Rutgers ECE



Jeffrey DiPaolaWilliam FackelmanJoseph YoungAdvisor: Prof. Predrag SpasojevicNI myRIO Implementation with 3D Printer-66675137350500 Our Capstone Design project is to create a 3D printer that makes use of National Instruments’ myRIO FPGA. Currently, most open source 3D printers use a RAMPS circuit board in conjunction with an Arduino Mega circuit board to control the basic operations of the printer, including but not limited to extrusion, operation of the various motors, and operation of the various heating elements. Basically, the way a 3D printer works is by taking a CAD model of something the user would like to build and “slicing” it into layers of something called G-Code before passing it to the circuitry which translates the G-Code into movement of the printer’s components. This is explained more simplistically in the diagram below:This method is fairly common across all 3D printers whether they be open source or brand-name production printers. Our challenge, however, does not rely that heavily on these factors, but instead making all of this work with the myRIO board. National Instruments allowed us to use open source designs for both the printer and the slicing program which would translate CAD files into G-Code. Our first challenge was choosing a design that would meet NI’s design specifications while working with the myRIO board. We ended up choosing the most recent Prusa printer model as it is on its 3rd development phase and stresses reproducibility. Following that, we acquired the necessary parts from major vendors to assemble the printer. A good majority of parts, however, actually needed to be printed on another 3D printer and were necessary for assembly. We were able to obtain a connection with the creator of Rutgers’ MakerSpace, Rick Anderson, through our capstone advisor. Through the use of MakerSpace we were able to produce all of our required components on two different models of 3D printers, a Makerbot Dual Replicator and a Makerbot Replicator 2x. Our next challenge was related to the actual design of the printer as we wouldn’t know if errors would be in our printer’s design or in our design of the circuitry. We decided, therefore, the best way would be to begin by designing the printer in the manner that was intended, with the Arduino circuitry, while working on the myRIO circuitry simultaneously. With this approach, once our printer had been constructed, we could test the overall construction with circuitry that was known to work. Once we are confident in the printer’s operation we can then swap the circuitry out with the goal of getting the printer to behave the same way, but with the myRIO board in place of the Arduino. We had, therefore, the following approach: 1. Choose a printer design 2. Obtain all necessary parts for the printer’s construction 3. Construct the printer with original circuitry 4. Test printer and observe normal behavior 5. Integrate printer with myRIO circuitry 6. Test, observe, and modify myRIO circuitry until the printer behaves in the same manner as before. ................
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