3D Printed Manipulator
March 26, 2015
This is a 3D printed manipulator that I designed when first trying out a the new CAD program Onshape that I was introduced to at the time.
The first thing I designed were the fingers seen here.
After a few hours of work these are the basics parts of the design that I came up with. The hand and gripper finger portions of the manipulator will be 3D printed and attach to a PVC arm and motor housing much like some of the other manipulators that I’ve done in the past.
This is what the parts will look like when assembled.
Here are a few cut away views to show how it works.
It will work of the same thread rod principle I have also used in the past. The actuator rod (not shown) will thread into the red slide block.
Here are some of the first printed parts.
The basic mechanics seem like they are going to work fine.
This is a 8/32″ stainless steel coupler nut I will embed into the slider of the manipulator.
I have the printer setup to automatically stop at the right layer, the nut is dropped into the piece, and then the printing is resumed to full embed the nut into the piece.
Here is the finished mechanics of the manipulator. Everything still seems like it will function as intended at this point.
This is the retaining pin for the fingers… a 4/40″ heat set insert is pressed into it to secure it in place.
I simple printed washer and a single 4/40 flat head machine screw will hold everything together and will make changing out optional fingers pretty easy later on.
Here is the finished Manipulator. It looks like it will work great I’m just not sure I’ll ever use something this large on one of my ROV’s. Honestly it came out a little bit bigger than I envisioned, I thought it was going to be about half this size in my hand.
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