Recently, our team set themselves a unique Additive Manufacturing challenge: to 3D print and assemble a working prototype robot arm in under 8 hours. And as an extra challenge, we decided to video the entire process!
This may seem like a challenging task to some engineers out there who don't have the latest 3D printers at their fingertips, but luckily, we have the Nexa3D NXE400 3D printer to use!
Why did we challenge ourselves? To replicate the time and pressure demands that companies face in new product development, design and R&D, for whom same day design feedback is critical.
The ultra-fast NXE400 has print speeds of up to 1 Z centimetre per minute, using LSPc (Lubricant Sublayer Photo-curing) technology to cure resin with light. With a large print volume of 275mm (w) x 155mm (d) x 400mm (h), our team has the ability to print multiple large parts and components at once.
Using x45 Black Resin, our team made best use of the NXE400’s large build size, 3D printing all the parts to make a robot arm in just two builds. They were quickly and easily able to transfer the parts to the Nexa3D xWASH and xCURE for post processing before assembly.
"We had so much fun printing and assembling our robot, and filming everything as we went along. Of course, as it was a challenge, we expected some hurdles along the way! As in most cases, the printing was the easy bit – once we had our part files prepared in the software and uploaded to the NXE400 printer, we left the printer to do what it does best" said Applications Engineer Sachin.
"One of the challenges was making sure we captured all of the steps throughout the process – we wanted to show the whole workflow as clearly as possible. The final challenge came once the robot was assembled – we had to get our coding-hats on to figure out how to get our robot moving. Despite the challenges along the way, we're chuffed with what we managed to achieve!"
Do you think our team managed to complete their challenge in under 8 hours?
Watch the video below to find out!
Find out more about the Nexa3D NXE400 3D printer, for ultrafast prototyping with immediate, same day feedback. Contact our team for your own demo!