STEAM Camp 9 Day Curriculum

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About

The Open Source Microfactory STEAM Camp is a crash course in collaborative, open source design which teaches participants to design and build just about everything. We focus on a basic skill set for open source product development using 100% open source toolchains from open source CAD design to builds. The course contains theory but focuses on the hands-on imperative. In the first 4 days of the camp, every participant builds and takes home a 3-in-1 CNC machine with quick-exchange toolheads. We also build a cordless welder. This is possible by using a modular approach with proven, open source modules, and the lowest unique part count of any CNC system in the world. We rely on the Universal Axis with the Universal Controller to build a 3-in-1 machine with quick-connect toolheads. The toolheads are a 3D printer, plotter, and CNC mill. These tools are used to make 3D printed parts and electronic circuits (plotter). We include other builds that show a vast diversity of builds: brushless motor, Arduino Uno, charge controller, battery packs, and power electronics controller – all built from scratch. Combined with learning a basic design workflow in FreeCAD - students learn a robust skill set that can be applied to many products - and scaled to larger builds.

The 5 project days include and a choice of (1) aerial drone, (2) Raspberry Pi tablet, or (3) vacuum robot. We will move on to other builds in successive events and diversify to the Extreme Manufacturing of larger goods – such as electric vehicles or micro-houses. These builds are to be completed in a short time frame by careful selection of robust design, simplicity, modular components, low parts count, and pre-made parts – while using quality documentation. We work from well-prepared kits – but the kits consist of basic parts that go deeply into the underlying design: rods, bearings, belts, wire connectors, bolts, stepper motors, etc. Because our design features high modularity and the lowest unique part count of any CNC machine in the world – rapid builds are still possible. With the 3 tools, derivative products can be made from scratch by 3D printing, making circuits, using basic jigs, and using common off-the-shelf (COTS) parts. The combination of digital fabrication, modularity, common off-the-shelf (COTS) parts, and robust design makes practical products feasible. The goal is to deliver industrial productivity on a small scale as the new engine of the productive economy.

Course Depth

The course is designed so it can be taught to both beginners and advanced students. No knowledge of open source product development is required: just an interest in learning.

Beginning and advanced students will go through the same training, and follow directions to achieve desired builds. Both beginners and advanced students have the opportunity to achieve the same level of build. We will teach basic literacy, so nobody is left behind. For example, having learned how to design things in FreeCAD - one will be able to design anything. How far one takes this in terms of producing finished products is simply up to the student.

The event is structured for team work. For example, multiple projects can be combined. For example, 4 3D printers can be combined to make a larger printer. This is unheard-of in standard design - but the design modularity in our case allows this to be perfectly achievable - even within the short time frame of the STEAM Camp. The key is well-refined interfaces that allow smart and quick interconnection (like the concept of Wrapper on software).

Thus, the design skills that we are teaching apply at 2 levels: making engineered parts, and combining engineered parts into new creations. The advanced student will probably be more skilled and making new engineered parts, while the beginning student can excel at the latter.

Thus, throughout - the audience is ANYBODY who is is interested in building their world - as each person can enter at a level appropriate to their skill set - and still make meaningful contributions. Nobody is left behind. We combine effort as teams - so this process pushes the limits of both individual ability and the collaborative literacy to work as a team.

The course allows students to enter into industrial productivity on a small scale, but only to a certain extent. With the skills gained in the STEAM camp, the goal is to enable the use of the the modules to bootstrap to higher performance machines.

And this productivity, for students entering without any prior experience - will not be achieved without studying supporting materials further. These materials will be provided for further study. This is like school: you can only get so far by attending class. The rest happens when you do your homework. If you already have experience, then you won't need to do so much homework.

Day 1 - OSE Intro and Collaborative Development of Technology That Matters

Note: need to open ends of Motor and Carriage Piece to simplify belt threading.

Level of Completion:

• Content known
• Build prototyped
• Content written down
• Content recorded (video of curriculum and build for online course)

OSE Intro, Collaboration, FreeCAD, and Universal Axis.

• 9 AM OSE Introduction: Collaborative Design for a Transparent and Inclusive Economy of Abundance
  • Review of OSE Workshops FB page for introductions
• 10 How to Start an Open Source Project to change the world with Collaborative Literacy and Open Source Product Development.
  • Skills, Incentive Challenges, and Extereme Build Events for Extreme Manufacturing. Dev Kit + Meetups + Open Source Everything Store
  • Open source project infrastructure concepts: module-based design, work logs, wikis, project dev template on wiki, Forum, bug tracker, FAQ, Wiki Taxonomy, Infobox, FreeCAD, Comments (to OSE Workshops FB), cloud editable Google Presentations, Gitlab. Roadmap, critical path, repos, versioning, version history, part libraries.
  • Open Source Boot Camp Universal Axis Tools: 3D printer, circuit plotter, cnc mill.
  • OSE Dev Kit - Universal Axis Tools + OSE Linux, FreeCAD, Cura, Arduino IDE, OBS Studio, Kdelive, KiCAD, Blender, FB, Twitter, Forum.
  • Open Source Everything Store - the Open Source Amazon
• 11 FreeCAD. Learning the basic FreeCAD workflow for design in 45 minutes + Test. Embedding 3D WebGL and part library into the Wiki
• 12 Universal Axis, Universal Controller, and Marlin CNC Control
  • Understanding how to use each as building blocks for different applications.
  • Scaling with TB6600 external drivers
  • Quick connection and toolheads for different applications: D3D Simple 3D Printer, Plotter, Mill.
  • Cura to Marlin - Understanding the software workflow and its modification
• 1-2 - Lunch
• 2-6 PM - 3D Printer Builds
  • Build Overview of D3D Simple
  • Universal Axis Build
  • Universal Controller Build - for printer, plotter, cnc mill, welder, battery charger, temperature logger, and motor controller.
  • Simple Extruder Build - build of a simple extruder that anyone can build from 3d printed parts, and off-shelf stock parts by cutting and drilling
  • Wiring build
  • First Run - and 3D Printed Hacksaw
  • Scalability Fun - using a longer version of 3D printer by combining 4 printers into 1

Day 2 - Making Circuits and Electronic Devices

• 9 AM - Reflections and Learnings from yesterday. Background 3D printing of Circuit Plotter Parts.
• 10 - Modular Electronics: Intro to Designing like a Pro by Treating Everything as Modules
  • Brains (controllers) - Arduino and its performance specs to understand its capacities, sensors available, output devices, wireless devices, key relevant shields
  • Power Electronics - Intro to handling power with power elements. Hands on with an Arduino AC Light Dimmer with only a single opto-isolated MOSFET using the Universal Controller
  • Sensors and displays - Hands-on RAMPS Temperature Logger - using the RAMPS LCD by reprogramming the Universal Controller
  • Wiring, Connector Types, and Communications - Wire Ampacity, MTA-100, Ferrules, IDC, D-Sub, Jelly Crimp, Phoenix, Dupont, Ethernet, Wireless RAMPS
• 11 - Designing in KiCad: an Arduino Uno
  • KiCad 101. Circuit making process with KiCad and part libraries. Designing an Arduino around the Atmel 328 chip.
  • Generating toolpath files for plotting
  • Importing electronics from KiCad into FreeCAD.
  • Using FlatCam, post-processing, and importing into Lulzbot Cura
• Noon - Building a Circuit Plotter - basic and ecological circuit making at your fingertips
  • How to design a modular, quick-connect XY plotter tool head for the Universal Axis
  • How to etch circuits in an environmentally friendly way
  • Pen holder build
  • Building the quick mount
  • Modifying Marlin Software for a plotter application including bath agitation on bed.
• 1 PM - Lunch
• 2 - Plotting and Etching an Arduino Uno: circuit plotting for practical results
  • Making an Arduino Uno-like microcontroller board from scratch using the Circuit Plotter and DIY Arduino
• 4 - Soldering the Arduino Together
  • Soldering components
  • Programming the arduino with Arduino IDE. Sketch and upload.
  • Test run with Reprapdiscount Full Graphic Smart Controller - Hello World: Open Source Rocks!

Day 3

• 9 AM - Reflections and Learnings from yesterday.
• 10 - Designing Brushless Electric Motors - going brushless for life
  • Axial flux vs radial flux motors
  • Design of a simple coreless Radial Flux motor. FreeCAD Motor Designer.
  • Design of a brushless motor controller
• 11 - Electric Motor Build: Building a 50W stackable axial flux pancake motor
  • Coil winding using a winding jig
  • Magnet attachment to cnc cut disks
  • Motor assembly with 3D printed parts
• 1 PM - Lunch
• 2 - Motor Controller Build - using ready circuit boards for a simple control circuit
  • Soldering components and wiring up the system
• 3 - Making a CNC mill from the Electric Motor
  • Mounting the motor and attaching a 2 mm milling bit
  • Making a Quick-attach mount for the Universal Axis.
  • Wiring the motor
• 5 - Using Marlin for CNC Milling with auto bed leveling
  • Mounting a work piece
  • Sample CNC Milling of aluminum

Day 4

• 9 AM - Reflections and Learnings from yesterday.
• 10 - Battery Packs for Just About Everything - using ubiquitous 18650 cells
  • How to design battery packs. Scalable, parametric battery holder in FreeCAD with interconnects.
  • How to design battery chargers for 18650 cells
• 11 - Building a 24V battery pack - from a prepared and 3D printed kit
  • Building Battery Holder
  • Interconnecting batteries
  • Adding a state of charge indicator light
• 1 PM - Lunch
• 2 - Arduino-controlled Battery Charger - we learn how to charge batteries - with a scalable smart charger controlled by the Universal Controller. We do a sample prototype build.
  • Hardware build
  • Software and its logic
• 3:30 - An Arduino-Controlled Cordless Welder - Did you know that Cordless Welders exist? We will stack battery packs to make a cordless welder
  • Circuit Build of power stage - understanding how to switch large amounts of current with an Arduino brain
  • Connection to Universal Controller - to provide current control, selectable through the LCD screen
  • Programming the Arduino controller - controller logic
  • How to program the Reprapdiscount Smart Controller LCD screen
  • Doing a sample weld

Day 5-9: Project Days

There are 3 options - which area all also unique gift items:

1. Aerial Drone - Use your smart phone (or Raspberry Pi Tablet if you have already built one) to fly your drone, using your own battery packs, ESC, and 3D printed parts. In successive camps, we will use our own 3D printed axial flux electric motors to make advanced technology down to earth.
2. Raspberry Pi Tablet - make a fully functional computer tablet from a touch screen, a Raspberry Pi, and a 3D printed case printed with your own printer, and a circuit board for the camera and charger. You will also make your own battery pack from the popular 18650 lithium ion cells.
3. Cordlesss Drill / Vaccuum Robot - Refine the battery pack, make a charger, refine the electric motor, add a geardown and chuck, and there is the world's first open source, practical cordless drill.

Links

• More organizational info at STEAM Camp Curriculum