Test Run of PID with Machine

Today we needed to focus on remounting the thermal coupler and labeling all the wires because it looks like a nest and it is very confusing.

We glued the walls on with acetone and let it dry while we were at lunch by holding it together with binder clips.

Mary and I used the label maker to label the wires because it looked very disorganized. There is also a diagram of what wires connect what so we labeled each wire and corresponded that label with the diagram so that way it would be easier to deal with a problem if it arises. The idea of also adding hinges is being considered for accessibility. But we are planning on adding that to a model that would be done after this because this was a prototype.

We used a multimeter to measure if there was any voltage going to the wires.

Today, the main goal was:

• focus on remounting the thermal coupler

• label wires

• need to order fan (the alternative could be water cooling which basically having the made filament cool in a bucket of water after being extruded

We added a piece of wire which wraps around the heating element to measure the temperature of it which then appears on the PID. It is called a thermal coupler.

The thermal coupler has a cloth (treaded, heat resistant material) coating instead of the regular plastic coating because it is wrapped things that are hot.

We need to set the thermal coupler and then put all the wires correctly into the box and then possibly mount it onto plywood to get a nice, correct height.

We first tried using insulating tape to get the thermal coupler to wrap around the smooth, hot area. But, the tape did not work well. We also tried using a metal clamp and we opted to soldering it on.

The wires were all cluttered and hard to manage (as previously mentioned) so we also used butt connectors.

We got to see and learn about using table saws. The most interesting about it that I found was that it can sense flesh so it will automatically stop if your finger was in the way.

We used the table saw to cut a perfect square of plywood so we could mount the machine to that and then mount the plywood onto the wall for the right height and angle. Afterwards, Georgie, Heather, and I sanded down the wood and found the center so we could drill the proper holes into it while the other part of the team was soldering the thermal coupler onto the heating element.

Finally, we ran the machine today to test it.

You need to turn the top switch on before turning on the bottom switch but we came across a problem.

The PID was reading backwards. As the metal was heating up, the temperature on the PID was decreasing rather than increasing. It even went down to negative degrees. As a result, we came to the conclusion that the thermal coupler was not working.

The task for the next meeting would be to fix the thermal coupler.