After handing out many business card at Makerfaire UK 2011, it has become apparent that my registration for co.cc has expired as of 4 days ago.
Sadly i cannt log into my account and therefore people looking for it, it will not display.
If you are one of those people, please visit the original hosting address of:
http://www.poaterobotics.webs.com
this is currently being updated so please take a look and contact me for any info.
So, here it is… as im designing a shell for use in a project, which needs to be completed by Wednesday… for the MCM expo! Yes the MCM expo in london next weekend, i go to use my makerbot, and sadly the Z axis starts playing up… then a wiff, snap crackle and pop (and no mini cartoon characters to see for miles) the stepper motor controller decieds to frazzle.
Luckily when the first time this happened, i ordered 2 spare chips, so i can replace the chip, will just take time…
Here goes!
Well its been an eventfull couple of weeks.
firtly i decieded to change my usb ttl adapter for the makerbot to a 5v logic level, as apposed tothe 3.3v logic level one i was using. the idea behind this was that the switchover signal voltage could have been too low and therefore meant the data was not being sent at good quality. I was annoyed when i bought the first cable, as i was thinking it was a 5v level cable, but alas… oh well.
the first tests came as i was setting up the uni makerbot for a demo of high calibre… more on that in a sec, but i managed to start repg and the new software version, meaning i could import and manipulate the files stl etc in repg.
the first trial pieces were done using my pc desktop, an old pentium 4. (i now bought a i5 HP laptop, so yay!) I did wounder if the processing speed was too slow for the makerbot, and i think i might have been right…
anyway, my first prints using the 5v cable, turned out to be good. they were a corner bracket, to try simple shapes… and then the z wobble arrester. this is an amazing thing an im glad i printed it, as my sides are virtually wobble free (need a second one for other side of rear as that too is a bit wobbly…
anyhow, i printed these with great success, installed the wob arr and set to print something more complex. The gear set, recently uploaded seemd lie the perfetc vhoice.
link here :(insert link)
the results seemed ok, but the thinner smaller gear had to be height adjusted as too much plastic was comming out causing lumps. – this maybe because there wasnt enough time to cool befre the heater nozel came ploughing through, so need to work on ‘cool’ settings as mentioned in recent blog post elsewhere – should really write the links down!. need to adjust speed and extruder flow rate too, both adjust this issue.
right a picture…
or 2…
the L bracket, shows several wobbly edges so off to print the z wobble arrester…
the wobble arrested whilst printing
The wobble arrester works wonders, and if anyone needs to see why it is handy, check this video out of the one i installed…
with the wobble arrester installed, i made the gears.
picture too come.
Well its been an eventfull couple of weeks.
firtly i decieded to change my usb ttl adapter for the makerbot to a 5v logic level, as apposed tothe 3.3v logic level one i was using. the idea behind this was that the switchover signal voltage could have been too low and therefore meant the data was not being sent at good quality. I was annoyed when i bought the first cable, as i was thinking it was a 5v level cable, but alas… oh well.
the first tests came as i was setting up the uni makerbot for a demo of high calibre… more on that in a sec, but i managed to start repg and the new software version, meaning i could import and manipulate the files stl etc in repg.
the first trial pieces were done using my pc desktop, an old pentium 4. (i now bought a i5 HP laptop, so yay!) I did wounder if the processing speed was too slow for the makerbot, and i think i might have been right…
anyway, my first prints using the 5v cable, turned out to be good. they were a corner bracket, to try simple shapes… and then the z wobble arrester. this is an amazing thing an im glad i printed it, as my sides are virtually wobble free (need a second one for other side of rear as that too is a bit wobbly…
anyhow, i printed these with great success, installed the wob arr and set to print something more complex. The gear set, recently uploaded seemd lie the perfetc vhoice.
link here :(insert link)
the results seemed ok, but the thinner smaller gear had to be height adjusted as too much plastic was comming out causing lumps. – this maybe because there wasnt enough time to cool befre the heater nozel came ploughing through, so need to work on ‘cool’ settings as mentioned in recent blog post elsewhere – should really write the links down!. need to adjust speed and extruder flow rate too, both adjust this issue.
right a picture…
or 2…
the L bracket, shows several wobbly edges so off to print the z wobble arrester…
the wobble arrested whilst printing
The wobble arrester works wonders, and if anyone needs to see why it is handy, check this video out of the one i installed…
with the wobble arrester installed, i made the gears.
picture too come.
mkerbot mk4 plastruder is dead. and i dont have money to buy the mk5. uni have bought the last of my nichrome wire so i dont have the ability to rectify, therefore i have decieded to stick it in the loft and forget about it till i have money.
no relation to wallace and gromit, but makerbot have now released the next gen of makerbot! the thing-o-matic provides automatic printing with the belted buikld base and much finer resolution printing!
It is a shame the cost hasd also increased! sadly to import one of these into the UK, will cost £711 for the kit, postage about £30? then charges totalling an estimated £140, making the total cost £900… sadly i cannot afford this, but am very tempted to break open the uni laser cutter and make myself one when the files become available 😀
abves y firt trialseeeeeebly wiiiiiiiiiiasme art desghned in solorksTHIWI CME Y EBAL MSCH FORRYYNIAAICCF
and now with new batteries in my keyboard…
Above is my first trial assembly which contasins several parts i designed in solidworks. This will form the eye mech for my animatronic head.
Hi all, thank you for the information relating to the skin silicone. In the end i bought Platsil Gel10 from www.dauphines.co.uk they did a good price, and also sell plastic human eyes aswell – something cheap and chearfull that i could use on my larger heads.
I bought 2kg tubs of the stuff, as well as skin pigment for the silicone. that and 2 eyes came to £61.20 plus £7 postage.
The sculpture i made was of a human head whichj is about 11-12 cm tall
here you can see the small ears i made – these are about 3cm tall.
I started off with 2 inmages from google – a portrait and a side view of a male, i resized both to the same size and then used these to cut out a wooden template. The clay was then sculpted around these 2 pieces to form the smape of the head.
[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3387/4635345872_31e867ff22_o.jpg[/img]
this is a close-up of one of the ears. I am pleased ith this one. I didnt use any references but just feeling my own ears.
Sadly, copying this ear pattern to the other side was more difficult than I thought it would be.
[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3364/4635345936_2ff7001e9f_o.jpg[/img]
This is the final head with its acrylic coating. I should have spent more time smoothing it down, but this being my first project to hopefully a good portfolio, i wanted to just get it done and see what it looked like.
i then made a mould of the glay head using fibreglass matt and sheet – using gelcoat (sadly not witht he catalyst) and built a 3 segmented mould
[img]http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4142/4818275560_5b84f11c6a_b.jpg[/img]
[img]http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4073/4818275644_2871446ff9_b.jpg[/img]
[img]http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4093/4818275726_3ee8df5761_b.jpg[/img]
The next step was to make the eyes, for this i used 15cm wooden beads which i bought from the local bead-ery shop (lol)
I cut them just past half way, and hollowed out the insides of them, allowing me to fit in a ball joint (will need to change this as it allows full movem,ent not just movement in x and y.)
[img]http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4101/4818275876_dda2103fa1_b.jpg[/img]
The servo will be mounted behind the eyes, and this is an ongoing task. – the servo seen in the picture is for the jaw.
The wooden shapes are taken from the ear-to-ear template i made for the sculpture.
The front to back piece was cut out using the rear of the mould used for the skin. This means that there is a small gap between the skin and this piece – to be made from aluminium at a later date.
[img]http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4073/4818275942_a786faa3d7_b.jpg[/img]
[img]http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4078/4817711989_cc23bc6726_b.jpg[/img]
This is the outer skin, it is made by layering thin clay into the negative fibreglass mould, then a layer of fibreglass is layed ontop of this.
As i did the face seperate from the rest of the head – due to my 3 part mould i made (it doesnt go over a head so i adopted a different method to Daniele Tirinnanzi [url]http://www.daniele-tirinnanzi.com/productinfo.php?codart=227005[/url])
The inner mould was made which overlapped the edge, which means i can refit the inner mould to the existing keys from the front so that it all lines up correctly.
[image to come]
[img]http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4136/4817712181_42b11d0680_b.jpg[/img]
The rear of the skin shows the thickness and the nose which i filled in with the silicone to create a smooth base to fit onto the metal chasis inside when i finished it.
Now onto the teeth:
I purchased some dental acrylic from dentala2z which is actually used to repair dentures (if you know of better supplies, please let me know.)
This method uses powdered acrylic And a liquid (similar to acetone but smells much more potent) which melts and bonds the acrylic particles together. This creates an acrylic liquid which is pourable into the moulds.
I started off with a lump of clay, about 5mm thick, then added a bead of clay around the edge to form the teeth. The teeth were sculpted roughly – again this was my first attempt so I wanted a result, but these were actually good enough anyway. The gum lines were then sculpted into the base layer, and a silicone mould was made using platsil Gel10 (I ran out of standard silicone)
Pouring the acrylic liquid into the mould made castings of the teeth. I did this twice, then using a dremil I cut away the gum part of the casting to reveal just the white teeth.
Using food colouring, I made some more acrylic liquid and turned it red.
I placed the teeth into the mould, using a bit of petroleum jelly to seal the teeth and to stop the red acrylic sticking to parts of the teeth, I poured in the red solution.
[img]http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4118/4817652289_87c029a02a_b.jpg[/img]
The red gum part is a bit dark, and it also spilled onto the teeth, but because of the petroleum jelly, this was easily cleaned off – tho some staining had occoured. Next time i will be using special gum coloured dental acrylic, sadly i thought i bought white and red coloured stuff, but i hadnt. I will not be using food colouring again and i dont really recomend it!
The final teeth:
[img]http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4137/4818275814_6994ed0aa7_b.jpg[/img]
The teeth inside the skin (stretched over my hand)
[img]http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4093/4817712443_058f620b76_b.jpg[/img]
So there we go, this is where i have got too.
any tips or hints?
thank you 🙂
nat 😀
I recently bought some Platsil Gel10 to make robotic skin from www.dauphines.co.uk they did a good price, and also sell plastic human eyes aswell – something cheap and chearfull that i could use on my larger heads.
I bought 2kg tubs of the stuff, as well as skin pigment for the silicone. that and 2 eyes came to £61.20 plus £7 postage.
The sculpture i made was of a human head whichj is about 11-12 cm tall
here you can see the small ears i made – these are about 3cm tall.
I started off with 2 inmages from google – a portrait and a side view of a male, i resized both to the same size and then used these to cut out a wooden template. The clay was then sculpted around these 2 pieces to form the smape of the head.
this is a close-up of one of the ears. I am pleased ith this one. I didnt use any references but just feeling my own ears.
Sadly, copying this ear pattern to the other side was more difficult than I thought it would be.
This is the final head with its acrylic coating. I should have spent more time smoothing it down, but this being my first project to hopefully a good portfolio, i wanted to just get it done and see what it looked like.
i then made a mould of the glay head using fibreglass matt and sheet – using gelcoat (sadly not witht he catalyst) and built a 3 segmented mould
The next step was to make the eyes, for this i used 15cm wooden beads which i bought from the local bead-ery shop (lol)
I cut them just past half way, and hollowed out the insides of them, allowing me to fit in a ball joint (will need to change this as it allows full movem,ent not just movement in x and y.)
The servo will be mounted behind the eyes, and this is an ongoing task. – the servo seen in the picture is for the jaw.
The wooden shapes are taken from the ear-to-ear template i made for the sculpture.
The front to back piece was cut out using the rear of the mould used for the skin. This means that there is a small gap between the skin and this piece – to be made from aluminium at a later date.
This is the outer skin, it is made by layering thin clay into the negative fibreglass mould, then a layer of fibreglass is layed ontop of this.
As i did the face seperate from the rest of the head – due to my 3 part mould i made (it doesnt go over a head so i adopted a different method to Daniele Tirinnanzi )
The inner mould was made which overlapped the edge, which means i can refit the inner mould to the existing keys from the front so that it all lines up correctly.
[image to come]
The rear of the skin shows the thickness and the nose which i filled in with the silicone to create a smooth base to fit onto the metal chasis inside when i finished it.
Now onto the teeth:
I purchased some dental acrylic from dentala2z which is actually used to repair dentures (if you know of better supplies, please let me know.)
This method uses powdered acrylic And a liquid (similar to acetone but smells much more potent) which melts and bonds the acrylic particles together. This creates an acrylic liquid which is pourable into the moulds.
I started off with a lump of clay, about 5mm thick, then added a bead of clay around the edge to form the teeth. The teeth were sculpted roughly – again this was my first attempt so I wanted a result, but these were actually good enough anyway. The gum lines were then sculpted into the base layer, and a silicone mould was made using platsil Gel10 (I ran out of standard silicone)
Pouring the acrylic liquid into the mould made castings of the teeth. I did this twice, then using a dremil I cut away the gum part of the casting to reveal just the white teeth.
Using food colouring, I made some more acrylic liquid and turned it red.
I placed the teeth into the mould, using a bit of petroleum jelly to seal the teeth and to stop the red acrylic sticking to parts of the teeth, I poured in the red solution.
The red gum part is a bit dark, and it also spilled onto the teeth, but because of the petroleum jelly, this was easily cleaned off – tho some staining had occoured. Next time i will be using special gum coloured dental acrylic, sadly i thought i bought white and red coloured stuff, but i hadnt. I will not be using food colouring again and i dont really recomend it!
The final teeth:
The teeth inside the skin (stretched over my hand)
So there we go, this is where i have got too.
thank you 🙂
nat 😀
i went to see my technician friend at uni, and managed to aquire a load of fiberglass stuff…
glass matt (stranded stuff – bout the weaved matt from ebay)
PVA release agent
Honey wax release agent
resin and catalyis
gelcoat
so later today, my friend Caz will be comming over to assist me with some fun fiberglassing!
Yay!!!