Abstract
Screws are often used to connect 3-D printed parts to other objects. When screwing directly into printed plastic, the reliability is limited, and the connection can wear out over time. For more reliable connections, standard metal nuts are often inserted into slots designed into the object. This article presents an approach where nuts and other ferromagnetic components are integrated directly into the part while printing it. Our prototype machine is a modified Prusa-I3 fused filament fabrication printer with an electromagnetic pick and place tool. We introduce augmented slicing software, where the user can insert generic component models from a library and place them at arbitrary positions in the object. Cavities for the components and additional G-code commands for robotic placing are automatically generated and sent to the printer. A printed component tray is attached to the printbed, allowing different part configurations for each print. The pick and place unit is controlled by our OctoPrint plugin OctoPNP.
Highlights
B ESIDE decorative objects and simple toys, functional 3-D printed objects are rarely used standalone but rather in combination with other parts
As a typical example of a more complex 3-D printed functional object, we present the x-carriage from the Prusa I3 printer, which is the machine we used in this work
We presented an integrated approach to embed metal nuts directly into 3-D printed plastic objects
Summary
B ESIDE decorative objects and simple toys, functional 3-D printed objects are rarely used standalone but rather in combination with other parts. The main reasons are the use of nonprinted parts, such as electronics, mechatronic components, and material combinations not supported by the printer. Objects too large for the build volume of a given machine or objects with unprintable geometries or requirements for complicated support structures can often be assembled from several smaller parts, printed with proper orientation. A good example is the Prusa i3 3-D printer used in this work [1].
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