost cupcakes which looked rather promising. Also around that time Unfold got a commission from Art Centre <a href="http://www.z33.be/en">Z33</a> to create an installation (<a href="http://unfold.be/pages/5/items/90">L'Artisan Electronique</a>) in which a ceramic printer would play a major part.<br />
So I skipped the Stepper Driven Plunger and jumped straight onto the air pressure wagon. So we actually never had any experience using this 'direct drive' type of extruder on clay paste. Something I feel I need to revisit, even just for the sake of comparison. But more on that in a later post I am sure.<br />
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<u>Advantages</u><br />
-This system is compatible with most software, firmware and electronics in use on Rep(st)Raps due to the use of a stepper motor. With some calibration and fiddling with Skeinforge settings this could be a drop in replacement for the plastic extruder.<br />
-It extrudes a fixed and predictable quantity of paste with each revolution of the stepper.<br />
<u>Disadvantages</u><br />
-The mechanical bulk and size of the system, assembly height is at least double of syringe length making it rather impractical for larger volumes especially if your printhead is on a moving XY carriage.<br />
-Rather inflexible in syringe sizes.<br />
-According to some sources who tried this system, issues with start/stops and oozing I believe.<br />
-Generally its also not really a good idea to control your extrusion by pushing the whole stock of material from behind, this becomes especially hard when trying to scale this system up to the >100cc syringe range. Also if you go to larger syringes the diameter of your plunger gets larger and it becomes harder to extrude the same small amount as precisely as in a system with a small diameter plunger.<br />
-A rather large force is needed when extruding really viscous clay.<br />
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<b>Claystruder 1.x (Time-Pressure Valve)</b><br />
Based on Zach Hoeken's <a href="http://wiki.makerbot.com/frostruder-frosting-extruder">Frostruder MK2</a>, the time-pressure valve based Claystruder 1 (and 1.5) is the printhead that we used extensively for almost two years to successfully print earthenware and porcelain ceramic objects and is still the tool for no fuss printing but it has major drawbacks, especially one… But first the basic of this system. Instead of a mechanical plunger, you use timed pulses of air pressure to drive the material out of the syringe hence in the industry this is called a Time-Pressure Valve. Mechanically its a dead simple system (apart from the needed source of compressed air). With the use of one double action 3/2 solenoid valve or two 2/2 single action ones you can switch the air pressure on and off from your controller if it has a free port for it. Our Rapman controller has two AUX ports switchable via Gcode but on the software side there is no real support for it in Skeinforge.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Because we where initially a little to lazy to figure out how to add all the M-codes in the Gcode file automatically we evolved into continuous single line printers (more poetically: 'one liners'). I added an ON Gcode in the beginning and an OFF at the end, for the rest of the print it's actually continuously extruding. On later extruders we completely omitted the solenoid and just plug-in the air at the right moment. KISS all the way :). For someone handy with scripting this should be easily solvable and I think it should be rather easy to customize Makerbot's </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://wiki.makerbot.com/frostruder-mk2-usage">frostruding scripts </a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">that post-process Gcode but we just found interesting ways to design around the issue and work with continuous prints and somehow it feels more natural to do this for me and actually design for the process (works nicely for plastics too when printing at 0,5mm). Will post more on that in the future. This also makes sense because clay prints are much more sensitive towards start/stop actions and the speed/direction of non printing moves. The print stays highly plastic during the whole print job and some ooze on your nozzle can easily disrupt a print when the head travels over already printed lines. Switching air pressure behind a body of clay does also not result in reliable repeatable material flow rates.</span></span><br />
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But there are also designs for objects on the drawing board at the moment that really need an extruder that can be turned on/off reliably so therefore we keep on searching for one.<br />
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In the meanwhile I made some improvements to the system since the <a href="http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3604">Claystruder 1.1 version</a> I posted on Thingiverse. The main one being the decoupling of the nozzle (a polyprop tapered tip) and the syringe. This simple change solves the issues with swapping syringes on long prints. If you have the nozzle attached to the syringe directly, like on the Frostruder, each time you want to swap a syringe you also remove and refit the nozzle with it and its very hard to get that syringe+nozzle back in the exact same spot again. Your nozzle is not often straight so even a slight rotation can put it a millimeter off. So if you continue your print (on Rapman its fairly easy to pause and restart a print) it will continue in a different spot. The solution is easy, make sure your nozzle stays in its place on the print head carriage when you remove the syringe. I use a small <a href="http://www.dosieren.de/en/shop/products/cat/luer-lock-adapters/pr/luer-lock-special-model.html">luer-lock male-female extension</a> bit (<a href="http://www.dosieren.de/">from my favorite source) </a>that is glued in the printhead (a simple mount). The nozzle is fixed to one end and the syringe screws in the back. This feature should be part of any paste extruder that uses syringes since it solves a lot of trouble with multi-syringe prints.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh-Ln6-5-7M11Mr6ND_67Z9LjEaExmKAdZFkoSVC7LAD-NVNb8NEsir6NudLCNp0T_9vqZHHWwk0bikh7xhMXLV5asU93g64JY2BvqEhuhqrpkFhXjNg7Od1kw5mgLJr8QMh_cVsWc4Ec/s1600/MaleFemale.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh-Ln6-5-7M11Mr6ND_67Z9LjEaExmKAdZFkoSVC7LAD-NVNb8NEsir6NudLCNp0T_9vqZHHWwk0bikh7xhMXLV5asU93g64JY2BvqEhuhqrpkFhXjNg7Od1kw5mgLJr8QMh_cVsWc4Ec/s400/MaleFemale.jpg" height="120" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Luer-Lock Syringe + Female/Male adapter + Tapered Tip</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Claystruder 1.5, bottom and top halves<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></td></tr>
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There is also a set of windows in the barrel holder that allow you to guard the level better.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixQRaLuH96gXHURKIMnSntHkG3BY1HojuBNdbXluzRax9U-ISbYblQz13nJrOUvBIrna7QRA0uifYRClHJ71nJil5WYtSBN2DXTI79afnH62gizbkrOPmWd2fbmdMQRdhvn0-wTYqLVaY/s1600/Clayustruder1_5+5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixQRaLuH96gXHURKIMnSntHkG3BY1HojuBNdbXluzRax9U-ISbYblQz13nJrOUvBIrna7QRA0uifYRClHJ71nJil5WYtSBN2DXTI79afnH62gizbkrOPmWd2fbmdMQRdhvn0-wTYqLVaY/s320/Clayustruder1_5+5.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Claystruder 1.5, paste level window<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4g6xFW91RjPuFLz-0FfclFw1YoDQYIf2d_ZZLzGaHVy8n8B07Q_6jF0A2Z3gfurwUUD9aVO8isBvxPYHnE00prGdYpbLSW6cJS-IZluw57OQlB5v-NRnNffLD6S4c5npYPjCxUOtyfPk/s1600/Clayustruder1_5+6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4g6xFW91RjPuFLz-0FfclFw1YoDQYIf2d_ZZLzGaHVy8n8B07Q_6jF0A2Z3gfurwUUD9aVO8isBvxPYHnE00prGdYpbLSW6cJS-IZluw57OQlB5v-NRnNffLD6S4c5npYPjCxUOtyfPk/s320/Clayustruder1_5+6.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Claystruder 1.5, tip mount</td></tr>
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For this extruder I also designed a syringe adapter head that can be easily twisted on syringes and can withstand (depending on print quality) pressure up to 6 bar by adding bolts and washers as reinforcement. This file can be found on thingiverse <a href="http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:21074">here</a> and is usable for many applications, it's also a much better replacement for the awkward system with screws on the Frostruder. <b>Warning!</b> I have operated this part and standard medical syringes at pressures up to 6 bar without issues but I guess this is close to the limit. Your millage may vary and I am not responsible if stuff explodes and harms you, your family, your dog or anything else.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNFwaLG6tR6Xj04Dq4VUlPYdATAaM7szR1lyu_CCaiaUY43JZ7UM1xRpUqrN6_3tu68-ncI6R_dqZrP1e4Z9ccNGl8Drt30j3GOemXAKUzP1tikktFKEtLScjRv6PnckZuNOtCCDgZvnE/s1600/AdapterHeadonMakerbot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNFwaLG6tR6Xj04Dq4VUlPYdATAaM7szR1lyu_CCaiaUY43JZ7UM1xRpUqrN6_3tu68-ncI6R_dqZrP1e4Z9ccNGl8Drt30j3GOemXAKUzP1tikktFKEtLScjRv6PnckZuNOtCCDgZvnE/s400/AdapterHeadonMakerbot.jpg" height="400" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Syringe Adapter Head on Makerbot</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Syringe Adapter Head</td></tr>
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This Claystruder is simpler than the quick and dirty first version and also more modular so that the parts like the adapter head can be used in other applications/ extruders. You can find the files here: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:21788. At the moment there is no place for a solenoid because we don't use them but maybe I find time to add it in the same modular fashion.<br />
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In older BfB firmware one was able to on-the-fly adjust the print speed (not extruder RPM), this was very handy to adjust for material flow changes but unfortunately that feature has gone in recent BfB FW and my pleas to add it again are not heard. The old firmwares were too buggy in SD card reading etc, some machines refused to run on old FW without dreadful resets. So now the only way to compensate is to adjust pressure which is not as easy, especially when lowering the pressure it can take a few minutes for the pressure to lower in the system. I bought high quality pressure regulators which are much better than the ones on most (cheap) compressors. You can also place them much closer to your machine and it allows (the reason I got them in the first place) to run multiple printers from one source of compressed air. By the way, you use so few air that we managed to do a whole one week workshop with 15 students on a single charge of a large compressor.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pressure Regulators</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Two machines printing (nr 3 visible on the left)</td></tr>
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So the good and bad points of the time-pressure method:<br />
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<u>Advantages</u><br />
-Simple straight forward design, the ease of construction of the extruder.<br />
-Nearly instantaneous start/stop capability.<br />
-Easy to clean.<br />
-The extrusion is pulsation free in contrast with many other potential systems that use a pump.<br />
<u>Disadvantages</u><br />
-Incompatibility with most RepRap electronics, Gcode processors etc which is a big issue but not impossible to solve.<br />
-Air compressor or other source of compressed air needed.<br />
-On/off control of the extruder by switching the air pressure is unreliable, a solution here would be to instead of switching the air pressure behind the material to control the material flow at the nozzle and leave pressure constant. In industry various valves are available that do just this and these could be easy to replicate. <a href="http://www.fabathome.org/wiki/index.php/Tools:_Valve_tool">F@H's valve tool</a> has a simple method to do this by using an off the shelf valve between the syringe and the nozzle (added bonus is the decoupling that I mentioned earlier), also the vintage RepRap <a href="http://reprap.org/wiki/SupportExtruder_1_0">Support Extruder 1.0</a> uses a similar method.<br />
-Non-metered, the big issue. The problem with a Time-Pressure Valve system is that it depends on many variables to keep a repeatable and predictable flowrate. The main variables are pressure and material viscosity and the combination of both (in addition to friction of plunger, changing material level in the syringe etc etc. Read <a href="http://www.dispensetips.com/pages/air-over.html">here</a> for example) gives you certain flow rate. Flow rate = Material Viscosity + Air Pressure. So if your materials viscosity changes only slightly you need to compensate that with higher or lower pressure. We tried many things and found many ways to improve it one way or another and one could even program some of the parameters in the system to compensate for some known effects. But this would also mean that you need virgin syringes each time because a plunger acts differently in a used syringe, that the consistency has to be exactly the same each time and throughout the entire batch etc etc. Conditions you can get in an industrial setup but not really RepRap style. Other solution I thought of could be to meter your flow rate at the nozzle and adjust the air pressure based on that, one could use various types of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_measurement">flow meters</a> but digital air pressure regulators that would need to act on those readings are rather expensive parts. You could also alter the print speed based on the flow rate within a certain 'workable' range, not to fast/slow. But basically we never found a way to get metered flow rates and from all my reading I think that it is impossible to solve this elegantly in an air pressure controlled system. Therefore unguarded operation is no option and one needs a trained eye and hand to get to the results that we have here, this is a serious drawback when you want to do production like we do.<br />
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Next episode: Auger Valves, learning from industrial solutions... I'll promise to make it shorter than this one :)<br />
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ps. you can also follow our design studio Unfold on Facebook: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Unfold/138586236204562">http://www.facebook.com/pages/Unfold/138586236204562</a><br />
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Unfold Fabhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04335201925996450866noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706836532786314673.post-47044806555780392272011-02-19T13:37:00.000+01:002011-02-19T13:37:18.189+01:00Virtual Pottery WheelWe recently made a video from the Virtual Pottery Wheel that is part of Unfold's L'Artisan Electronique installation. We have already a slightly better version where you need to manually spin the wheel to spin the virtual model vs. the automatic rotation in this video but no video yet of that.<br />
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<iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/16708764?portrait=0" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0"></iframe>Unfold Fabhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04335201925996450866noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706836532786314673.post-21113568522517707842011-02-13T10:33:00.000+01:002011-02-13T10:33:48.428+01:00Video - Jonathan Keep<div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Excuse the quality of the video but I hope it can give some idea of the processes I am going through to print pots. To ensure a good flow of clay ooze during a print I remix, blend just enough clay to fill a syringe for each print. The video does not show it but the syringe is attached to an air compressor, you can see the air hose, and it is set at about 3 Bars of pressure.<br />
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<div align="center"><iframe class="youtube-player" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/_c0C8w_LdYM?rel=0" title="YouTube video player" type="text/html" width="480"></iframe></div></div>Jonathan Keephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06864961999599323712noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706836532786314673.post-45721127913717617622011-01-03T21:13:00.004+01:002011-01-03T21:16:30.152+01:00Clay - Jonathan Keep<div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">While it is early days in my ventures with ceramic printing the impression I am getting is that the clay qualities desirable in more traditions pottery techniques hold true for printing with clay too. So far I have tried porcelain clay, then a blended buff stoneware clay, a ball clay, a red terracotta clay and a black firing clay. The general rule of thumb with clay is that the whiter it is the less plastic and malleable it is. What is known as ‘short’ clay. The darker the clay, the more sticky it is and often the more plastic and able to bend before breaking. The converse is, the whiter the clay the higher the temperature it can be fired to before distorting. So porcelain is higher fired and stronger than say red earthenware red clay. There is always a payoff and that is why most clay bodies are a blend of a number of materials.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"> Another factor I expect will influence our choice of clay for printing will be particle size. Short clay tends to have large particles, sticky clay small particles. But then fine sticky clay dries more slowly than white less plastic clay. To support the weight of the clay as it builds up the print must dry quickly but to unsure the layers stick together and bend both qualities are desirable. To further complicate the particle size issue a range of larger particles give structure to clay wall and gives rigidity to a soft clay structure. So often crushed, already fired clay, or what potters call ‘grog’ is added to a clay body. As the ceramic printing head/syringe I am using has a 1.5 mm nozzle I have used a 80# sieved grog, adding about 10% in dry weight. Whether grog is helpful in printing clay only more experience will tell. My gut feeling has been to include grog from the start to help give a bit more structure to the soft printed clay but also as clay powder is very fine the grog gives a bit of ‘tooth’ when mixing the powder with water. Different clays naturally contain slightly different proportions of clay to water for the same consistency. As a guide I have been printing with mixes of 2.5 – 3 parts dry clay mix to 1 part water. </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" height="240" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5558013712805000322" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_0ywiQhYGHBo/TSIIBjB99II/AAAAAAAAABU/hmzPSTVXzc0/s400/Hills.jpg" style="display: block; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">‘Volcanoes’ – ave size 9 x 9 cm (Experiments in modelling with ‘sculpt mode’ in the 3d program Blender)</span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br />
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</tbody></table></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">• Porcelain clay printed well but if it is too dry it goes ‘cheese’ and the extrusion breaks apart, and too wet it cannot support itself and collapses, so consistency is vital. Porcelain prints are the only objects I have glazed so far and the print layering texture looks ok through the glaze.<br />
• The two buff clay were best to print with. The stoneware clay is gritty anyway so I did not add grog. The other buff clay is a ball clay that offers plasticity without being too sticky. The ball clay print quality is finer and more pleasant than the stoneware clay.<br />
• The red clay printed ok as well but depending on what type of glazes you want to use and what temperature you are going to fire to a red earthenware clay might not be desirable.<br />
• The black clay, although it looks great fired did not print well and was very difficult to work with. In preparation the surface dries easily and it is difficult to avoid small lumps in the mix that block the printing head. It was difficult to get the slurry consistency correct. It went from being to dry for the compressor to push it through the syringe to being too wet to stand up during printing with very little water added. I did get a reasonable dark brown ‘ant hill’ print out of a 50/50 red clay, black clay mix.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" height="240" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5558013707971758706" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_0ywiQhYGHBo/TSIIBRBoinI/AAAAAAAAABM/FfjBu1m8aeU/s400/AntHills.jpg" style="display: block; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: xx-small;">‘Ant hill’ forms – ave height 13 cm (Experiments in modelling with ‘metaballs’ in the 3d program Blender)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></span>Jonathan Keephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06864961999599323712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706836532786314673.post-44935623125975475512010-12-28T10:01:00.001+01:002010-12-28T10:01:00.198+01:00Working Method - Jonathan Keep<div align="left"><font size="2" face="Arial">Having just got my first printed ceramics outof the glaze firing I thought it would be a good time to offer a post on my current working method. On and off for the last ten years I have been using 3D computer modelling programs, mainly as a tool to train my visualisations memory and explore new forms. Using numerical transformations the computer can generate forms I would not otherwise conceive of. Scaling, particularly uneven scaling or scaling only in one direction I have always find interesting. The human eyes aptitude for responding to symmetries is another area I have explored both in 2D and 3D software. Morphology and the evolution of form is a third technique I use. The 3D program can calculate the transition from one form into another offering the possibility to capture a new form at any point along that transformation.</font></div><br />
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<div align="left"><font size="2" face="Arial">Recently I have started using </font><a href="http://www.blender.org/"><font size="2" face="Arial">Blender</font></a><font size="2" face="Arial">, an open source 3D program that offers great possibilities and I can see myself spending a lot of time with it. Unfortunately the most recent version does not yet have .stl export, the file type used to convert to code that the ceramic printer understands. So saved as .obj files I do the conversion to .stl in </font><a href="http://www.netfabb.com/basic.php"><font size="2" face="Arial">Netfabb Studio</font></a><font size="2" face="Arial">. What is useful in Netfabb is that the surface area of the form is given so I can make the necessary adjustments to make sure I will be able to print the object from one 60 ml syringe of clay paste. The saved .stl file is then opened in the </font><a href="http://www.bitsfrombytes.com/content/downloads"><font size="2" face="Arial">BfB Axon</font></a><font size="2" face="Arial"> program and finally the form is cut up to make a g-code file that goes on a memory card ready for the printer. The BfB Axon program has a minefield of settings that are required when using a self made printing head as with ceramics. This is another posting in itself and while I am still trying different syringes ( I want to be able to hold a greater volume of clay for each print) it will be a while before I know what my settled ceramic print head settings will be.</font><br />
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<div align="center"><font size="1" face="Arial"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 390px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5553809458991302850" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_0ywiQhYGHBo/TRMYRxFhiMI/AAAAAAAAAAs/QYcN4_j2hNs/s400/Software.jpg" />Three stages in preparation for printing – Blender, Netfabb and BFB Axon.<br />
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<div align="center"><font size="1"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5553809458773416098" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_0ywiQhYGHBo/TRMYRwRk2KI/AAAAAAAAAAk/rYcN_-23iCQ/s400/Morph.jpg" />Morphology of glazed printed porcelain forms – height 9cm each.</font></div><br />
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<img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5553809459640889154" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_0ywiQhYGHBo/TRMYRzgZb0I/AAAAAAAAAAc/VfqCPs7FUAk/s400/Scale.jpg" /></font><font size="1">Simple glazed printed porcelain scaled forms – 6 to 3 cm high. </font></font></div>Jonathan Keephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06864961999599323712noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706836532786314673.post-3025048477357433862010-12-23T14:30:00.000+01:002010-12-23T14:30:00.285+01:00Shipping robotsI unpacked one of our printers that came back from an exhibition in Abu Dhabi last november and found that two of the four corners where completely loose, thats four grub screws for each corner that popped out of their place so now the vertical bar slides freely in the corners.<br />
Funny thing is that when I unpacked them in Abu Dhabi, the crate was damaged and not very rigid anymore but the printer wasn't. I fixed the crate before shipping back and now it is the opposite.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEu5lYTdGEElIg9hrIPtka75oRmCWR7atmo2mHHlYVN8vIJ9Mc9r_klqHu6dryeEJjhqLidvektwu-hliTClI4KAGDoyWa-QiQrpW0pBQcOpkvyo975kNiJ_CwtIzawlavWqOF8whyphenhyphenakQ/s1600/P1070660.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEu5lYTdGEElIg9hrIPtka75oRmCWR7atmo2mHHlYVN8vIJ9Mc9r_klqHu6dryeEJjhqLidvektwu-hliTClI4KAGDoyWa-QiQrpW0pBQcOpkvyo975kNiJ_CwtIzawlavWqOF8whyphenhyphenakQ/s400/P1070660.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Looks like I will need to take this one apart and reassemble correctly again, he was a bit wobbly in the first place...<br />
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And I will need to look into ways to better pack the machines, I always fill the crate with foam. Also on the bottom there is 3 cm foam in which the feet are plugged so the foam sits flush with the horizontal bottom bars. Will need to look into ways to improve this.<br />
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So fellow robot travelers, how do you ship your machines?<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaoethSEuJ2_N9ixnW-U4wJjw1VClLLoM1KOBZCXcABx8Y9MtkaOlZLmELEd93FNmfOynppb9dnB83f7bvfnW9xbrP2PZLOVXz3qBO3vp5TnnOAmNNZfJxhMeaO1Nt_kptaP4Okt1DixE/s1600/P1070417.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="327" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaoethSEuJ2_N9ixnW-U4wJjw1VClLLoM1KOBZCXcABx8Y9MtkaOlZLmELEd93FNmfOynppb9dnB83f7bvfnW9xbrP2PZLOVXz3qBO3vp5TnnOAmNNZfJxhMeaO1Nt_kptaP4Okt1DixE/s400/P1070417.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>Unfold Fabhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04335201925996450866noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706836532786314673.post-68289487356363621622010-12-21T13:19:00.000+01:002010-12-21T13:19:58.371+01:00Kilns part 1: OpenKilnController<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Last Christmas I got a small, almost new 8 liter kiln from my uncle who owns a large dental lab. He got it when he bought a whole lot of material in a liquidation and it was to big for them. Small for us is large for their industry, they use tiny desktop kilns, maybe 250 cc that fit a few tooth in them. The only problem was that it was only the kiln with the heating elements and no controller, thermocouple or relays. Buying all the necessary gear through our local pottery supplier would have made us ± 600€ lighter! So having a little tinker ethos I figured that it would be easy to build something yourself using an Arduino as a controller and a Solid State Relay to switch the 2 Kw elements. Not being such a great programmer or electro-engineer I dived into google thinking that this must have been done before considering the prices of commercial controllers, some code would probably be available to get you started. Well, google turned op close to 0 hits so apparently there are not enough potters with programming/engineering background or hackers that like clay? After doing lots of research, driving to holland to pickup some old analog industrial temperature controllers, thermocouples and relays, requesting manuals for gear from the 80s from japanese companies I finally threw in the towel and bought a 300€ controller kit that was a perfect fit for small kilns like ours. I found this kit through all the googling (so never a waste of time) and figured that it was not worth it to continue my search for a DIY solution since I really lack the skills to pull it off from scratch. The </span><a href="http://www.stafford-inst.co.uk/st222kit.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">ST222 kit</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> I bought included a controller, thermocouple and relays and was made buy the UK company </span><a href="http://www.stafford-inst.co.uk/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Stafford Instruments</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">. So here's our inferno in a box.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1fjFE6DcoQUPq_IXz8i3UEyqLH8wKjECagFSB18F4LK3p0GRx5ebu38EvzUje8Uf5qu4KiO2kEUytB6pSU6hTNZ-FY0h8ZbBqU-9C4YKjAR0-SjCYqpWeG_N4RBzql2bqVQFN9Gqlqg8/s1600/IMG_3024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1fjFE6DcoQUPq_IXz8i3UEyqLH8wKjECagFSB18F4LK3p0GRx5ebu38EvzUje8Uf5qu4KiO2kEUytB6pSU6hTNZ-FY0h8ZbBqU-9C4YKjAR0-SjCYqpWeG_N4RBzql2bqVQFN9Gqlqg8/s400/IMG_3024.jpg" width="300" /></span></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I still love the idea of a DIY kit controller, I calculated the costs of a DIY solution to be around 150€ (Thermocouple 60€, Arduino 30€, SSR 30€, Display for Arduino, buttons etc 20€) which was a quarter of the initial commercial solutions and would allow you to preprogram all curves from a computer instead of using the awkward interfaces of commercial solutions and even monitor the kiln with plotted curves on the computer. The solutions on the market are really basic in functionality. While the 300€ controller was a sweet enough deal for our small kiln I still think a DIY controller would be very interesting for larger kilns. So I hope someone wants to pick up my mission for the OpenKilnController.<br />
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Here is what I have found so far, kiln controllers are PID controllers (I never heard of them, remember my lack of skills) and they appear to be very common in industrial control systems. There is already a pretty decent PID library for Arduino. (http://www.arduino.cc/playground/Code/PIDLibrary) that could be used as a starter. The hardware is straight forward as mentioned above, you need a thermocouple as analog sensor, the Arduino with PID library as controller and a SSR as switching mechanism for the kiln. The tricky part looks to be the 'tuning' of the P, I and D parameters.<br />
I also found some rforum posts over at arduino about </span><a href="http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1276969045"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">DIY Arduino PID controllers</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> so at least some people tried like </span><a href="http://pwillard.com/?p=109"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">PWillard</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">UPDATE: While typing this post I revisited the forum thread I mentioned above and apparently GlennD did build a kiln controller for a glass fusing Kiln. Unfortunately only after I bought the ST222.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkec7NLaE-F0qqT1lqRrQWMUnE5GGi_d25Ch92sHO3_rNm0b7Mvmb4HW1Prt1VCo0w7R8CiXaiKJUF-neKQEPruZrwG3nqtZUWx2U6bdMuQo0KqzccCcXxC1aNaQs74s7rT4qvHkr15b4/s1600/100_3576.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkec7NLaE-F0qqT1lqRrQWMUnE5GGi_d25Ch92sHO3_rNm0b7Mvmb4HW1Prt1VCo0w7R8CiXaiKJUF-neKQEPruZrwG3nqtZUWx2U6bdMuQo0KqzccCcXxC1aNaQs74s7rT4qvHkr15b4/s400/100_3576.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Unfold Fabhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04335201925996450866noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706836532786314673.post-33861253011426329552010-11-28T20:12:00.000+01:002010-11-28T20:12:55.335+01:00Introductions - Jonathan KeepJonathan's post (Read <a href="http://unfoldfab.blogspot.com/2010/11/englishman-in-antwerp.html">An Englishman in Antwerp</a> bellow first):<br />
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<blockquote>I am an artist potter based in Suffolk, England and for some time have been interested in studio based 3d ceramic printing so to find out earlier this year what Unfold have been doing was a revelation. Eager to replicate their system I visited Claire and Dries and now have my own RapMan oozing porcelain paste in my UK studio. With a desire to continue Unfolds generosity in sharing knowledge I plan to post my printing progress on the Unfold-fab blog to keep all the information in one place on the web.</blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFGaa2ZVDrDvv_mnSsnCyhoMo_su9gttST7oOrQuMgxQDLa-vYBTNZXzhM6ZtHsJTNE-ITRr1F8k-J8ImKhWKYf14iUhdKHSrNIrieXVfsXW-SESensLMLkan6cF_GEv_9aaWcFlgDrZk/s1600/Machine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFGaa2ZVDrDvv_mnSsnCyhoMo_su9gttST7oOrQuMgxQDLa-vYBTNZXzhM6ZtHsJTNE-ITRr1F8k-J8ImKhWKYf14iUhdKHSrNIrieXVfsXW-SESensLMLkan6cF_GEv_9aaWcFlgDrZk/s400/Machine.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><blockquote>My RapMan supplied by Bits from Bytes, Somerset UK is version 3.1.0 loaded with software 4.0.2. Building the flat pack went ok and I had it moving in three or four days. Not interested in printing plastic I have not put the print head together. Wanting to concentrate on printing clay I got on with putting that together. My ceramic printing head is very cobbled together with bits of gas kiln equipment as I am well aware that there are still lots of development work to be done and so I just wanted to get started to develop from experience.</blockquote><blockquote>My starting point is, as developed by Unfold, a 50/60 cc plastic syringe held in a self made cradle attached to the RapMan printer head mount. The syringe is then pressurised from an air compressor - that I fortunately already had as I have a spray gun for glazing. The one thing I had to go shopping for was the 1K Ohm resistor that bridges two points of the unused print head cable connector plug on the printer control board. This gets RapMan software to think a pen tool is fitted.</blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCGg1yUzB-nCaH5Su_1p99_vRDYYrCRZDRyQwdVWMGYfGfTRJwZselAw38XSYuGPicXSuYbggTNFZaWP6hMSDNJEoFflTo-gm8GdZR-8lOHOwR5bV1EFHuww4WMe36cE9BwuOqrzk3BNs/s1600/Syringe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCGg1yUzB-nCaH5Su_1p99_vRDYYrCRZDRyQwdVWMGYfGfTRJwZselAw38XSYuGPicXSuYbggTNFZaWP6hMSDNJEoFflTo-gm8GdZR-8lOHOwR5bV1EFHuww4WMe36cE9BwuOqrzk3BNs/s400/Syringe.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<blockquote>Differences from Unfold –</blockquote><blockquote><ul><li>I am using a manual switch at the printer head for air pressure control rather than an electronic solenoid valve. This is for simplicity and so far has worked well as I can stop and start clay ooze as I want.</li>
<li>I am using a 1.5 nozzle size as my prints are single walled. My thinking is to duplicate conventional pottery coil building techniques. I have set the Z (vertical axis) increment to 1 mm. So a syringe takes about 20 minutes to empty/print and a tall form can be about 10 cm.</li>
<li> I am printing onto pre prepared wades of clay so do not print a base. This does mean I need to get into the gcode in text editor and cut out some code.</li>
<li>I use a (not very good) hairdryer as I print to stiffen up the form as more clay gets layer on. </li>
</ul></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjByafWimFuOPbZK78ftSdPpANAT1DTyNSwTpylx4BXCpCErLtY8jAZVmm4YLEtHCQMOLT-Bgah8gaPx7QP54A66k-5vaBfaacu5nouASt32WadBWmfNeS1F1SyvqE4xE9NMLbVuWMUCUU/s1600/Dryer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjByafWimFuOPbZK78ftSdPpANAT1DTyNSwTpylx4BXCpCErLtY8jAZVmm4YLEtHCQMOLT-Bgah8gaPx7QP54A66k-5vaBfaacu5nouASt32WadBWmfNeS1F1SyvqE4xE9NMLbVuWMUCUU/s400/Dryer.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><blockquote>It has been a week since I got clay oozing and the learning curve has been steep but things are happening and the development put in by Unfold has been invaluable. In which direction all this might go I do not know as ideas and possibilities keep coming but I am making pots. There are still lots of problems, with gcode, with how RapMan behaves, with the limitations of the syringe size but I have a tool I understand and can customise to my ends and that I feel has fantastic creative potential. </blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0eSPyq5j5WBg7Rq7gJyOu15X7ab1MuhMx2jxS5vv78JnjCISa0GUPGN7YPXCmbI1JxHSLouS5EgctWdbO5xthHBvDdRomjr-Nu01L4iS_2tN3tOb6oMaKcaPHJyPQdQKsajkYZ0GdQhA/s1600/Week_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0eSPyq5j5WBg7Rq7gJyOu15X7ab1MuhMx2jxS5vv78JnjCISa0GUPGN7YPXCmbI1JxHSLouS5EgctWdbO5xthHBvDdRomjr-Nu01L4iS_2tN3tOb6oMaKcaPHJyPQdQKsajkYZ0GdQhA/s400/Week_1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><blockquote>There have been post on how to fill a syringe; well I have to add to that. Having a wall mounted clay extruder in my studio I made a simple turn and lock fitment to take the syringe on the base plate. I fill a plastic bag with the clay paste (my mix is 1 water to 2.5 porcelain clay powder) and stuff the bag into the rather rusty extruder. Put in the plunger and extrusion arm and pull down. Result filled syringe, and so easy to attach the next syringe for a fill.</blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3ydJMw-KPVCXR99_tawbtGbv80UvEY1a9gJuR8ajTdecVx_vhe91E8LFy9h9hyLE5sK4E4G2q6ZR1amxYPgvnr3NQ4jyz8pKX-HZtk7nE44epAbA12Ri4h6RuKEgjOcAbT1ecK0wYMa0/s1600/Extruder.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3ydJMw-KPVCXR99_tawbtGbv80UvEY1a9gJuR8ajTdecVx_vhe91E8LFy9h9hyLE5sK4E4G2q6ZR1amxYPgvnr3NQ4jyz8pKX-HZtk7nE44epAbA12Ri4h6RuKEgjOcAbT1ecK0wYMa0/s400/Extruder.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><blockquote>For further information on Jonathan’s work see – <a href="http://www.keep-art.co.uk/">www.keep-art.co.uk</a></blockquote><div><br />
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</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #eeeeee;">Thanks for sharing Jonathan!</span></div>Unfold Fabhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04335201925996450866noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706836532786314673.post-74958171130004942872010-11-28T20:00:00.001+01:002010-11-28T20:02:00.025+01:00An englishman in AntwerpEarly last summer we got a friendly email from <a href="http://www.keep-art.co.uk/Singles/syringe_02.htm">Jonathan Keep</a>, a British potter who was very enthusiastic about what we achieved with 3d ceramic printing. His email kind of popped out between all the other emails of various people who are interested because Jonathan had been playing around for some time with the same idea of a robotized coiling machine based on a Reprap. Unfortunately he did not find time/budget to pursue the project at that time. Luckily for us ;-)<br />
This was before Bits from Bytes started lowering the barrier by offering an easier (than starting from scratch with Reprap) platform to bootstrap this kind of experiments from. Without an XYZ robot to toy with, Jonathan managed to do some 'analog 3d printing' using a hand operated syringe and the results that he attached to his first email where fascinating and impressive to see:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuEf_v1zYsIafLRDCq7sh2aJVP9u8GAMR9tAWa5qVbuGDLJsECknvaf8lRY-JMjxuw4RaJx1F5gfChUI51sOVIM2zUx68fhll07P6ZfdsziaAJQx8ELVJaUzIfJN02iv-NdR6DEB4qUcg/s1600/JKeep_009e.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuEf_v1zYsIafLRDCq7sh2aJVP9u8GAMR9tAWa5qVbuGDLJsECknvaf8lRY-JMjxuw4RaJx1F5gfChUI51sOVIM2zUx68fhll07P6ZfdsziaAJQx8ELVJaUzIfJN02iv-NdR6DEB4qUcg/s400/JKeep_009e.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
His email ended with the plan to apply for a grant that included buying a BfB machine and doing a field trip to Unfold's office in Antwerp....<br />
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Fast forward: Jonathan came to Antwerp with his wife last october and we had a great afternoon (with tea mind you), it was great to exchange ideas. Here you see him using the virtual pottery wheel from L'Artisan Électronique like only a real potter can.<br />
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<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">And a great snapshot of Unfold/Keep work:</div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Jonathan finished his Rapman last week and crafted the first objects with it. He will be posting to the Unfold ˜fab blog too and we are looking forward to what he will produce and post. We already feel the urge to finish the next claystruder prototype of which many bits 'n pieces are laying around in our studio because of the healthy 'competition' Jonathan put forward :-) </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The first post will be copy paste below until we can find how to add contributors. We also want to put a bit more effort in the Unfold ˜fab blog and post a bit more frequently from now on.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div>Unfold Fabhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04335201925996450866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706836532786314673.post-80355154939068684442010-10-19T20:28:00.005+02:002015-05-03T21:38:48.384+02:003d printed ceramics and video on show at Digital Solid expo3d printed ceramics and video on show at Digital Solid expo at the Galerie de l'Ecole Supérieur des Beaux-Arts in Valenciennes, France.<br />
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info in french:<br />
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L'exposition » Digital Solid / Design numérique » présente les travaux de plusieurs designers et de plusieurs ateliers numériques académiques ; François Brument, Ammar Eloueini, Mr Mann, UnFold/Claire Warnier et Dries Verbruggen, Studio lo, Innovathèque, François Clochiatti, Digital Knowledge/Studio de Projet de Master 2/ Ecole nationale supérieure d'architecture de Paris – Malaquais, l'ISD Institut supérieur de design et le Laboratoire numérique de l'Ecole supérieure des beaux-arts de Valenciennes. L'exposition comporte un volet pédagogique et didactique sur le prototypage rapide réalisé en partenariat avec Innovathèque du FCBA. Elle s'inscrit également dans le programme semestriel du Laboratoire numérique de Valenciennes et de l'Atelier numérique de l'Ecole supérieure d'art et de design de Saint-Etienne.<br />
Ce projet ambitionne d'initier un réseau de compétence permettant la conception et la réalisation à distance de projets de design, la mise en place d'une plate-forme de recherche.<br />
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Certaines hypothèses seront expérimentées dans le cadre du projet « L'appartement, une métaphore du monde » au centre d'art Lab-Labanque, à l'occasion de l'évènement culturelBéthune 2011, Capitale Régionale de la Culture.<br />
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Lieu :<br />
Galerie de l'Ecole supérieure des beaux-arts de Valenciennes<br />
132 avenue du Faubourg de Cambrai<br />
59300 Valenciennes<br />
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Infos :<br />
<a href="http://ecoledesbeauxarts.valenciennes.fr/">http://ecoledesbeauxarts.valenciennes.fr</a>Unfold Fabhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04335201925996450866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706836532786314673.post-87097511825780006632010-10-08T09:20:00.003+02:002010-10-11T00:32:42.875+02:00‘Yes, we’re open.’<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #cccccc;">UDATE: The full setup of L'Artisan Electronique will be only on display at the opening and the weekend of october 14-16</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #cccccc;">Friday October 14, 9.30u-15 u</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #cccccc;">Saturday October 15, 9.30 u – 15 u</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #cccccc;">Sunday October 16, 14 u – 18 u.</span><br />
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For those who are in the neigbourhood, tonight is the opening of ‘Yes, we’re open.’ An exhibition curated by our long time friend Thomas Lommée from <a href="http://www.intrastructures.net/">Intrastructures</a> who you might now for his open-standards-for-things project <a href="http://www.openstructures.net/">OpenStuctures</a>. We will be showing a new compact version of L'Artisan Electronique (v1.5) which we have been developing along side an improved clay print head and new virtual throwing wheel software (not included yet, those will premier in at Abu Dhabi Art beginning of november).<br />
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<b>‘Yes, we’re open.’</b> is an exhibition on how our networked society is reshaping the way we create, produce and consume. You can download a great Exhibition overview + open design manual done by Thomas at <a href="http://www.intrastructures.net/yes_we_re_open.pdf">http://www.intrastructures.net/yes_we_re_open.pdf</a><br />
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EXHIBITION<br />
8 october - 25 october, 10h - 21h<br />
Budascoop, Kapucijnenstraat 10, 8500 Kortrijk<br />
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OPENING<br />
8 october, 18u30 - 22u30<br />
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Please be welcome!<br />
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The exhibition ‘Yes! we’re open.’ is part of the Innovation Festival Kortrijk.<br />
www.innovationfestival-kortrijk.be<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAYE4loKeHE1yZTaGtvjPcKDJPE4GEr5RTOflhWj-viXiZl1TTbT5mAm-HfJJOkXpwB-wi5QfOFn_kVOOBKixWFf65KMz9WHRs2qRpBA6wALo67Dx_eFGLVoguifuVGtUdbidQrHT3JOs/s1600/yes_we_re_open.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAYE4loKeHE1yZTaGtvjPcKDJPE4GEr5RTOflhWj-viXiZl1TTbT5mAm-HfJJOkXpwB-wi5QfOFn_kVOOBKixWFf65KMz9WHRs2qRpBA6wALo67Dx_eFGLVoguifuVGtUdbidQrHT3JOs/s640/yes_we_re_open.jpg" width="451" /></a></div>Unfold Fabhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04335201925996450866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706836532786314673.post-89714781653821379612010-09-13T20:53:00.002+02:002010-12-22T13:16:35.646+01:00missing photo'sOk, learned a hard lesson. Was cleaning up and splitting my iPhoto library into separate libraries. Noticed only later that everything that I had deleted in one gallery was also removed from MobileMe. Will fix the broken links coming days.<br />
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EDIT: fixedUnfold Fabhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04335201925996450866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706836532786314673.post-45709587642710511272010-08-19T23:14:00.003+02:002015-05-03T21:37:12.960+02:00Filling a syringeSecond post today, I'm catching up while sitting next to a humming Rapman printing a batch of ceramics. Unfortunatly I need to keep an eye on the flowrate and correct pressure or printhead speed every few minutes. More on that in another post. Luckily the <a href="http://www.bitsfrombytes.com/">Rapman</a> has manual controls. <i>turns head-adjusts speed-back to typing. </i>Yesterday I was going through the excellent documentation of the frostruder at Makerbot. All goodies that where not available when I started, frostforge.py looks very usefull for adapting to Rapman. <i>turns head-does not adjust speed-back to typing. </i>On the <a href="http://wiki.makerbot.com/frostruder-mk2-usage">Frostruder usage page</a> in the wiki I found the following photo's of Zach filling a syringe:<br />
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I used this method exactly once :) Its totally unusably for getting a syringe filled with clay and trying to avoid any trapped air. So here's the method we hacked together in a few minutes.</div>
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<b>The Syringe Transfer Tool!</b></div>
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The STT is a syringe from which the front is cut of and that is used to suck up material.<br />
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You still need a canister or lump of air free material but thats easier than to try and get the material compacted in every syringe individually. <i>turns head-does not adjust speed-back to typing. </i></div>
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Next step is to fully insert the plunger in the syringe and suck up material. The trick is to pull the plunger while simultaneously pushing the syringe in the material. After 100 times you can do it one handed while taking a picture :)</div>
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Now you detach the plastic plunger stick from the silicone plunger cap without letting air in (tricky part). After that you smooth the clay and taper it a bit, I always put little pit in the top to make sure air escapes before the clay reaches the nozzle when transferring the clay in the print syringe.</div>
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Onto the magic transfer move.... You make a nice stack of <i>pssst-turns head-perfect print finished. </i>A nice stack of plunger stick - STT - empty syringe and you push the clay out of the STT into the empty syringe, et voila! </div>
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Unfold Fabhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04335201925996450866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706836532786314673.post-34616556839678208132010-08-19T20:47:00.000+02:002010-08-19T20:47:51.977+02:00Clay recipeI get the question often "is this special clay?". I always said that it was fairly standard but since I have been diving deeper into clay it looks more and more like there's a whole other universe in that slurry. Its not pottery, its higher chemistry and I wish I stayed a bit longer in ceramics class :)<br />
<div>At first we tried watering down modeling clay and this works but its hard to get consistent results. Now we always start from clay powder that you can find in the better ceramics supply store. I found out lately by buying a different type of clay that I had been lucky with the first clay that I bought because the last one had a really tough time NOT to collapse during print. The difference? Fat or lean clay, the one I always use is semi-fat (or semi lean, depends on your ideologies) and the one that collapses is lean. I can't find a good explanation in english online but fat clay particles are more plates and have a better cohesion. (if anyone has the explanation somewhere in english?)</div><div>So you'll want semi-fat or fat clay for 3d printing with extrusion. Next you need to balance the viscosity so that it extrudes around 4-5 bar (60-70 psi) but has enough strength to support itself as a build object. A water : powder ratio of 1 : 2.2 gives the best results for the clay powder we use here, this may vary for the powder clay you buy in the store but this might be a good starting point.</div><div>You could also reinforce your clay with cellulose fibers (paperclay). I have only done a quick test to see if it extrudes but did not build an object with it. I can imagine that it clogs faster.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Next post: how to fill a syringe.</div>Unfold Fabhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04335201925996450866noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706836532786314673.post-59072475995222994162010-07-28T00:10:00.001+02:002015-05-03T21:32:12.378+02:00Claystruder 1.1 uploaded to ThingiverseTook some time to update the files of our Claystruder for Rapman prototype and uploaded them to Thingiverse.<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3604">Claystruder 1.1 by unfold</a></b><br />
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Its a slightly improved version of the one we use for printing our initial ceramics objects. I made some parts stronger, fixed some errors and enlarged the part where the top section of the syringe sits so that it would fit more brands of syringes. The design is based on the Frostruder by Zach Hoeken from Makerbot but uses one double action solenoid valve instead of two single action ones.<br />
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<b>It is important to note that it was never designed with elegance or easy printability in mind, its just a quick and dirty prototype.</b><br />
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</b>Unfold Fabhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04335201925996450866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706836532786314673.post-88399093693749339752010-07-28T00:03:00.001+02:002010-07-28T00:17:01.770+02:00New PackagingWe have shed the default style and put this blog in a new packaging!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/wonder_packaging_all_new.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/wonder_packaging_all_new.jpg" width="314" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">source: http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Unfold Fabhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04335201925996450866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706836532786314673.post-81720708450606104032010-07-06T16:15:00.001+02:002015-05-03T21:28:07.757+02:00Anish Kapoor - Grayman Cries, Shaman Dies, Billowing Smoke, Beauty Evoked.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Some months ago we showed our first print tests with little square and round objects to a friend of us and she pointed out that it really looked like a scale model of a recent artwork by Anish Kapoor: <i>Grayman Cries, Shaman Dies, Billowing Smoke, Beauty Evoked</i>. While we do know most of the work by Kapoor (you might know him from his turbine hall installation at Tate Modern) we hadn't seen his latest work yet. Looking at the images below you can probably imagine our surprise when we looked it up. That does indeed look like extruded slurry deposited with a 3d printer! In fact it is concrete and after googling some more we found the company Factum Arte that pulled this together. Factum Arte is a workshop based in Madrid that works with major artists and institutes on the production and conservation of artworks using various techniques like 3d-scanning, 3d printing, milling etc. They documented the process very well on their website <a href="http://www.factum-arte.com/eng/tech_printing.asp">here</a> and <a href="http://www.factum-arte.com/eng/artistas/kapoor/greyman_cries.asp">here</a>. You can also find all the movies on their <a href="http://vimeo.com/factumarte/videos">Vimeo</a></div>
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Lovely quote: <i>The Identity Engine is a shit machine that farts and craps its way along its ordained path, transforming concrete into stigmergic, self-organised structures. Wounds and gashes, pleats and folds emerge at will and either self-heal or continue to rupture. (excerpt from Unconformity and Entropy)</i></blockquote>
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Some observations:</div>
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-We would really like to know more about pumping systems. While a frostruder style syringe head works as a proof of concept printhead for testing materials and software settings, it is not a good solution for producing useful objects because you are very limited size wise in what you can print without swapping syringe, a procedure that brings a whole lot of problems with it. The first step will be trying a larger reservoir on the side, something like an electronic caulking gun. But we need to brainstorm with some more people on this, time for a forum thread!</div>
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-<a href="http://www.delcam.co.uk/">Delcam</a> software is used to drive the printer.</div>
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-In one video a little piece is mounted on the nozzle to smear all the slurry that rises above the nozzle output, smart because in our experience the quality of the print decreases if there is material piling up around the nozzle.</div>
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-Its not printing continuously, they can start/stop the output fast. No idea if this is done by the pumping system or with a valve at the nozzle.</div>
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-Support material is sand thrown in by hand, funny :)</div>
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