The conveyor - 3d printed automation

[@christopherhelmke]

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[@SmashingBricksAU]

Hi @Christopherhelmke with regards to your Feeder boxes, why did you use the Socket Head Cap Screw on the face plate? if you used a Flat Countersink screw you can remove the small arm that must move out of the way when the Socket Head Cap Screw goes past.

[@VastCNC]

Boring solutions are usually good engineering decisions. Quote of the day

[@id4062]

I agree completely

[@shoestringlean7163]

Quote of the Millennia more like it

[@greg4367]

Fifty years an engineer, I wish I'd learned that earlier. Well done, mt friend.

[@grantprice613]

I am very glad to hear that you are being paid to do this by several interested parties, especially since it ensures more content like this!

[@lucasheroi]

that image at 6:11 is very clean. You can how much effort this dude put to make to a good video, really nice datail. Thanks for the content, man

[@_IanOfEarth]

this is absolutely incredible, what a series

[@odindimartino597]

I think the roller should have a smooth groove as it is not critical that it engage with the belt. It will make the coveyor more reliable as a bearing fail will not result to a total failure but a degraded state

[@dullvoicereader]

Imagining this coupled with an XY table for positioning and filling gridfinity bins makes me real excited. Going a step further, attaching a WMS system to allow production control to release BOMs directly to this and that filling a sub-assembly kit would be amazing. This is awesome work. Thanks so much for sharing the development.

[@danielwdunn]

I enjoy your commitment to real life Factorio.

[@MustyBucket]

Your designs are an amazing inspiration of what you can do with 3d printing, great job!

[@automatemefirst]

I think the belt you chose was a good cost effective choice. If a full size conveyor belt would have doubled the build cost your justification totally makes sense. Your work is very inspiring!

[@TN-ec6ec]

My favorite engineering series on the internet

[@flexispotus]

Any project can be made on FlexiSpot's desk as there is enough stability!

[@Pennymarkt32]

right decision on your part, to not get one of those belts. I'm working in the conveyor belt field. they don't got completely closed chambers, like you got now with separate boxes. would make it a hassle to get the screws, and nuts of 2 adjacent spaces on a belt, to not mix. Good job your doing!

[@MartLeib]

Instead of tons of small rollers, consider using plastic guide rails (or wear strips) for the belt. it will generate more friction, but it would ease the assembly and reduce time wasted on 3D printing the parts. Or, use the same Teflon tubes under the boxes which can slide on them. Print simple guide bearings that slide over the tubes to centre the crate.

[@The.Talent]

I love this channel. I'm a mechanical engineer and I love uniformity, repeatability, and simplicity. I'd love to work with you, but looks like you've got it covered. I wish we could get euro containers in Australia. There are no real standardised crates here that don't cost the world. One of my favourite crates just changed their design recently and now it doesn't fit in any of my systems anymore. I think someone in Australia needs to import the equipment to make these containers locally.

[@pemetzger]

Eurocrates are just injection molded plastic. What makes them special is the standardization. You can find the full specifications in a DIN I believe. I suspect it would be no harder to get an injection molding shop producing them than any other similar sized object, and the real expense would be the mold making.

[@The.Talent]

@@pemetzger I know this. It's just weird to me that Australian injection moulding doesn't have this in its catalogue of line items.

[@dejan.]

Hey mate, what containers have you been using? I love this series and watching curiously how it unfolds, I too love uniformity, repeatability and simplicity especially since it usually adds to reliability. There’s not enough like us in the world though!

[@The.Talent]

@@dejan. I have been doing production engineering for about the last 18 months. We don't use our crates as part of a machine like this, but it's part of our process of transportation and assembly. We have been using the 20L Handy crates from Bunnings. They now only make smaller ones or collapsible ones. It's just not the same.

[@Aaku13]

massively underrated, remember us when you blow up dude. you're so damn good at all of this!

[@Mousoukyou]

Awesome video as usual. I work on automation projects at work, and would love to have the toolset to be able to make projects like this. Must keep learning :) Thank you for the video!

[@AzaB2C]

Neat project! Appreciate this and your other videos. Appreciate your honest take that there's more cost effective options, but personally think projects like this are cool way to explore ideas, potentially discover something better, or at least help lead you to better future ideas (assuming R&D is your goal, vs max execution). Cheers!

[@SimonCoates]

+1 for FlexiSpot. I use a small FlexiSpot desk frame as the base for a welding table. It's amazing to adjust the height of the workpiece and be perfectly comfortable whilst welding. The table is so versatile I use it for other workshop jobs, infeed/outfeed table, chopsaw stand etc...

[@MartynWilliams]

Great work, I love the iterative way you approach the design. I also get a bit of a sci-fi vibe when I see the way all the parts are ID'd and numbered. I'm curious to see how the restocking of the stock / part boxes will be achieved without the need to restack them.

[@aly-tek7190]

The PVC belt may have been the better solution BUT testing the system with a lower cost solution that still works extreamly well is the better option for now. Great work so far Christopher and thanks for sharing such a great design ;) Cheers Stephen :D

[@tomsko863]

6:53 - You've done it a hundred time already so I expect you are already thinking of a quicker way to mount bins and other parts to your CNC table. For each operation you plan to do more than 5 times, just make a fixture. I am not advocating for a universal system that will work for every possible shape. I would just make a design and attach it to a piece of plywood. When you're done. Store it for later use. For those boxes there, a plywood board with snap-in/snap-out 3D printed detents can improve your productivity. It can have a cam on the side if you want something extra. Now that you've designed it, next time a slightly bigger box shows up, re-print the detents and cam and get another piece of plywood.

[@theodoreburns1330]

Amazing video, I have loved watching your progress! I have a few questions for your next video: -What was the path you took to find testing companies? -What is the time put into each of these designs? I would love to have a frame of reference to aspire to as I work on my own projects!

[@BhindiBhaji888]

This series is fantastic. So informative and inspiring. Thanks

[@timbo1525]

Klasse Video. Mach weiter so. Du machst KZbin zu einem besseren Ort. Bin mir nicht sicher ob YT das verdient hat. Aber was soll’s… klasse content.

[@lbd_artistry]

Great job on the innovation! I'd love to learn more about the speed specifications, such as the output capacity during a standardized work cycle. I believe that information would be crucial for organizations. Keep up the good work!

[@chrisleatherwood4633]

I love this series. Great job! My only thought about this as I watched it is that it’s not scalable. Those little boxes having to be placed in a CNC and a human placing two screws to hold it down and then unscrew it to remove the box, then feed the belt through the holes and place the cap on it is just not scalable if you were hoping to provide this solution to many companies. I know you’ll find a way around that so I’m enjoying seeing this proof of concept in action!

[@ScrollMachine]

Hi Christopher, If you use a countersunk bolt head, the nut's head in the rotating plastic circle will not stay out. You don't need a moving arm to skip the head.

[@bansci]

I'm guessing he uses the head to stir the parts to align with the magnet, so he then needs to pass them through. Can't wait to find out!

[@ericlotze7724]

Part Commonality / Parts Reduction (whatever you want to call it!) is good though, so despite the PVC Belt potentially being “better”, from my perspective at least, using standard Belts (used as Timing Belts, and in many FDM 3D Printers etc thus readily available to most people) and the Boxes one will already need to make this device is quite neat!

[@suqmadiq69420]

if you used (well lubricated) chains in place of the belts, you'd potentially be able to print those as well and wouldn't have to replace an entire PVC belt every time it tore. you could also use the same type of chain as bike chains, and you'd be able to use the same motor setup you already have with the inclusion of a gear.

[@THERE.IS.NO.DEATH.]

wow you're a very impressive creator, I love your videos! so glad I came across your channel!

[@ft.moder001]

hay, please make a playlist for this project, btw nice video

[@bansci]

Thank you for another great video! Questions - What kinds of business models are you exploring? I'd like to launch an open hardware business, like the LumenPnP, but think you need the "celebrity" side of youtube to make it viable. What do you think? Q - What is your process for selecting parts? I.e., i select electronic parts from JLCPCB's basic parts service as it guarantees they are "jellybean", so cheap and widely available. Is there a mechanical equivalent? Maybe a European McMaster-Carr? I'm in the UK so sourcing parts for prototypes is not straightforward like in the US. Q - How would you see this growing to a company? I.e. who would you hire first? Dedicated admin/another engineer, and how would you like to see your role changing? Q - Nobody ends up building what they wanted originally, they always build something along the way. What is your original end goal and how has it changed?

[@MrTJansen]

Here I am using my printers for trinkets. Amazing work man!

[@MrJudg3]

Ah, your own little Factorio. Brilliant!

[@xmachines.2178]

impressive engineering skills great job

[@charlesm-h1012]

Babe, wake up! New Christopher Helmke video just dropped!

[@rhinomek6684]

Amazing, you are a great engineer.

[@aratulovsky]

One of the best project! Good luck

[@christophec.482]

I still don't know how to find those types of boxes. What key word to look for ? What are the main European suppliers ?

[@marvin3283]

Eurobox or Eurokiste. One main supplier where I get my Boxes from is Auer Packaging. Another brand is SSI Schäfer but they are all stackable. You can get them in different sizes. You can also stack for examble two 30*40 cm Boxes on the one step bigger box (60*40cm). Greetings from Germany

[@christophec.482]

Many thanks !

[@matthewlaberge]

Absolutely excellent project. I really need a slightly smaller desktop version of something like this for my Etsy business, I put together kits of 3D printed parts that need to be sorted in the correct quantity per color.

[@joshua43214]

You should research ammo manufacturing. People have been counting, sorting, flipping, collating etc non-magnetic parts for well over a century. Seems like you have done a great job so far, you might get some good ideas on adapting very mature tech to your current goals.

[@Meitao23]

How does this video only have 132 likes? Insane. What are people on KZbin watching?

[@WhiteLion1337]

Wieder KZbin-Gold. Weiter so !

[@OmegaCreationsChannel]

this is a good example for excellent engineering. love to watch your videos :)

[@CodyAAllen]

Another great video! Been looking forward to seeing this, and I can’t wait for the next one!

[@MattysWorkshop]

Brilliant job as always mate, Cheers

[@FrankGraffagnino]

great stuff! i have an idea for you.. you can add some quality control on the output of the conveyer belt with a precision scale. For a particular kit contents, knowing the exact number of each component and the per component weight, you can quickly weight a kit and verify it is within some tolerance to know the part counts are correct with some amount of probability. And if it doesn't pass that QC check, the parts can be diverted to be checked later. Looking forward to the rest of this project!

[@willofthemaker]

Love this series and can't wait for more. Would love to know what you sell that necessitated all of this

[@Rednecklesson]

I am very intrigued with this project. Please continue sharing. A+

[@sallerc]

Cool, looking forward to the next video

[@charlesdevere]

Would love to take a class from you on this. So if you ever think about doing a class I would sign up.

[@DarMed-r5l]

Next video - Moon base. Awesome work!

[@joshuabrooks.]

Another truly amazing video Christopher, your attention to detail is unlike anything that I've seen before. For the next video addressing the questions, I'd really like to know more about your overall workflow, like how you come up with solutions to technical problems such as how you've come to design the locking magazines for the feeders, It seems really well refined which results in well thought out designs. Is that drawing board in the background a part of your design process and if it is, how and why do you use manual drawing techniques in combination with CAD? Thank you.

[@christianvolker5694]

Großartig! Aber die Hände immer am Fuchteln, das lenkt wirklich ab. Freue mich auf weiteren Content!

[@autofctrl]

I`m very curious about what material you're using to print your parts. I assume its PETG but I might be wrong...

[@MrShon1990]

i admire neat working style and hope can learn from you more...

[@awesomecronk7183]

I love to see the work of a genius

[@henriquehertz]

Hi Chris. I'm Richie from HERTZ, we're building a 5 heads tool changer with automatic part ejector.

[@locomotioncreations]

Great build series! Keep up the great work man

[@imakeitwhynot]

Boring solutions usually don't teach you as much as building your own solution. I usually take the learning part as a great positive over just buying something already made, even if it's cheaper and faster.

[@MrNagafen]

First I dont think having the rollers conforming to the shape of the belt teeth is necessary, I also agree with the latter statement that using pvc belt would be better mostly because (if it aint broken....etc) But i do understand the attraction of making it myself. another point would be serviceability. I would belive that it took quite along time to assemble all the containers in the current solution. Anyway i love it !!!!

[@ChrizRockster]

You're welcome, it looks great. 👍

[@Sam.Warren]

Nice to see the conveyor moving so well, the Teflon tubes were an excellent decision! My question: I have been recently fascinated with printed vibratory bowls and was wondering if this could be added to serve as a feeding method for non magnetic components? - They have their downsides in how to mount/dissipate the vibration but might be interesting! Keep up to good work as always!

[@joshua43214]

Teflon has essentially no wear resistance - thos plastic bins will cut right through it. It is fine here as a proof of concept but will need to be replaced with something robust like Turcite (expensive) or precision ground steel rod.

[@its_dhazardous]

as someone who has worked on automated warehouses, you’re going to want to put an angled cover on the inside of your buckets. things will get stuck in there for 100% sure.

[@karolgruszka8444]

Love your videos Christopher - keep on going friend :)

[@stefanguiton]

Excellent work

[@gcardinal]

Looking forward to when it will be possible to buy files

[@SlinkySlonkyWaffle]

Not a personal question, but: Have you thought about designing your own 3d printer? I'm making plans for my own, and I'm curious to what ideas you have and how you'd tackle certain problems! Videos are always great to watch, cheers.

[@brettyoung6223]

Time to get into CnC 😄- great video!

[@TouchWorld3G]

Well one partner def has to be CNC Kitchen. He justed launched screws in his shop :D

[@jeltesteur8286]

Awesome work. Questions for you: what inspired you to vlog about your build. The editing must also take a lot of time out of Simply building it… Moreover as an engineer going on camera may not be your comfort zone so there must be a good reason behind it!

[@Markusfried78]

Nice !

[@InfinitySkyview]

Love your Videos so much ❤

[@Renvoxan]

This is awesome man - yeah, I would like to know your background also from a family perspective: did you have any engineers in the family that you played with from a young age?

[@Renvoxan]

Also about your job - is this your main gig?

[@polarbub]

I'd like to see a video on the feeder unit!

[@NEutebach]

Will all positions of an order be fed into the same box to then be packaged by the packaging unit? Or will each position be fed into the packaging machine separately? ...it seems a bit counterintuitive to firstly sort and count the parts, then add different types into one container in contrast to counting and packaging each type separately. E.g. for my Voron build it helped tremendously that each type of fastener was separately packaged.

[@thomasfeix7979]

What material do you use? PETG?

[@TheCebulon]

This absolutely like the guy who wanted to manufacture lots of digital shirt flies. And ended up building a company for a fully automated cnc pick and place device.

[@BeefIngot]

Im sure just by looking at the way you are *gestures vaguely at complex electro mechanical system*, that you have some engineering in your educational background. This project is really multifaceted though so it has me wondering how you learned the bits that weren't covered directly in your post secondary education focus of choice.

[@nick158158]

What filament are you using for these parts?

[@Ziraya0]

This conveyor system has a major advantage over the fancy belt, in that you can change every detail about it. The belt may be a lot less work, but it's more complicated to deal with during prototyping, and probably scales worse with smaller setups. If someone has half the length you do, does the belt only double their upfront investment?

[@johannesm.9413]

Does your Monitor-Adapter Business Cover all the costs for developing this System? Abgesehen davon, super interessante Video-Reihe. Da hat man als Maschinenbauer sofort Lust selber so ein Projekt auf die Beine zu stellen!

[@thedarkknight6159]

I hope "WÜRTH" is one of those "enormously big corporations", that would be like a lottery ticket for you, which I hope it is. As brilliant minds like yourself deserve to get rich, and not the ones who exploit brilliant minds.

[@simontratter2434]

I have an interesting question. Why did you delete the video where you talked about Prusa and how Prusa missed out on innovations when Bambu Lab launched their printers? Because I think you are right, so I am just interested why you deleted this video. (Because my printers from Prusa are just not as good as expected)

[@christopherhelmke]

Hi, the video quality (audio & image) was just so bad that It didn't really match the rest of the videos. So I changed it to "not listed". It is not because I have changed my mind about this :)

[@NexGen-3D]

Awesome job, Im assuming you use magnets for picking up the fasteners, novel idea, but this will be problematic, if they are Stainless, Aluminium or Titanium, then this system can't be used, and yes a Flexowell Steep Incline Style Belt would have been an expensive choice indeed, this is setup more is more like a pocket conveyor that uses 2 seperate belts with a pocket or bucket suspended between them, also using the timing style belts allows you to have precise control.

[@bajo1914]

Great series. Very good job. May I ask what is the type and brand of the filamen? I like the metal finish very much :) Thans

[@hapajaja]

Do you have any advice for version and part tracking? I see you have part numbers but where do you track this information and how do you keep track of design iterations? Do you know of any resources to help learn this aspect of engineering?

[@daan3298]

Cool nut why not some pvc tubes and maybe some gates to let gravity get the parts where they need to go?

[@parvuselephantus]

Quick though about the 'pvc belt' - how about printing own belt? I mean something close to a tanks catellpilar where each section of catellpilar would be a tray. Just a thought I havn't spent much time, from somebody who doesn't have any idea about your project (for sure not a specialist at all), but this is internet - why not sharing :D

[@cidadaoPPT]

Brilliant, as always!

[@AgentDexter47]

This guy is playing factorio IRL

[@aterxter3437]

Am I the only one to think that a packing machine, at the base of each stack would be really helpful : The idea is that the machine put a bag between the end of the chute and the conveyor, as soon as one type of screws/nut/washer was counted and dropped into the bag, the bag is closed either by sealing or ziplock and put down into the conveyor's case. It might not be that difficult to close the zip type bag, with two rollers pressing the sides together, but I have no idea about the reliability of such a design

[@Jose-tw9bl]

This is just great

[@elmecpratap]

You are inspiration for designers. I am long waiting for your response on taking it up in India, we make packaging machine

[@jimsvideos7201]

Sublime as always.

[@s-ol]

Another great video :) For the next video, I'd be curious to know your thoughts on open-source hardware!

[@christopherhelmke]

Thank you! and yes, I will include this

[@CammanderDart]

What brand of boxes are these. I like the way they look

[@D-Khaz]

Why aren't you using your rotating CNC attachment for the smaller boxes? And where do you source your nice printed labels on the side of the box?

[@PhG1961]

Great ingenuity!