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29 lines
2.1 KiB
Markdown
29 lines
2.1 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: 3D-Printed Peristaltic Pump
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date: 2019-06-24
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categories: projects
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excerpt: It's the perfect way to transport and rejuvenate etchant while being really easy to manufacture.
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header:
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teaser: /assets/img/2019/pump-assembled.jpg
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---
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<sub>Written 8-21-19</sub>
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Of the things that show up while I browse Thingiverse for something cool to print, peristaltic pumps keep coming up. It’s a pretty interesting concept, squeezing a tube to pump a liquid. One of its best features is that liquids only ever come into contact with the tubing so it’s really good for corrosive liquids. Seeing as I needed a pump to help me transport my super corrosive PCB etchant and also to bubble air through it to rejuvenate it, this was perfect.
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My design philosophy focuses on aesthetics and functionality but, especially when it comes to prototypes, ease of manufacture matters too. I like to not cut screws down if I can because I either have to use my Dremel or rethread the ends. I also like to use up the existing parts I have at home because otherwise they’ll just sit there collecting dust. That meant that I couldn’t use any of the designs online, so I modeled my own.
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{% include figure image_path="/assets/img/2019/pump-model.jpg" %}
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As expected, the print and assembly process was straightforward. I was quite surprised with how well the pump worked, especially with how little torque it took to drive it. I used a stepper motor because I wasn’t sure what kind of torque the pump needed. Well, based on the design I was pretty sure it was low, but I wasn’t sure how low.
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{% include figure image_path="/assets/img/2019/pump-assembled.jpg" %}
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One of the things I needed to do was filter my etchant because I accidentally left a board in too long, like forgot about it and went to sleep long, and everything came off. Ever since then there have been quite a few toner particles in the etchant, but after a couple minutes pumping the etchant through an aquarium filter, it was perfectly clean.
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{% include figure image_path="/assets/img/2019/pump-cleaned-etchant.jpg" %}
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Here’s a video of the pump in action.
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{% include video id="aL9Voegy8xI" provider="youtube" %}
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