Weekly Update

This week was full of firsts. I learned how to use my angle grinder, I learned how to weld, and also, my 3D printer broke in an unexpected way. I am really close to finishing my injection machine, but that is also assuming that it works well on the first attempt. 

Injection Mold Machine

Learning to weld was a process. The welds I had to do were pretty simple, at least I think that they were. I’ve never welded before this. For this project, I needed to weld the injection barrel to two support beams, so that I had a way for the barrel to be attached to the frame. 

The welding process took multiple attempts of me doing a very bubbly weld, then it being too weak. I would then have to use my angle grinder to cut the welded bits off so that I could attempt it again. Every time I attempted, the weld got better. I wish that I could have minimized those attempts, though, because wearing jeans and a hoodie in the 90-degree sun was not fun. 

I ended up learning that I needed to slow down my weld in order to get the melting pool bit to seep into the seam more. This was something I naturally got better at as I got more comfortable with using the welder, because I wouldn’t be so jumpy every time there was a loud zap. 

Eventually got the two support beams welded onto the barrel. I then whipped up the frame quickly out of wood. I chose wood so that I could disassemble it if I chose to, and also meant that I wouldn’t be fully committing to a frame design.

This is how the welds turned out.

This is what the Injection Machine will look like.

All thats left for me to do now is attach the plunger, set up the electronics, and test it out. I have high hopes that it will work pretty well on the first go. I have faith because I’ve gotten to this point before, but it didn’t work because there was too much of a gap between the inside of the barrel and the plunger wall, so plastic would go up the sides of the plunger and get stuck instead of going out.

 Once I have tested it, I will decide how I want the end of the plunger to meet the mold. What kind of nozzle will I use?

Concrete Pots

Once again, I was met with technical issues in this project. This week I had my computer back, so I was able to quickly create 3d models of the pot mold that I drew while waiting for my computer to be back working. The mold I designed has 4 parts, which I will show and explain better once I have them printed and working. Basically there are two side walls, a bottom, and an insert. 

I was able to print the two side walls and the insert, with fresh filament, from Microcenter. My last role of filament had gone bad. I realized quickly that my tolerances were off, so I needed to redesign the insert. That process was quick; I had the printer running again within 30 minutes. 

The technical difficulties occurred halfway through the second insert print job. The x-axis on the printer was acting weird, and the print was completely messed up. I stopped the print and started monkeying with the machine, but anytime I asked the printer to move its x-axis, it would sound like an impact drill. Then, eventually, the x-axis stopped responding altogether. While taking a look at the motor, I noticed that one of the 4 tiny wires powering the motor had come out. I’m assuming that the impact drill sounds were coming from that specific wire connecting and disconnecting repeatedly until it eventually knocked itself out. 

After doing some minor research through Reddit, I found that it is not completely unusual for this wire to break. I was able to find a replacement on Amazon, and it should be here in the next couple of days. 

I’m excited to be able to test how 3d printed molds will hold up with concrete. I’m also excited to have molds of my own because I will finally feel like I am able to sell my own concrete pots.