Kit Certification

Introduction

OSE kit certification is a certification for producing kits according to OSE Specifications. This certification may be earned by individual who demonstrate the ability to produce kits effectively and efficiently. The first kit produced by OSE is the 3D printer kit - for OSE's 3D Printer v18.10 - the official 3D printer release from 2018. If you are interested in producing OSE kits, please email info at opensourceecology dot org to inquire about certification.

Certification Process Overview

As a Distributive Enterprise organization - OSE encourages others to produce OSE kits. Anyone is welcome to build from our plans independently. However, to obtain OSE Certification as an official mark of quality dated by year of issue and endorsed by OSE - the producer has the option to apply for certification using the process below.

The the first kit that OSE is producing is the 3D Printer. This kit is ready for widespread replication, and is documented in the 3D Printer Manual for the 3D Printer v18.10. This is the first major documentation manual since the Civilization Starter Kit v0.01 of 2012 - which included 4 early prototype heavy machines. In contrast, the 3D Printer v18.10 has gone through about a dozen iterations to arrive at the current version. We deem the v18.10 as a product release in a high level of refinement - using mostly state of art components - with no major bugs affecting performance. v18.10 has run successfully with a direct-drive extruder at 200 mm/sec print speeds, and is currently undergoing regular use in part production for additional printers. The high performance aspects include:

1. Rigid steel space frame
2. Non-moving print bed - bed moves only in the Z direction and allows for tall, columnar prints at high speeds - unlike most low-end printers in which the bed moves in the Y direction
3. PEI build plate surface
4. Titan Aero extruder by E3D
5. Universal Axis motion system
6. LCD screen - with babystepping for first layer finetuning
7. Height probe for automated bed leveling
8. Scalable, modular design for flexibility
9. Interchangeable tool heads
10. Approximately 2x lower unique part count than any other 3D printer in the world

To produce the 3D Printer kit, one must be able to do the following steps:

1. Understand the build of the OSE 3D Printer by having built one or more of them. Kit Certification is typically intended to be taken together with Build Certification - where the individual builds the intended kit to a finished product. One must understand how the OSE printer is built in order to produce kits effectively.
2. Source materials according to the 3D Printer BOM
3. From sourced materials, preparing a complete and tested kit sufficient for building one D3D v18.10 3D printer completely.
4. Package the kit and ship to the customer

Individual Kit Certification

Effectiveness and Efficiency: The ability to prepare a kit from sourced materials must be done effectively and efficiently in order for a kit to be viable enterprise and an economically significant product. We are interested in distributed production of kits - with accompanying capacity for distributed quality control. OSE is testing whether distributed production of kits is a viable business model, including proper quality control.

Distributed Quality Control: can be achieved by a combination of easy-to-source off-the-shelf parts, reliable sourcing, simple design, and quality control checklists. OSE is testing not only the viability of distributed kit production - but also - of distributed quality control.

Distributed quality control begins with kit producers demonstrating the ability to produce, test, and document their kit. Certification may be done on the OSE premises on an appointment basis - or remotely via a Certification Application - in which the final product is built and sample prints are produced with both regular filaments such as PLA and with flexible filaments. Both OSE staff and outside collaborators are eligible for submitting their Application - as OSE is an open organization that encourages others to replicate OSE work.

Certification Process: To get certified to produce kits, the producer builds the kit from parts, and submits necessary documentation. The submission would be pictures, answers to key build quetions, checklists, and some written notes on the wiki. The documentation part will require 1-2 hours to record/embed pictures on the wiki, in addition to the actual kit preparation.

Kit Training: For anyone to get certified to build kits, the best place to get training is during OSE's Immersion Training Program. Otherwise, one may learn the build independently by picking up the 3D Printer Manual and studying the wiki for additional information.

Certification Metrics: In both cases of Kit + Build Certification, the certification would be represented by a percentage score based on well-defined criteria recorded on a checklist - so there is no ambiguity on what the grading actually means. Thus, we can create a transparent certification where everyone understands clearly the level of competency that is achieved.

Transparency and Open Enterprise: Making the kit certification process transparent allows for an educational component - where third parties can learn OSE's techniques independently. This can be both an educational and aspirational process for all of the OSE community - and especially useful to those people who are considering starting their own microfactory.

Testing and Measurement: The certification application Part 1 involves producing a kit with documentation of the kit preparation process. Part 2 of the application involves building a working 3D printer, and submitting the printer for review by OSE. OSE will test the printer in a 24 hour print at 50 mm/sec print speed, and then the same print at 200%, 300%, and 400% print speed.

Measurement occurs on a scale from 0-100% for Part 1 and the same score range for Part 2. These scores include a component of how much time it takes to prepare a kit, which reflects the effectiveness of workspace organization and tool use.

Granting of certification is marked by an OSE certificate in writing, noting the score on Part 1 and 2, and a narrative on the kit

Certification Duration

Duration of certification is the time for which the certification is valid. The duration shall be for 2 years from the date of

Criteria

Criteria for a successful kit production operation include:

1. Short build time. 4 kits per day is decent production for 1 person, but if taken in more of an assembly line fashion with good ergonomic setup and efficient tools - it should be possible for a single person to build 12 kits comfortably in a single 8 hour day.
2. Effective inventorying. Proper arrangement of parts in supply bins is required for organizing materials effectively.
3. Ability to 3D print parts. Many of the critical axis parts and other components are 3D printed, requiring 24-72 hours of print time depending on setup.

Scope

The kit is desiged such that a complete machine can be built from a prepared kit in 5 hours. Kits can be prepared such that it takes either more - or less - effort than the 5 hours - but the 5 hours is chosen so that it is practical to run One Day workshops with it. tIn order to achieve such a build time, the kit must be in a suffcient state of completion that allows a 5 hour build. The tradeoff for the kit is the level of completion: the easier the kit is to build and the less time it takes - the more time it will take to prepare the kit. The time to prepare a kit should be no more than 2 hours based on the simplicity of the OSE design - and that is starting from off-the-shelf parts.

The kit is prepared such that no soldering or drilling is required for the builder - only assembly, fitting, aligning, and other steps. For this to happen, the level of completion of a kit is:

1. Frame - all pieces shipped with the required holes - no drilling is necessary. Frame must be cleaned with a rag and acetone so that in the JB-Welded case of a build - the JB produces a solid frame without the epoxy coming off
2. Axes - rods are cut to size and ends are ground smooth; all printed pieces are cleaned up so holes are clean and no skirt or extra/loose plastic is hanging off the parts. Belts are cut to size.
3. Bed - PEI and adhesive surface are cut to size, +/- 1/8". Bed has power wires soldered.
4. Wiring - all wires are extended as needed, soldered, heat shrunk, and tinned. This includes bed, z probe, power supply, arduino, and extruder wiring.
5. Controller mount - holes are predrilled (or mounting plate is 3D printed) for mounting all electronic components with zip ties
6. Controller - all components are tested
7. All modules are packed in a box, including small tools for assembly.
8. Tools needed for assembly are only a 5 mm Allen wrench, 3 mm flathead screwdriver, #2 Philips screwdriver, small vice grips, and a small adjustable wrench.

Electronics testing

All wires connected, cut to size, lengthened, soldered, heat shrunk, and tinned for every component. Whole setup is connected to RAMPS

• Power supply cord is connected, tested, and cable tied to power supply
• Arduino has power wires soldered on and connected to power supply
• RAMPS has all the motion stepper drivers and jumpers connected, all stepper motors connected, and each driver is tested in place using the LCD screen connected for testing each motor. Each motor moves correctly. 2 thermistors are connected and show the correct temperature.
• Extruder motor is tested with Cold Extrusion enabled with M302 S0
• Bed wiring - Power wires are cut to size, power wires are soldered to the heat bed. Ends of wires are tinned.
• MOSFET is tested by connecting to RAMPS and activating the heat bed.

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Build Steps and Time

Kit preparation involves a number of steps, and these are summed up in this spreadsheet. Most of the steps take a short amount of time - but there is a large number of them. Thus, chunking kit production in batches is useful for efficiency. Good organization and workspace layout is critical for keeping build time to a minimum.

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