Asee peer logo

Remotely Accessible 3-D Printer for Teaching CNC Programming: Lessons Learned

Download Paper |

Conference

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Location

Virtual On line

Publication Date

June 22, 2020

Start Date

June 22, 2020

End Date

June 26, 2021

Conference Session

Instructional technologies - Simulations, VR, Remote Education

Tagged Division

Manufacturing

Page Count

11

DOI

10.18260/1-2--35141

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/35141

Download Count

368

Request a correction

Paper Authors

biography

Sheng-Jen Hsieh Texas A&M University

visit author page

Dr. Sheng-Jen (“Tony”) Hsieh is a Professor in the College of Engineering at Texas A&M University. He holds a joint appointment with the Department of Engineering Technology and the Department of Mechanical Engineering. His research interests include engineering education, cognitive task analysis, automation, robotics and control, intelligent manufacturing system design, and micro/nano manufacturing. He is also the Director of the Rockwell Automation laboratory at Texas A&M University, a state-of-the-art facility for education and research in the areas of automation, control, and automated system integration.

visit author page

Download Paper |

Abstract

Remote labs can provide authentic and self-paced learning experiences and help to overcome barriers to learning such as high equipment cost and limited lab time.. The paper describes the development of a remotely accessible Ultimaker 3D printer and learning materials for learning CNC programming to enable remote learning. A 3D printer is similar to a 3-axis CNC machine in having X, Y, and Z axes, but is more affordable and versatile. Users can either run an entire CNC program as a job or run a segment of code at a time. The materials were evaluated by students during the lab time. Students responded positively overall to the remote access tool and to seeing the real-time response of the printer to the G-code; and expressed a desire for more time to play with the system. Student suggestions included providing a better view of the position of the tool tip. Future directions include splitting the program into subroutines so that a sub-routine will be executed only when requested, rather than loading the entire program at the beginning. We will also provide a better view of the 3D rendering model using multiple images from webcams positioned at different locations in the machine work envelope.

Hsieh, S. (2020, June), Remotely Accessible 3-D Printer for Teaching CNC Programming: Lessons Learned Paper presented at 2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual On line . 10.18260/1-2--35141

ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2020 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015