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III - DESIGN

Ideation & sketches

Firstly, I want to make this design open source, I want to create a simple machine to assemble in any Fab Lab in the world.

These were the aspects that I took into account when starting

To start designing this machine to produce textile fibers, I first needed to understand the process.

By understanding the process I also saw possible aesthetic designs.

The process has the following stages

  • Gather
  • Crush
  • Grind even finer
  • Put all the plastic bottles into the machine to produce the fibers.

Many ideas came to my mind when it came to how to heat the plastic, for that I need an extruder. There are many types, but I wanted something compact and easy to assemble.

Test of mechanical process hacking the CNC Router

Before assembling the machine, I had to test the mechanical method to see if it would work, so I decided to hack the CNC router that we have in the Fab Lab.

You only need a can of paint which you cut in half and place a bolt to install it on the CNC spindle.

About 10 holes of approximately 1 mm in circumference are made in the can, these around the plate that has been formed with the can.

After installing, configure the CNC so that its spindle rotates at the speed I want.

I did 2 tests:

  • 3000rpm

  • 7000rpm

With 7000 rpm the quality of the fiber was excellent so it was a good parameter to select the single-phase motor and make the pulley calculations to increase the speed.

I did a test with another milling machine, this test was at 1500 rpm, the fibers were very thick but I think they could be useful in some way.

The conclusions of this test are that the appropriate speeds for production are 6000 to 7000 rpm.

Design & Fabrication

Software Tools

Materials

First design

1 de Grecia Shaiel Bello Segovia

  1. Full machine view.
  2. Extrusion system with Archimedean screw.
  3. Area of rotation and generation of fibers.
  4. Motor for extrusion, nema 27 with gear motor.

Final Design

After reviewing and doing some tests with design number 1, I added more lateral supports, so the final design resulted in:

Render view

Render view

We have 34 pieces which must already be cut and sanded to proceed with the joints.

ELECTRONICS

Code explained