SANDY CURTH
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Auger v1
Our first auger design is aimed at simply mixing air with
clay at the end effector itself.
System Components
A stepper motor drives an auger screw. The screw passes
through chamber where air and clay are fed in from
external systems. We are experimenting with methods to prevent clay from clogging the air/foam input. See filter at right.
Control
For our first test we used Arduino uno's to set up speed control of both the auger and extruder motors using
potentiometers. We found we needed a more serious
stepper driver for the nema 23 on the extruder so ended
up running it through a Duet board.
3/11/21
Our first test ended in failure when the force of the plunger
system cracked both the acrylic tube holding the clay and
3d printed PLA plastic nozzle. V2 will use a pressure rated
tube and aluminum nozzle components.
04 / 22 / 21
-Updated the auger design for integration with the Kuka
tool changer.
-Built new auger into Kuka PRC simulator.
-Improved seal at nozzle with an inset rubber washer
04/28/21
The 4th iteration of the auger includes an inset for a rubber washer to improve the seal at the nozzle. The auger itself is running smoothly and we have effective speed control working. The missing piece here is the effective transport of material through the Bowden style tube from the extruder to the auger.
Auger v1