Axis Debut

I've made an axis (like the kind you'd find in a printer) which can deposit molten bend alloy into casting channels in a pre-manufactured component. The key thing is that the axis was desinged in-line with the self-replicating idea: most structural parts are made using RP technology, and most other parts are from the accepted parts list. There are a few exceptions to this, like linear bearings and a tooth belt, but that's OK for the first prototype.

On Friday the axis dripped its first drip! We put a test plate (with lots of straight channels in it) under the needle, fired up the stepper motor to move the carriage and started pumping the injector. The first few attempts were just about getting the co-ordination right, so don't pay too much attention to the lower channels, but if you check out the top channel you can see a 2 cm length of deposited alloy. On solidification the deposition was continuous and robust. And this was only the fourth attempt. The parameters had been a stab in the dark but the final carriage speed was approximately 5 mm/sec and injector motor had been at 10 Volts.

eD

PS> The report is on its way to the download section