3D Printing for FIRST Teams – January 6th, 2015
Many FIRST teams now have access to a 3D printer thanks to the generous donations of suppliers, but now what do you do with it? To get started, it’s probably a good idea to just tinker with it making something like a pencil cup to get a feel for how the printer works. But after that, how do you decide what makes sense to print for your robot?
This document provides the CAD files that complement a FIRST Tech Challenge Blog Series that will be published in January and February 2015. There are eight posts in the series and the corresponding CAD files are grouped and zipped together in attachments to this document.
In the blog series we’ll review a robot design (by FRC Team 1965) that has several components that were 3D printed. This robot was specifically built to test the capabilities of 3D printing techniques. We will then walk through the 3D printing workflow used. We will discuss guidelines for deciding which parts might be good parts to consider 3D printing for your robot. Along the way we’ll provide several tips and tricks that may make it easier for you to get started with your 3D printer.
Blog Entry #1
CAD Files for this section can be found in the attachment, 3D_printing_blog_section1CAD.zip. The CAD files include
- Tank Drive Sprocket Wheel: m1_tank_drive_wheel_final.prt.1
- Tank Drive Thread: m1_tank_tread_final.prt.1
- Tank Drive Outside Link: m1_tank_tread_link_end_final.prt.1
- Tank Drive Inside Alignment Link: m1_tank_tread_link_mid_final.prt.1
- Tank Drive Idler Wheel Spacer: spacer_0p5x0p375.prt.1
Blog Entry #3
CAD Files for this section can be found in the attachment, 3D_printing_blog_section3CAD.zip. The CAD files include
- 0.5” Bore Hole Test: shaft_size_test_0p50_bore.prt
- 0.51” Bore Hole Test: shaft_size_test_0p51_bore.prt
- 0.5” Shaft Example: shaft_example.prt
- 0.5” Bore Example: hub_example.prt
- 0.5” Assembled Shaft/Bore Example: shaft_hub_example.asm
Blog Entry #4
CAD Files for this section can be found in the attachment, 3D_printing_blog_section4CAD.zip. The CAD files include
- 0.5” Shaft Example STL File: shaft_example.stl
- 0.5” Bore Example STL File: hub_example.stl
Blog Entry # 5
CAD Files for this section can be found in the attachment, 3D_printing_blog_section5CAD.zip. The CAD files include
- 0.5” Shaft / Bore MakerWare .thing File: hub_shaft_example.thing
- 0.5” Shaft / Bore MakerWare ..x3g File: hub_shaft_example.x3g
For more information, contact the PTC FIRST team.
Contact the PTC FIRST Team
3D printing is GREAT for prototyping! We've been using it to make temporary brackets, motor mounts, sensor holders, etc. for our prototypes. Creo makes it very fast and easy.
Can't wait for the blogs! For holiday gifts, I put these together in Creo and had them printed via 3dhubs' web site. Our team (Ashebots) won one of the Ekocycle printers but we're won't get ours for a few more weeks. The team one here was a misprint - I'll wait until we get our own to try it again.
Dan
