Programming Printers Printed by 3D Printers

Gavin T. Garner

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Conference: 2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
Publication Date: June 23, 2013
Start Date: June 23, 2013
End Date: June 26, 2013
ISSN: 2153-5965
Conference Session: Hands-on/Experiential Learning
Tagged Division: Mechanical Engineering
Page Count: 9
Page Numbers: 23.990.1 - 23.990.9
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--22375
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/22375
Download Count: 504

Paper Authors

biography

Gavin T. Garner University of Virginia

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Gavin Garner holds a bachelor’s degree in Physics from Colby College and Master’s and Ph.D. degrees in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from the University of Virginia. His primary area of expertise lies in the burgeoning field of mechatronics (aka robotics). Over the past decade, he has built UVA’s mechatronics program from scratch, developing over 50 hours of unique laboratory experiments as well as dozens of open-ended design projects. Through this experience, he has gained valuable insight into how to engage engineering students and teach them difficult, interdisciplinary material both efficiently and effectively. He was named a “Graduate Teaching Fellow” by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers from 2007-2009. Since then, he has won numerous other teaching awards for his creativity and dedication to student learning. He is especially interested in updating traditional mechanical engineering courses to better integrate the modern tools and techniques used to solve today’s design problems in industry.

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Abstract

Programming Printers Printed by 3D Printers Mechatronics is a burgeoning new field that involves the synergistic integration ofmechanical, electrical, and software engineering in the design and manufacture of industrialproducts and processes. It represents the modern evolution of traditional mechanism designtechniques. Mechatronics proves to be a difficult subject to teach since it inevitably requiresmechanical engineering undergraduate students to delve into realms and concepts with whichthey are inherently less comfortable. A primary pedagogical challenge associated with theteaching of mechatronics relates to devising new teaching styles and methods that seamlesslystitch together these traditionally separate engineering disciplines within the coherent context ofmodern mechanism design. Presenting students with hands-on laboratory experiments and open-ended designprojects has proven to be an effective way to encourage them to synthesize the concepts that arecovered within the traditional lecture environment. It is important to give students as muchcreative license as possible throughout this learning process. The more pride and agency thatstudents can instill into their own unique solutions, the more invested and dedicated they becometo working on the project. This paper specifically examines the development and successful implementation of anovel, final design project within a survey Mechatronics course that is taught each year to arounda hundred 3rd-year Mechanical Engineering majors at the [author’s university]. A fleet of 2Dball-point-pen plotters, called “HooPrints,” were designed and constructed out of plastic partsformed using state-of-the-art 3D printers. Students were then given blank 3 x 5 index cards andtwo design objectives: 1) Develop a manual, fly-by-wire “etch-a-sketch” mode through whicheach member of their team must write out his or her initials as quickly and neatly as possible and2) Program their HooPrint to automatically/autonomously draw something interesting (andsophisticated in terms of programming technique) in under two minutes. There are three primary types of “smart” direct current motors that are commonly appliedto the design of most mechatronic systems: stepper motors, servomotors (brush or brushlessmotors with external encoders attached), and RC servomotors (common hobby motors wherein amotor, encoder, and controller come pre-packaged as a single system). Each type of smart motoris controlled in a very different manner and each one brings its own unique advantages anddisadvantages to a mechatronic system design. Therefore, thoroughly understanding thedifferences between these three types of actuators is crucial when designing new mechatronicssystems. The direction of motion along the X, Y, and Z axis of each HooPrint is controlled byone of the aforementioned three common types of smart motors. Thus, this HooPrint projectallows students to juxtapose the nuances of each of these three types of smart motors and forcesthem – in a fun way – to master how to control all three.A picture of a HooPrint executing software code that a student wrote that prints out the “Trip to the Moon” image that was featured in the recent movie Hugo.

Citation
Format

Garner, G. T. (2013, June), Programming Printers Printed by 3D Printers Paper presented at 2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Atlanta, Georgia. 10.18260/1-2--22375

TY  - CPAPER
AB  -                     Programming Printers Printed by 3D Printers        Mechatronics is a burgeoning new field that involves the synergistic integration ofmechanical, electrical, and software engineering in the design and manufacture of industrialproducts and processes. It represents the modern evolution of traditional mechanism designtechniques. Mechatronics proves to be a difficult subject to teach since it inevitably requiresmechanical engineering undergraduate students to delve into realms and concepts with whichthey are inherently less comfortable. A primary pedagogical challenge associated with theteaching of mechatronics relates to devising new teaching styles and methods that seamlesslystitch together these traditionally separate engineering disciplines within the coherent context ofmodern mechanism design.        Presenting students with hands-on laboratory experiments and open-ended designprojects has proven to be an effective way to encourage them to synthesize the concepts that arecovered within the traditional lecture environment. It is important to give students as muchcreative license as possible throughout this learning process. The more pride and agency thatstudents can instill into their own unique solutions, the more invested and dedicated they becometo working on the project.        This paper specifically examines the development and successful implementation of anovel, final design project within a survey Mechatronics course that is taught each year to arounda hundred 3rd-year Mechanical Engineering majors at the [author’s university]. A fleet of 2Dball-point-pen plotters, called “HooPrints,” were designed and constructed out of plastic partsformed using state-of-the-art 3D printers. Students were then given blank 3 x 5 index cards andtwo design objectives: 1) Develop a manual, fly-by-wire “etch-a-sketch” mode through whicheach member of their team must write out his or her initials as quickly and neatly as possible and2) Program their HooPrint to automatically/autonomously draw something interesting (andsophisticated in terms of programming technique) in under two minutes.        There are three primary types of “smart” direct current motors that are commonly appliedto the design of most mechatronic systems: stepper motors, servomotors (brush or brushlessmotors with external encoders attached), and RC servomotors (common hobby motors wherein amotor, encoder, and controller come pre-packaged as a single system). Each type of smart motoris controlled in a very different manner and each one brings its own unique advantages anddisadvantages to a mechatronic system design. Therefore, thoroughly understanding thedifferences between these three types of actuators is crucial when designing new mechatronicssystems. The direction of motion along the X, Y, and Z axis of each HooPrint is controlled byone of the aforementioned three common types of smart motors. Thus, this HooPrint projectallows students to juxtapose the nuances of each of these three types of smart motors and forcesthem – in a fun way – to master how to control all three.A picture of a HooPrint executing software code that a student wrote that prints out the “Trip to the Moon” image that was featured in the recent movie Hugo.
AU  - Gavin T. Garner
CY  - Atlanta, Georgia
DA  - 2013/06/23
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Programming Printers Printed by 3D Printers
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/22375
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--22375
ER  -