Team Built Tools and Jigs Team 2471 FIRST Fare 2017 Camas, Washougal and Hockinson Robotics Bruce Whitefield
FRC Team Built Tools and Jigs FIRST robotics teams have built a number of tools a fixtures to help during build and competition. Team built tools are great pre-season design and build projects. Save money while building team member skills and new shop capabilities. This seminar is a forum to share ideas & examples of team built tools and fixtures. Exact designs not included. Be creative, explore and design your own. Share what works with other teams.
FRC Team Built Tools and Jigs 1. CNC Router Table 2. Motor Driver / Tester 3. Deburring Handle 4. Polycord Weld Clamp 5. Portable Band Saw Stand 6. Plastic Bender 7. Powder Coating Booth 8. Powder Coating Ovens 9. Rolling White Board 10. Rolling Workbenches 11. Cyclone Dust Collector 12. Rivet Nut Crimping Tool
CNC Router Table ($800) Team built as summer project Frame, belts, sprockets and linear bearings salvaged from donated equipment. Designed around the parts available. Great CAD learning project as well Dewalt DW611 router for spindle ($120) Gecko G540 4 axis dive kit ($675) NEMA23 570 oz-in stepper motors Surplus (old) computer with parallel port ($0) Linux & LinuxCNC open source software ($0)
CNC Router Table ($800) Equivalent capability & size to $3500 CNC Kit table or $4500 turnkey system. Cuts wood, plastic & carbon fiber panel. Add an air mister to cut aluminum. Typically use a 1/8 single flute spiral up cut bit Can get a pack of 10 with your KoP Inventables PDV
CNC Router Table ($800)
Variable motor driver ($4) Make from old battery operated drills after the batteries die. Remove drill gearbox, motor & battery Note: Drill gearbox can have other uses! Solder wire leads with FIRST Anderson battery connectors where the battery was connected. Power up with any FIRST robot battery Wire motor connectors of choice to the output previously connected to drill motor. Make adaptors for the different types of connectors you use
Variable motor driver ($4) Handy for prototyping systems and troubleshooting robot. Variable speed trigger Reversible Inexpensive You will want to keep a couple of these around.
Deburring Handle ($2) Hand deburring tools are great for cleaning up aluminum holes and edges. Blades are $1 each but the handles cost $20+ each. (do not get the plastic ones) Nice to have 4 or 5 of these around the shop but $100+ in deburring handles is excessive. A nice handle can be made from recycled 1/2 hex stock, hex spacer and snap rings. Retaining pins are clips of.062 piano wire.
Polycord Weld Clamp ($10) Polycord is handy or making intake or conveyer belts and infinity drives. ¼ dia is the most common size. Aligning cord ends for welding can be tricky. This Polycord welding jig holds the cord ends in alignment while melting the ends. Turn the knob to press ends together and let them cool. Trim flash with flush cutter or utility knife. Commercial versions are ~ $130 Early Infinity Belt Drive
Polycord Weld Clamp ($10) Polycord ends can be heated with standard plate attachment on a soldering iron. With the jig a directed high temp heat gun works well.
Team 997 Polycord Welder Repurposed cabinet latch for slide Springs bring melted ends together Easy to make channel and cord clamps Handy carry case
Bandsaw & Stand ($140 to $320) Portable bandsaw mounted vertically on a small stand. Made from plywood and scrap of ¼ aluminum plate. Salvaged EMO switch to power on and off. A favorite tool in the shop, Small and portable to take to competitions. Variable speeds Safe learning equipment for new students compared to larger & faster band saws. Inexpensive blades, easily changed. Multiple types of blades available. Bolt or clamp to work table. EMO Switch
Bandsaw & Stand ($140 to $320) Biggest cost is the band saw. A donated on is great. Used on Craigslist $100 to $160. New Dewalt is ~$300 New Harbour Freight ~$140 Commercial versions of stand available for $120 to $200 (saw not included)
Plastic Bender ($40 to $100) Thin plastics like polycarbonate and ABS can be heated and bent into shapes. Heat up along line and bend over a form before it cools. A serviceable plastic heating system can be made from heat tape mounted to an insulated board. Mount to a ¾ plywood board with groove cut to recess the tape. Cover with foil tape and heat resistant fiberglass. (Heat tape and insulation available from TAP plastics) Plugs into wall outlet. No temperature adjustment or breakers needed if heat tape has appropriate resistance.
Plastic Bender Most expensive part is the heat tape. Can sometimes find as salvage. 36 rewired with plug and ready to go from TAP for $82. Some 24 ones online for $40 Commercial systems have wide cost range $120 to $500 or more. Team 2471 has considered making another bender from salvaged toaster oven heating elements but this one has been used 5 years and refuses to break.
Powder Coat Powder Coating is a great way to get a professional appearance for your robot, pit and trophies. Produces a durable plastic coating that can be applied to conductive materials like aluminum. Many colors and finishes are available. Electrostatic powder coat guns available for reasonable price. $70 to $150 Also need a powder coat booth and a cure oven. Small parts can be cured in a toaster oven. Robot frame sized ovens are very expensive.
Powder Coating Spray booth Power coat gun Compressor Powder Powder Coat cure oven Tote with various supplies: Dust mask Gloves Hanging wire Cleaning supplies Funnel Powder
Powder Coat Booth ($30) A serviceable powder coat booth can be made from Plywood, PVC pipe, an old robot bag and some salvaged aluminum parts. The part hanging piece is the most important. It needs to be conductive so that it can be grounded through the powder coat gun unit. Hanger should rotate so that it is easy to spray coat all sides of the part. The plastic bag contains the powder spray. Wear a dust mask while spraying. Booth can be dismantled when not in use.
Powder Coat Booth Part is grounded to Powder coat system through rack and wire. Rack rotates so all sides of the part can be coated. Booth made form recycles plywood and PVC pipe. Plastic walls are from an old robot bag.
Powder Coat Gun & Supplies Powder coat gun available from various suppliers: Harbor Freight: $70 Eastwood dual voltage: $120
Powder Coat Oven Powder coat curing produces some fumes so it is best done outside. The file cabinet cure oven is on castors so it can be tucked in a corner for storage and rolled outside for use.
Powder Coat Oven A robot parts sized powder coat cure oven made from an old file cabinet and recycled toaster oven heaters. Inside is lined with 1 x 24 ceramic insulation blanket. One roll = $62 on ebay Cover the insulation with aluminum foil and foil tape or thin sheets of Aluminum. This oven uses pop riveted aluminum sheet. Heater elements: 4 toaster oven heating elements mounted in a box made from the file cabinet drawers mounted to the side. Could have been put in the back or bottom Salvaged household bake oven elements would work but we do not have 240V available so used 120V toaster oven heaters.
Powder Coat Oven Cure at 450F for 20 min Works okay above > 300F with longer time Kitchen oven temperature gauge Oven door seal from ebay On/Off, Temperature set and timer from toaster oven Toaster oven heater elements
Powder Coat Oven For small parts: Just turn a toaster oven on it s side
Cyclone Dust Separator Dust control is always a problem in a shop. Particularly from table saws and CNC Router Tables. Standard shop vacs do a reasonable job of gathering dust but the filters tend to clog up, reducing vacuum efficiency and costing $ to replace. A small cyclone dust separator can be built for a few $ using a bucket, ABS pipe and left over scraps of plywood. The dust separator drops out ~98% of chips and dust. It is much easier to dump out when full and prolongs the life of vacuum filter.
Rivet Nut Crimpering Tool Rivet nuts are a clever way to add robust threads to thin metal sheets and frame pieces. Rivet nuts can be ordered on-line in a variety thread sizes and for different thicknesses metal. rivetsonline.com: 100 Steel 8-32 rivet nuts for $6.74 Cost of rivet nuts are reasonable but crimping tools can be expensive and they may not fit or reach all locations on a robot, Steel Rivet Nuts $.067 Aluminum Rivet Nuts Crimping tool $110.00
Rivet Nut Crimping Tool A simple rivet nut crimping tool can be made from a short length of steel rod or hex shaft. Mill or file a raised section to grip top of rivet nut Bolt Rivet Nut Rivet nut crimping tool is made from 7/16 or ½ Steel hex shaft. Drill with close fit hole matching bolt size of the rivet nut. Make a tool for each size nut you use.
Rivet Nut Crimping tool A simple rivet nut crimping tool can be made from a short length of steel rod or hex shaft. Thread the rivet nut onto the bolt to seat tightly to the crimping tool raised edges. This keeps the rivet nut from rotating while it is being crimped.
Rivet Nut Crimping Tool Drill close fit hole in metal sheet or frame extrusion. Press or lightly hammer rivet nut into the hole to seat flange to the metal. Use a wrench to keep the crimp tool and rivet nut from rotating. Tighten bolt to compress rivet nut onto metal plate. Compressed rivet nut bulges out on inside to clamp metal between bulge and flange.
Drill & Driver Hanger Handy way to keep drills and drivers organized. Made from scrap plywood
Rolling White Board ($120) Brainstorming, drawing and calculating space is always at a premium. This rolling frame has white boards on both sides. It can be rolled out into shop or into another classroom. Panels from Home depot ($2x35= $70) Recycled pine and plywood. ($30) Locking Harbor Freight castors ($5 x 4 = $20)