Darth, Pumpkin.

by gzumwalt in Workshop > 3D Printing

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Darth, Pumpkin.

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Halloween 2024, Darth's Pumpkin Mask.
Halloween 2024, Prototype 1.

This model is quite similar to my "Darth 3.0" model with the exception that Darth is dressed in his Halloween Pumpkin mask for the kids and grandkids of course!

As usual I probably forgot a file or two or who knows what else, so if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to comment as I do make plenty of mistakes.

Designed using Autodesk Fusion 360, sliced using Ultimaker Cura 4.8.0, and 3D printed in PLA on Ultimaker S5s and an Ultimaker 3e.

Supplies

  1. Thick double sided non conductive tape.
  2. Electrical tape.
  3. Soldering iron.
  4. Solder.

Parts.

Step 1: Parts.

I acquired the following parts:

  1. One Adafruit Feather ESP32 board.
  2. One "6PCS 28BYJ-48 Stepper Motor Kit".
  3. Two roller lever micro switches (Cylewet 20Pcs Momentary Hinge Metal Roller Lever Micro Switch AC 5A 125 250V SPDT 3 Pins (Pack of 20) CYT1096).
  4. Fourteen "uxcell 6700-2RS Deep Groove Ball Bearings Z2 10mm x 15mm x 4mm Double Sealed Chrome Steel".
  5. Four M2 by 20mm cap screws.
  6. Four M2 nuts.
  7. One USB power supply with connector compatible with the USB connector on the ESP32 board.

I 3D printed all parts at .1mm layer height with 20% infill. I 3D printed 4 "Bolt, 4mm.stl", 4 "Bolt, Base.stl", 13 "Spacer.stl" and one each of the remaining parts.

This mechanism is a high precision print and assembly using at times very small precision 3D printed parts in confined spaces with highly precise alignment. I 3D printed all parts using the Ultimaker Cura 4.8.0 "Engineering Profile" on my Ultimaker S5s, which provides a highly accurate tolerance requiring minimal if any trimming, filing, drilling or sanding. However, prior to assembly, I still test fitted and trimmed, filed, drilled, sanded, etc. all parts as necessary for smooth movement of moving surfaces, and tight fit for non moving surfaces. Depending on your slicer, printer, printer settings and the colors you chose, more or less trimming, filing, drilling and/or sanding may be required to successfully recreate this model. I carefully filed all edges that contacted the build plate to make absolutely certain that all build plate "ooze" is removed and that all edges are smooth using small jewelers files and plenty of patience.

This mechanism also uses threaded assembly, so I used a tap and die set (4mm by 1 and 8mm by 1.25) as required for thread cleaning.

Lower Plate Assembly.

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To assemble the lower plate assembly, I performed the following steps:

  1. Secured the two stepper motors to "Plate, Lower.stl" using four "Bolt, 4mm.stl".
  2. Secured both roller lever switches and their appropriate retainers ("Slice 1 Switch, Lever, Roller, Retainer.stl" and "Slice 16 Switch, Lever, Roller, Retainer.stl") to the lower plate assembly using the M2 bolts and nuts.
  3. Pressed "Gear, Motor, Slice 1 Arm" onto the slice 1 stepper motor axle.
  4. Pressed "Gear (1m 24t), Motor, Slice 16.stl" onto the slice 16 stepper motor axle.
  5. Manually rotated the slice 1 arm back and forth across the slice 1 switch and aligned the switch and retainer such that the switch activated when the arm rolled across it without binding.
  6. Repeated the previous step for the slice 16 gear, switch and retainer.
  7. Wrapped the stepper motor wires around the stepper motors and secured in place using electrical tape.


Wiring.

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From the ribbon cable jumpers included in the stepper motor kit I created two ribbon cables, each having the colors blue, green, yellow and orange, and cut the female headers from each cable such that a 70mm length of wire was attached to the female header.

I've attached a wiring diagram to assist with the following steps.

To wire the ESP32, I performed the following steps:

  1. Soldered one blue, green yellow and orange female connector assembly with the blue wire soldered to A0, the green wire soldered to A1, the yellow wire soldered to A5 and the orange wire soldered to 21 on the ESP32 board.
  2. Soldered the remaining blue, green, yellow and orange female connector assembly with the blue wire soldered to A6, the green wire soldered to A7, the yellow wire soldered to A8 and the orange wire soldered to A9 on the ESP32 board.
  3. Soldered a 80mm length of black wire to the GND pin on the ESP32 board, and a 80mm length of red wire to the USB pin on the ESP32 board.
  4. Soldered a 100mm length of yellow wire to pin 13 on the ESP32 board.
  5. Soldered a 100mm length of green wire to pin 27 on the ESP32 board.

To wire the slice01 motor driver, I performed the following steps:

  1. Connected the blue A0 female connector to pin IN1 on the motor driver.
  2. Connected the green A1 female connector to pin IN2 on the motor driver.
  3. Connected the yellow A5 female connector to pin IN3 on the motor driver.
  4. Connected the orange 21 female connector to pin IN4 on the motor driver.
  5. From the remaining ribbon cable I removed a red jumper, cut the jumper such that 100mm of wire was attached to the female connector, then plugged the female connector to the + pin on the motor driver.
  6. From the remaining ribbon cable, I removed a black jumper, cut the jumper such that 100mm of wire was attached to the female connector, then plugged the female connector to the - pin of the motor driver.

To wire the slice16 motor driver, I performed the following steps:

  1. Connected the blue A6 female connector to pin IN1 on the motor driver.
  2. Connected the green A7 female connector to pin IN2 on the motor driver.
  3. Connected the yellow A8 female connector to pin IN3 on the motor driver.
  4. Connected the orange A9 female connector to pin IN4 on the motor driver.
  5. From the remaining ribbon cable I removed a red jumper, cut the jumper such that 100mm of wire was attached to the female connector, then plugged the female connector to the + pin on the motor driver.
  6. From the remaining ribbon cable, I removed a black jumper, cut the jumper such that 100mm of wire was attached to the female connector, then plugged the female connector to the - pin of the motor driver.

To complete the wiring, I secured the motor drivers and ESP32 into "Base.stl" using thick double sided non conductive tape. I next positioned the lower plate assembly on top of the base assembly, then performed the following steps:

  1. Plugged the slice 1 stepper motor cable into the connector on the slice 1 stepper motor controller.
  2. Plugged the slice16 stepper motor cable into the connector on the slice16 stepper motor controller.
  3. Soldered a 140mm length of black wire from the switch01 common terminal to the switch16 common terminal.
  4. Soldered a 100mm length of black wire to the switch01 common terminal.
  5. Soldered the yellow wire from pin 13 on the ESP32 board to the switch 1 normally open terminal.
  6. Soldered the green wire from pin 27 on the ESP32 board to the switch16 normally open terminal.
  7. Soldered the free ends of the four black wires (one from switch 1, one from each stepper motor controller, and one from the ESP32) together and covered the solder joint with heat shrink tubing.
  8. Soldered the free ends of the three red wires (one from each stepper motor controller, and one from the ESP32) together and covered the solder joint with heat shrink tubing.

With wiring complete, I slid "Gear (1m 24t) and Axle, Slice 16.stl" into the center hole of "Plate, Upper.stl", then positioned the upper plate assembly onto the base and lower plate assemblies with the motor 1 arm protruding through the offset hole in the upper plate and one flat face of the axle facing forward.

Slide "Gear, Slice 01 (1m 24t .5bl).stl" over the tower in the upper plate.

Pressed "Gear, Motor, Slice 01 (1m 24t .5bl).stl" onto the motor slice 1 arm aligning these two gears such that a flat side of the slice 01 gear faces forward.

Software.

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To upload the software, I loaded "Darth__Pumpkin.ino" into the Arduino environment then plugged the USB cable between my computer and the ESP32. I then downloaded the software to the ESP32 from the Arduino environment using the settings as seen in the attached screen capture.

Downloads

Final Assembly.

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For final assembly, I performed the following steps:

  1. Pressed a ball bearing into slices 2 through 15 making certain the bearing is flush with the top and bottom of the slice.
  2. Slid "Cover.3mf" over the base making certain the cover lettering was facing forward, then secured in place with four "Bolt, Base.stl".
  3. Slid "Slice 1.stl" onto the axle then pressed it onto the slice zero gear.
  4. Slid "Slice 2.stl" onto the axle, then slid one "Spacer.stl" onto the axle all the way down to slice 2.
  5. Repeated the previous steps for slices 3 through 14.
  6. Slid "Slice 15.stl" onto the axle without a spacer.
  7. Glued "Stem.stl" onto "Slice 16, Orange.stl".
  8. Pressed the slice 16 assembly onto the axle making certain the slice 15 pin was positioned in the slice 16 pin slot.

With final assembly complete, I plugged the USB power cord into the ESP32 and into the USB power supply, then plugged the USB power supply into an outlet and off it went!

And that is how I 3D printed and assembled "Darth, Pumpkin".

I hope you enjoyed it!