FlowIO Assembly Diary
- Jiawen Yao
- Mar 13, 2023
- 3 min read
Updated: Apr 7, 2023
Red means not fully prepared
Parts List:
all 3D printed parts
1 Microcontroller Adafruit Feather Sense nRF52840
2 Skoocom SC3101PM ( not sure how long it will take to get to Berlin)
3.7V 350mAh LiPo Battery for pumps
Material List
Gorilla 2 Part Epoxy
Kapton Tape
Ultrathin Solder 0.3mm diameter
Letter Paper
Desoldering Braid
Double-sided tape
Sillicone tube
Tools List:
3D Printer:Ultimaker S3 and Objet260 Connex3
Office Printer
Soldering Station
Microscope for Soldering
Antistatic Mat
Desoldering Pump
Tweezers
Scissors
Wire Cutters
Wire Strippers
Vice Gripper
Mixing Rod (for epoxy)
Heat Gun (for Ribbon Cable Modification)
Fine grit file (for PCB headers)
Micro USB Cable
Pressure Gauge (for testing)
Soft Actuator (for testing)
Syringe
Software List
Arduino
Adafruit Feather nRF52 Toolchain
FlowIO Library
FlowIO Firmware
Parts preparation
3d printed parts
Print all parts with Ultimaker S3 （besides the valve cap and valve plugs)
setting:
Layer Height: 0.1 mm
Wall thickness: 0.8mm
Infill: 100%
Print speed:40mm/s
Travel speed: 80mm/s
Support structure: Tree
Support Branch Angle: 60°
Print Valve Cap and Valve plugs with Objet260 Connex3
setting: Defult
Wash it with Alcohol under 70%
Microcontrollor
Adafruit Feather nRF52840 Sense, 4516
If you are in Germany, you can purchase it on this website
Battery for pumps
LiPo Akku 3,7V Lithium Polymer Batterie 2-Pin JST-PH Stecker 350mAh 38x19x5,5mm
If you are in Germany, you can purchase it on this website
I didn't find the same Battery as mentioned in tutorial, but this one has similar size.
Material preparation
Gorilla 2 Part Epoxy
If you are in Germany, you can purchase it on this website
Kapton Tape
If you are in Germany, you can purchase it on this website
Ultrathin Solder 0.3mm diameter
If you are in Germany, you can purchase it on this website
Sillicone tube (ID*OD)
Microcontrollor Pre
Disolder the battery connector
Tool:
Finished
Burn the bootloader ( 2h )
After following the tutorial for setup, I was about to burn the bootloader. But the Arduino started to report an error. At this point, I rechecked Adafruit's tutorial and realized that before the burning bootloader, I needed to press the RESET button on the featherboard twice to enter the DFU mode.
After entering this Mode, the round LED on the featherboard turns green instead of blinking all the time.
After uploading the hardware test example, the round LED will turn white, as shown in the image:
Valve pra ( 7h +24h)
During the stage of inserting the valve plug, I mainly hammered it in with a hammer. When the plug was almost fully inserted, I used the bottom of the handle of a tool to roll back and forth over the top of the plug until it was fully inserted into the valve.
When sanding the small iron piece at the bottom of the valve, it's actually not necessary to make it as smooth as you might think. As long as it reaches the level shown in the picture.
Main Driver Subassembly ( 2h )
This part was particularly challenging for me because I encountered two pins that were blocked. I heated them from the bottom, inserted the male pin, and then they were directly soldered onto it.
I'm not sure if it is technically correct, but it's working as intended.
Charging...
Valves Subassembly ( 7h + 24 h)
I never would have thought that the most challenging part of assembling the valve would be this tube. The valve cap I received was too large in size and I tried to heat it to 160°C at the beginning, so this tube is died *_*
Therefore, make sure that your heat gun can reach a low temperature of 100 ℃. I purchased a new one , which took a week to arrive.
So, I used the valve cap that I had printed one size smaller, and it went in smoothly
I used a particularly useful tool with adjustable distance between its two clamps. With this tool, I was able to easily insert all metal locking brackets :)
Main Module Assembly ( 15mins )
Small Pump Module Assembly ( 30mins)
FlowIO Self Tests & firmware ( 30mins)
Finished!
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