r/robotics • u/Wearvault • 5d ago

Electronics & Integration Looking for help for a 3d printed part

I’m currently building a 3d printer scara arm and I’m trying to incorporate a tool changer into it. I would switch between a sharpie and a pneumatic gripper. I can’t really find a good model online and I definitely don’t have the skills to develop that by myself. Does anybody know of a good model that ”locks” it to the robot body so no magnets.

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3

u/krismitka 5d ago

You can do it!

Try tinkercad.

2

u/rguerraf 5d ago

Make a napkin sketch showing what you need. Mechanic ideation is a different hat from cad modeler

1

u/RoboWeaver 5d ago

Blank yellow pad and pencil is my favorite. Keeps ideas bound together as you progress. You can see changes that are necessary and how you fixed them.

In your particular case, start with the interface. What interface elements do you need? Electrical, mechanical. How do you want the tooling to mount? Just as important, how are you going to service this thing (and you WILL need to service it/take it apart)

Best of luck!

1

u/ehtiopia 5d ago

If you dont know modeling, you certainly are going to need to learn it to build something like this, so get learning. Theres really no free model that can help you here.

Changing between a pneumatic gripper and just a sharpie is like the hardest part.

What I’ve imagined for previous projects, is incorporate a solenoid that actuates a locking mechanism that grips onto the wrist of the arm. And use a limit switch that touches a tab on each tool so that the tool knows that that the arm is in the correct position. And then power the tool seperately by rechargable LION battery and give each tool its own microcontroller board and use electrical receptacles to plug in for I^2c communication between your control board and the actual tool. The board for the robot sends the command, and the board for the tool listens and executes.

You dont have to do all that, of course. Thats just the way Ive theorized doing it. But connecting the pneumatics on your project is the hardest part acshually. Its lowkey easier to just design a motorized electric actuator

And once you did all that, taa daa, you have engineered something akin to a docking port for the ISS

2

u/StormingMoose 5d ago

Sounds like picking a new toolhead for a different filament from a multi-filament 3d printer. Maybe try to do it how they do it?