The engineering design program at Northern Arizona University (NAU) is striving to assist in the collaboration of its students with fellow organizations to help instill the necessary qualities and experience needed in future careers. As a realization of this ideal, the Novakinetics team has been organized through a senior-level capstone course to work with their client, Novakinetics, to conceptualize and design a more efficient and cost effective large scale 3D printer.
Novakinetics is dissatisfied with the current lead time for creating molds and tooling and requires a different approach to creating their products.
It is important to outline the objectives by establishing a method of measurement for each objective as well as a corresponding unit of measurement. This allows us to quantitatively see how the final product meets each objective. The team's objectives are summarized in the following table.
Objective |
Measurement |
Units |
Fast Print Speed |
Filament / Time |
mm/s |
Accuracy |
Length |
mm |
Maintenance |
Time |
Hours/Week |
Safe to Operate |
OSHA |
Unitless |
Ease of Use |
Time to Proficiency |
Hours |
Economic |
Cost |
US Dollars |
There are two different types of constraints for this project. The first type is the constraints of current 3D printing methods. These constraints exist given the nature of 3D printing. The second is the constraints of the client. Novakinetics has provided the team with the requirements needed to accomplish their need statement. In order to achieve these requirements, the team listed the constraints as shown in following table.
Constraints |
Parameter |
Part thickness |
> 1.25mm |
Surface dimension tolerance |
±0.8mm |
Resolution |
< 0.5mm |
Print volume |
> 0.216m3 (0.6m x 0.6m x 0.6m) |
Power use |
< 480V, 200A |