3DSystems Ekocycle Cube Printer
We applied for one of the FTC Ekocycle 3D Printers and were awarded one in November. The printer has an approximate value of $1200 and was sponsored by FIRST, 3DSYSTEMS, and Coca-Coal. FTC #5940 – Rockin’ Robots wish to thank Coca-Cola and 3DSystems for their generous support. Reinforcement Unlimited paid the $39 shipping fee for the team. We received our printer 1/14/15.
K8200 3D Printer
We planned on using CAD during the Christmas break and our coach Mr. Westin brought his Velleman K8200 for us to practice on and get going with while we wait for the 3DSystems printer that we were awarded. We have been using Slic3r software to slice our designs made with PTC Creo. During our use of the K8200 we learned a lot about CAD and 3D printing. We found that many types of plastic just did not print well, with tears, pulls, difficulty stacing layers, etc. We found, that for our purposes and with our K8200 printer, Shaxon PLA 3mm filament plastic works the best. PLA instead of ABS because PLA is a biodegradable, plant-based plastic that offers a smooth finish and is commonly used as a support material in 3D printing because it is soluble.
CAD Parts
Midway through the season we realized that 3D printing parts for the robot could be a big solution to several challenges we were facing. Our robots have always been heavy with lots of steel used in their construction, but if we replaced some with plastic lifting and moving those parts would be easier, place less strain on motors and lift mechanisms, and possibly move faster.
We ended the 2014-15 FTC season having made 15 distinct parts for use on our robot. Several parts were eventually discarded because we went a different direction with the robot or replaced with more advanced designs, but we have had at least 10 different functional CAD parts on the robot at each match during the 2015 part of the season.
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For more information about our CAD parts developed this season please click on the CAD Switchplate link below or to see the 2014-15 & 2015-16 list of parts click on the Adobe button.
RESOURCES
During the 2014-15 season our team entered the 3D Systems, Coca-Cola® and will.i.am bring EKOCYCLE™ Cube® 3D printer program. Rob wrote an essay emphasizing how we would use the 3D printer and how it would fit perfectly into the school's recycling program because it uses post-consumer waste. Rob decided that the 3D printer’s use of recycled materials and its emphasis on sustainability fits perfectly with the Faith Lutheran recycling initiative that the students run. Application was submitted online with an essay that Rob wrote focusing on the utility of making out own parts, the fact that the recycling aspect is a perfect fit for our school’s initiative and that we would use the printer to learn CAD-CAM which would enhance our STEM skills.
JAVA Programming Resouces
Rockin' Robots were fortunate enough to participte in the 2014-15 World Championships in St. Louis where the new Android-based control system for FTC was unveiled. We visited the demonstrations, met with the development team from QualComm, and had many conversations with others (including at least two game designers for FIRST) about the new system. We downloaded the programming environment and worked with it over the Summer and retrofitted our Cascade Effects robot to be controlled via the new ZTE Speed phones using JAVA. We presented on this at the 2015-16 RES-Q Season Kickoff. Click on the JAVA logo to go to our presentation's PowerPoint slides in Adobe PDF format for your use and reference along with links for a variety of other JAVA and App Inventor resources.