User:Dhesley1519/ENES-100/Polar Printer

Week 1 Narrative
As soon as I knew what it was I was being tasked with, I knew that step one for me was going to be to get two stepper motors to run simultaneously, at different speeds, off of one Arduino. I don't have a deep understanding of Arduino programming or programming of any kind for that matter so I started by downloading the appropriate software and familiarizing myself with the basics. I hit a few snags with the software, I was getting many errors when I tried to upload the Adafruit stepper motor library to the Arduino. I finally figured out that this was because I didn't have the files in the right locations on my computer (I didn't realize how important that was). I was able to upload the library and I ran a stepper motor just using the power from my USB. when I attached a second motor it ran and then would stop after a a few seconds. I want to find out if this was due to a motor issue, the lack of power or the software. Right now I'm not sure what exactly is causing the problem. I want to eliminate some of the possibilities by using different motors and wire it with an outside power source so my motors are not starving for electricity. Both motors are rated for 24 VAC and USB ports only put out about 2-3. I was surprised to be able to run the motor at all using only that small amount of power. With one motor I was able to control the speed, but the improper voltage limited how high I was able to set the RPM. I checked out a book from the library on how to write Arduino code and in the coming weeks this will prove to be a big asset, the code to me might as well be written in Korean and this book will help me understand it a little better.

Week 2 Narrative
After looking into the software a little farther, it became clear why the second motor stopped after only a short while. At the very bottom of the program there was a line of code that read as follows. "if (stepper1.distanceToGo == 0)	stepper1.moveTo(-stepper1.currentPosition);stepper1.run;"

I copied this line of code and replaced "motor 1" with "motor 2" this solved the one issue but made clear a second one; When the program initiates the motors seem to run at the same speed and change directions at exactly the same time, but after about 20 seconds motor 2 begins to skip and they are them thrown out of sync which would spell disaster for our printer. These motor issues aside, I began constructing one of the poles of our polar printer. We decided to use plexi glass for the pole itself and some extraneous hardware to serve as the turning points for our cable. I mounted the motors at the base of the plexi and fitted them with spools and thread to temporarily serve as our cable (we want to use braided fishing line for the final product). I ran the "cable" through the hardware mounted higher on the apparatus and tied a nut on the end to simulate the weight of the print head. I ran the motors using the code that I altered and the motors ran and the nut would move up and down but after about 20 seconds the motors would go out of sync and the cable would knot up and become a mess. my task for this week is going to be to get the motors to sync up. This could be a voltage issue or something I missed in the programming, I will have to dig a bit deeper to find out.

Week Three Narrative
Ok this week I was able to figure out what it was that was causing our motors to be out of sync. After researching the issue I found that this is typically a problem with the RPM so we set it back from 100 RPM to 50 and the motor responded immediately and no matter how long they ran they stayed in sync the whole time. We also added a bit more power and this seemed to give a little bit of extra torque from the motors. This week I also began construction on one of the bases or poles on which we are going to mount the motor assembly. I did this using a piece of 3/8" all thread, some plexi glass, wood, and some 3/16" all thread to hold it all together. I tapped and threaded each end of the 3/8" all thread to accept a set of guide pins that I built. These pins slipped through holes that I drilled in the plexi glass as I bolted it all together and allowed the all thread to spin free. From here I am going to try and have a set of gears spin the 3/8" all thread using a small stepper motor, this will allow our motor assembly to move on the Z axis. In the coming week I would really love to get our bracket printed on the Maker Bot and have one pole complete. I would also like to have the build platform finished because it is here that I am going to mount the motor and gears to control the Z axis. Getting all this done this week is a bit of a stretch but I think that my team and I will be able to make some serious progress. (pictures of all that is done so far will soon follow)

Week Four Narrative
This week was one that was heavily based in a realm of which I have little understanding. I spent a good portion of my time this week working with the Sketchup program to see if I could figure out how to create the bracket need to attach our motor assembly to the motor mount. I was able to make a crude, not to scale prototype of the bracket. After that I needed to figure out how to save the file and convert its format into something that the Makerbot could understand. Loyd helped me to figure out that there was an extension that I needed to download in Sketchup in order to change the file format. After I changed it into something that the Makerbot could understand, I put it on a card and let the Makerbot print the prototype. The next step will be to make a bracket or two that is to scale and then mount our motor assembly to the motor mount. This week I also cut out what is going to be the top of the build platform out of plexiglass. The build platform will have two levels, the top being the plexi and the bottom will be made of wood. The motor that will control the Z axis will be mounted between the two and then geared to the poles that sit around the build platform. another arduino and motor shield will be required to control this motor. The upcoming week I will be fixating on our finish page and deciding where I am headed next with my projects, I will either stay with this one or move on to another. This will dictate my actions for the rest of the semester

Week Five Narrative
This was projects week so a good portion of this week went to preparing our team for the projects seminar on Friday. I made the board for the table at the seminar and spent some time putting together the pictures we used in our presentation. As far as actual progress on the project I used the Makerbot to print out the supports that Janel had designed in Sketchup. I hit a few snags with how the Makerbot was printing but got it figured out easy enough. Once printed, I used epoxy to mount the supports to the motor assembly. I then ran the all thread though the newly mounted guides to keep the motor assembly from spinning when the 3/8" all thread spun. The issue with our new guides is that it creates a great amount of resistance, and the all thread does not spin nearly as easily as it did when we first built the assembly.

Week Six Narrative
When I added the guides onto the motor assembly last week, it added a great deal of resistance to the all thread. It didn't spin as freely as it had before I added the guides. To fix this problem my group and I decided that it was best to add a slip cover over the all thread over which the guide moves. This should cut down on that resistance and the 3/8" all thread should spin more freely which means it will require less torque which in the en means it will consume less power. In the coming week I plan to re mount the motor assembly guides using shims where needed to cut down even more on resistance.