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10. Open Source Hardware

This week we were asked to work together as a team to build a machine using digital fabrication and open source platforms, and we decided to build a printing press machine, because we thought it can have many different applications, on the biochromes week we tried to give our fabrics some prints manually and it was very difficult so we thought this can help, plus printmaking is fun so we can experiment curving materials and print them

Printing Press Machine

References & Inspiration

Credits:

  1. kickstarter

  2. instructables

  3. DIY letterpress

Research

A printing press is basically a sandwich of the medium you want to print or emboss and a stamp that gets pressed between a roller and a flat surface. We looked into different presses to understand how the machine works and what to consider when designing one.

Mind Mapping

We used a shared Miro board to put our ideas together so each one of us can edit, add or change anything

Design Considerations

In order to make a new design you need to think the design before starting, the mechanism, tools, and features. and this is what we did here we did not start from scratch we used some open source platformers to help us start, we watched videos, read some studies and saw some designs to be able to build our own machine they are all linked in the end of the documentation

Feel free to scroll through our Miro Board below..

Etching VS. Proofing

We had two options for the mechanism:

  1. proofing press: roller moves on plate

  1. etching press: plate moves between 2 rollers

We decided on Etching press because etching press is easier to operate than proofing press

Why Is Our Design Special

  • It is adjustable
  • Easy to assemble
  • Portable
  • Affordable
  • minimal
  • customizable
  • open source

As we can use various mediums to print on and print with

Dry point etching/printing materials
  • Linoleum
  • Balsa wood
  • Zinc or copper plates (1mm)
Alternatives
  • Aluminum cans
  • CDs
  • Tetra packs
  • Try different types of wood (MDF, HDF, Maple, Pine, Cherry, ...)
  • Collagraphs (make a collage of different materials)
Embossing
  • Cardstock
  • 3D printed plate
  • Try etching materials (CDS, Tetra packs, ...)
Alternatives - etching tools
  • A needle in a mechanical pen
  • A thumbtack taped to a stick
Paints and inks
  • Relief printing ink
  • Etching ink
Alternatives
  • Watercolor pencils (used with damp paper)
  • Watercolor
  • Oil paint
  • Watercolor crayons
  • Chalk pastel
  • Gouache
  • Biochromes

Ink Making

We used Charcoal to make a printing ink

Recipe

  • Dye stuff: charcoalĀ 

  • Solvent: 2 Cups Water

  • Arabic gum: I Cup

Tools

* Glass Jar
* Wooden Stick
* Roller brush
* Scale
* Coffee Filters
* Acrylic board
* Dye Stuff
* Pipettes / Syringes
* Test tubes
* Petri dishes
* paper cups
* Solvents ( water / Alcohol )
* Paper

Some Prints We Made

Experiments

We stared by experimenting the very traditional wat of printing, putting a stamp in ink and use your hand to put pressure on it to be printed on a piece of paper, and it works perfectly if you put enough pressure but it takes a lot of effort and time

Then we tried another way to print using a rolling pin it makes the process a bit easier in terms of pressure but still needs a lot of time and have a larg error margins

To understand the mechanism better we used the pasta making machine to print on a paper using a stamp and it worked perfectly, so we started building our first low fidelity prototype

(Low - Fidelity) Prototypes

Following the pasta making machine we built this prototype using to rolling pins and two bands

Rolling Pin Printing Press

When we made sure it is working we upgraded the prototype to this, we laser cut the sides and the bottom, made holes according to the size of the rolling pin handles using drill

Fabrication Process

Designs

1) 2 Rollers

We used TPU Filament to print the roller because it is smoother and leaves no marks on the papers we are printing and is a bit flexible and can take more pressure than PLA

  • Upper Roller

  • Bottom Roller Bottom roller has the same design but a different connections

Roller STL Files

2) Roller Holders

The holders were 3D printed using PLA filament

  • Upper Roller Holders

  • Bottom Roller Holders

Upper Roller Connection STL

Connection Used For Both STL

3) Side Walls

We used the CNC Milling machine to cut the side walls, that are made out of 22mm plywood

Side wall SVG File

4) Bed

The bed as well was cut using the CNC milling machine using 22mm Plywood

Bed STL File

Super quick guide to CNC

Check out the detailed explanation I wrote for week09 about the CNC we have in the lab and how to use it.
For the bed and the side walls we used the following settings:

Toolpath Cut Depth Tool Feed Rate Spindle Speed Plunge Rate Stepover Machine Vectors
Profile 24.5 mm 1/4 inch End Mill 1.8 inches/second 14000 r.p.m 0.9 inches/second 40% Outside the lines
5) Handle

This handle and it's holders were 3D printed using PLA Filament

Wheel STL File

Wheel-Roller Connection

6) The lead screw

This 8mm * 100mm Lead screw was cut using a Metal cutting saw

Assembly

Final

3D Model

Fabrication File

Machine Anatomy

Parts Quantity Technology Files Notes
Body ( Structure ) 2 CNC Plywood Profiles You can use any other material
Feet ( Body Holders ) 4 3D Printed PLA/ABS -
Roller Press 2 3D Printed TPU -
Roller Holder 4 3D Printed PLA\ABS -
Handel 1 3D Printed PLA\ABS -

Printing Press 2.0

While we were proud of what we accomplished so far, we took a break and then we gave it another go, and it was then when we realized that the pressure coming from the rollers was as not good as we hoped it would be. The reason for that was the properties of the TPU, it's soft and somewhat elastic. That's why we decided to replace the 3D-printed rollers with metal ones that we found in a local store, we also rethought the rest of the materials we used and the methodology behind our printing press.
Ala designed an easier-to-fabricate model that can be laser cut and 3D printed only. Check out the detailed process here. Below is a gif with the output.

Printing Press 2.0 B.O.M

All of the materials below are probably cheaper from local stores, so keep that in mind.

Qty Description Price Link
2 Metal Rollers 30$ Link
1 5mm MDF Board 5$ Link
4 Screw Bar (8mm) 1$ Link
2 Screws (R4mm) 0.25$ Link
18 Bolts (8mm) 0.1$ Link

Printing Press 2.0 Fabrication Files

Printing Press 2.0 Laser Cutting File
Roller Holder

Equipment needed to replicate the machine

MACHINES
  • 3D PRINTER FDM
  • LASER CUTTER
  • CNC MILLING MACHINE
TOOLS
  • HAND DRILL
  • CALIPER
  • METER
  • PENCIL / MARKER

Materials To Buy For The Low Fidelity Prototype

Qty Description Price Link Notes
1 Print Making Ink 17.00 $ Link You can find alternatives
1 Rolling pins 19.50 $ Link -
1 plywood Board 47.00 $ Link We Used plywood waste

Materials To Buy For The Final Machine

Qty Description Price Link Notes
1 Print Making Ink 17.00 $ Link You can find alternatives
2 Lead Screws Nuts 14.99 $ Link -
1 PLA TPU Filaments 15.99 $ - 27.99 $ Link - Link -

References & Tools

Prototype

Open source

instructables

DIY letterpress

kickstarter

How to use Etching press

Miro

p3d.in


Last update: 2023-05-15