AutoFold the Box Folding Robot

Description

Our project is small automatic box folding robot. This system is designed for micro factories like a successful kickstarter, or US based small manufacturing company. People who want to stay local, but the only way to compete with cheap overseas labor is to be automated. Technology like 3D printing and CNC are making automation attainable but in packaging there is still a missing component. We plan to uses a LabView based virtual interface for easy operation via touch screen. Its key mechanical feature is a universal linear actuator. We have a clever cheap arduino controlled design for them we are developing. These linear actuators can be combined in a huge number of configurations and are proving to be one of the most fun and exciting discoveries in the project. It will folds Indestructo Mailers, a new style of cardboard box. They requires no glue or tape to assemble. They are also stronger, have a lid, and stack in higher densities when un folded.

Components

1 × arduino mega

12 × NEMA 17 Stepper motors yes we need 11 stepper motors for box folder

12 × big Easy motor drivers

50 × Lots of Vslot

Project Logs

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It's Finally Working!!!
FourthLevelMfg • 07/14/2017 at 01:29 • 1 comment
Wiring Nightmare
FourthLevelMfg • 06/20/2017 at 19:46 • 2 comments
I think I left it in the wrong part of town
FourthLevelMfg • 06/13/2017 at 16:48 • 0 comments

No Motors :(
Almost all motor installed
FourthLevelMfg • 06/12/2017 at 18:47 • 1 comment
New Motor Controller boards
FourthLevelMfg • 05/26/2017 at 19:05 • 0 comments

I reduce the motor controller boards down from 5 Big Easy drivers to 4. I also made the 24 volt lines much thicker. Also a special thanks Metal for all his help and the better Quick connectors
Set backs & fried components :(
FourthLevelMfg • 05/17/2017 at 17:55 • 0 comments

I blew up chips on our Motor controllers
if you look at the pins below the heat sink you will see one is missing, that is because it got fried.
I have fried 3 like this so far :(
One was because of bad stepper motors. The steppers also destroyed the internals of 4 other drivers. They have been sent back and replaced. Thank you Dan for getting replacements.
One was my fault, I wired a motor to the drive wrong.
The latest time I don't know why it blew. This is of course the one bothers me the most because the unknowns are preventing us from getting more than 5 motors working in sequence.
Tower of Power!!!
FourthLevelMfg • 05/02/2017 at 22:43 • 3 comments

We made the boards for all the motor drivers 15 in one big stack!
It's Alive!!!
FourthLevelMfg • 04/18/2017 at 23:40 • 1 comment

we finally have 4 motors all working together in the correct order
1st Month Photoshoot
FourthLevelMfg • 04/04/2017 at 16:56 • 0 comments
PCB TIME!! (like hammer time only defferent)
FourthLevelMfg • 04/01/2017 at 01:23 • 0 comments

we made some circuit bored or the first time on the other mill. It was very satisfying. Starting we made a beak out bores to connect our 8 limit switches to a IDC 16 pin ribbon cable. We made a 4 stepper to IDC also. we got the tool and made the cable our selves and it was relay fast with no soldering.
we used KiCad to make the circuit.
total mess at first.

View all 26 project logs

Discussions

GrayPillow wrote 05/31/2017 at 03:40

Do you have some problems about motion control ?Maybe AnanasStepper https://hackaday.io/project/20980-ananasstepper-20 is to meet your need!

Are you sure? yes | no

Capt. Flatus O'Flaherty ☠ wrote 05/27/2017 at 13:25

What chips are you using for the stepper controllers? I'm currently testing out L6482 's which are SPI controlled so only one wire from the mcu is required.

Are you sure? yes | no

GrayPillow wrote 05/14/2017 at 03:34

Nice project! It a really a nice application for my project (AnanasStepper), which is designed to control multi stepper motor at the same time. I think we can cooperate!

Are you sure? yes | no

Florian Festi wrote 05/02/2017 at 09:27

Well, servos are made for RC toys. Even the big ones are not really made to drive stuff. The way to go would be a geared DC motor in combination with two end stops. Get something that can put out a two digit wattage. DC motors can go into overdrive for a short time if they get time to cool down afterwards. Something you can easily do in this application.

It kinda bugs me that you are heading for all this high precision CNC gear while you actually need something strong and rugged with comparably low precision.

You could probably get away with some cheap steal rods with wooden carriers directly riding on them with laser cut holes.

Are you sure? yes | no

David Levi wrote 04/09/2017 at 03:48

Hey I'm in Pasadena and will need to fold a ton of cardboard mailers for my own project in a month or two. When will you all be looking for testers?

Are you sure? yes | no

Yvan256 wrote 01/30/2017 at 20:30

Given that you don't need to be extremely precise to fold box panels, I'd go with servos which are geared internally instead of stepper motors. The servos are cheaper, more powerful and easier to drive too.

Are you sure? yes | no

FourthLevelMfg wrote 01/31/2017 at 20:17

We are testing both at this time, currently the stepper are winning for most parts.

Are you sure? yes | no

AutoFold the Box Folding Robot

Description

Components

Project Logs

Collapse

It's Finally Working!!!

Wiring Nightmare

I think I left it in the wrong part of town

Almost all motor installed

New Motor Controller boards

Set backs & fried components :(

Tower of Power!!!

It's Alive!!!

1st Month Photoshoot

PCB TIME!! (like hammer time only defferent)

Discussions

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AutoFold the Box Folding Robot

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