ME 478 Product Development – Spring 2023

Patrick Kwon
Professor of
Mechanical Engineering

Design and Demonstrate a Mechanical System for 3D Printing

The objective is to develop a mechanical system to be adopted by 3D printing machines, which can be categorized as Binder Jet Printing (BJP), Fused Deposition Method (FDM), or Scalable and Expeditious Additive Manufacturing (SEAM) using powder (sand) and resin (olive oil).

The requirements of system are the following:

1. The system should be capable of combining and homogeneously mixing a solution of 1:4 weight ratio of olive oil and sand (i.e. 5 grams of oil and 20 grams of sand).
2. At minimum the sand should be deposited in a 1 mm thick layer on a 10 X 10 cm platform in a controlled manner.

Presumably, the system might consist of:

1. A material supplying module: this module is capable of spreading sand and depositing oil selectively with a specific weight ratio for BJP and spreading the mixture for FDM and SEAM.
2. A mixing module: mix the oil and sand to form the homogeneous solution for FDM and SEAM.
3. A deposition module: deposit a certain amount of the sand or mixed solution (10 grams).

Evaluation criteria:

1. The homogeneity of the solution or deposited sand layer will be inspected visually.
2. The quantity of the deposition will be based on the weight of each deposition.

The electric motors must be controlled by MyRio which will be provided together with a few motors. Starting from an individual project and progressing into a team project, each student needs to contribute individually, as well as collaboratively, to accomplish a series of tasks. Each team must produce the machine through a series of design and manufacturing tasks. CAD/CAM packages, CNC machining, rapid prototyping, testing, etc. will be used to produce the machine.

Teams and Team Members