Greetings All,
Last week we started to design joints for our move-able Bucky print. We started with a single solid model and made extrusions along construction planes using SolidWorks to isolate appendages.
Figure 1: Slices of Bucky assembly file using SolidWorks.
Bucky survived his surgery and we were able to model the head with as a ball and socket joint. The tolerances were initially challenging to work with. The first attempt ended with the head and neck together as a single part. We went with a larger tolerance the next time with 0.4 mm. We think we will be able to use smaller joint gaps on our assembly. Using soluble support provided an excellent surface finish and smooth joint.
Printing Parameters (Ultimaker 3):
Print Material – PLA
Support Material – PVA
Layer Height – 0.1 mm
Infill Density – 25%
Number of Shells – 1
Joint Gap – 0.2 mm
Figure 2: Bucky head soaking in water bath to remove soluble support (Printed on Ultimaker 3 with PLA 0.2 mm layer height)
The finished product turned out great! We currently plan on creating ball and socket joints for each shoulder and hinges for each leg. From there we will see if we can design joints for the smaller appendages (elbow, wrist, etc.)
Figure 3: Final Bucky swivel head
Thanks for reading the blog post.
Happy spring break!
Team Bucky