Open Actuator System: Maker Muscle

This last week, I've been finalizing the drive nut design made with Igus 3D printed high performance plastic (https://www.igus.com/3d-print-material/3d-print-material) so I setup a quick test rig using the Maker Muscle Stepper Driver Breakout board (coming soon to https://deezshop.com/) with a Teensy 3.2 (https://www.pjrc.com/store/teensy32.html) and super robust SureStepper SD6128 driver from Panucatt devices (http://www.panucatt.com/product_p/sd6128.htm) to move the Make Muscle back and forth while storing a counter.

As of this writing, the counter has more than 50,000 strokes...and it's still going perfectly. I'll be taking it apart soon to see the wear on the nut.

Check out the full story on this at Kickstarter. Here's a funky short video on the Maker Muscle Wings "Evolved" version I show off at Comic-Con last week.

Here's some progress on the drive nut that's going to be made with injection molding process in solid Dupont Delrin (AKA acetal) plastic material. This will give the drive nut good strength and a more wear resistance.

Injection molding filling heat simulation to visualize the flow of the plastic timing.

Mock up mold structure for v5 of the design.

Only a few hours left on the Kickstarter campaign, so If you want to get in on the deals, there's only 1 day left and we are at 96%. Help us meet the goal and fund this project. I have the original 3D scanner robot in the works that was the inspiration of the Maker Muscle, and if it gets funded by tomorrow, it'll be done better and much faster! Help spread the word on the last hours of the Maker Muscle Kickstarter. Thanks!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/deezmaker/maker-muscle-worlds-first-customizable-actuator-fo

Picture below is the current progress on the 3D scanner using the Maker Muscle. It's going to be telescoping and much lighter the my previous iteration. Still a few more pieces to design, but it's coming out nice.

Posted a quick video showing how the Maker Muscle can be used with the Mechaduino, Bluetooth and Sensor.

This video shows how bluetooth and a distance sensor works with the Maker Muscle actuator.

Links to the items used for this video:

Maker Muscle Actuator: http://MakerMuscle.com

Maker Muscle Kickstarter Project: http://kck.st/2rx5c0z

Mechaduino Controller: https://hackaday.io/project/11224-mechaduino

Distance sensor VL6180X from Adafruit: http://amzn.to/2sqVgcK

Bluetooth Module HC-06: http://amzn.to/2sraOxd

MIT Andriod App Inventor: http://ai2.appinventor.mit.edu/

MIT App used in video: ai2.appinventor.mit.edu/?galleryId=4969190983991296

Mechaduino Firmware Demo with Bluetooth and Sensor controls: https://github.com/Deezmaker/Mechaduino_BT_Sensor_Demo

Here's a little more details on the cosplay wings I made to demo the Maker Muscle at the Maker Faire Bay Area 2017.

On Kickstarter now:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/deezmaker/maker-muscle-worlds-first-customizable-actuator-fo

I'm launching Maker Muscle on Kickstarter - Thursday, May 18th at 5pm PST

First batch of aluminum is picked up. Here's a picture of the die that made them.

It's now at the anodizer getting ready for some color...

Making some cool progress on a demo build using the Maker Muscle. Getting ready for the Bay Area Maker Faire.