Ultrasonic Welding Machine

thingiverse

Goal - To create an ultrasonic welder for synthetic fabrics. "Ultrasonic Sewing"... This is an unproven idea / work in progress... 4-5-2020 Initial Seed Idea - A stationary ultrasonic tool horn presses against a geared and knurled imprinting wheel; The geared wheel serves as the feed dog mechanism to feed the material through the machine and presses the material between the ultrasonic tool head. An assumption is made that the ultrasonic vibration will assist the stationary side to slide across the material. If this does not work, then a circular ultrasonic horn will be explored. Foot operated feed mechanism with adjustable stepper motor speed. Ramp up/down and speed settings can be programmed into the stepper controller. Can also be used in stationary mode / spot welding mode. Ultrasonic welder horn is mounted to a linear rail, and gravity ,weights ,or a spring can be used to set the normal force. The geared imprinting wheel has a M3 belt tooth. M3-310 or larger will work to get started. It is anticipated that the ultrasonic vibrations will serve to keep the material moving across the stationary horn, but this has yet to be tested. The imprinting wheel should likely be aluminum, however, there may be other suitable materials as well, so experiment around. Silicone, nylon? CNC or 3D Printed metal could both be tried for the imprinting wheel. A stepper motor and bi-directional stepper speed controller with DC power supply will be needed to advance the stepper motor. Done: Resized all 2040 Rails to standard lengths. (No cutting required) Mechanical: NEMA 17 Stepper motors - T8 Nuts / Anti Backlash M3-310 Belt and printable stepper gear. Bed design / housing / snagless cover Bed is a 7 inch by 2mm thick Aluminum disc - Available pre-cut on e-bay. Minimize frame ,weight , overhangs once design is completed - more compact is better Electronics: Speed and direction controller. Foot actuated. Modes - Auto Acceleration ramp up/down to max acceleration set by user. Possibly a Proportional foot controller; or Momentary with auto ramp speed controller. Reverse button(s) foot and hand. Multiple locations/redundant controls. Emergency Stop. Overheating monitoring. Duty Cycle calculations. Fusion 360 Files Included; Please re-post your work. Look for the latest revision number in the series for the latest file. I think it's interesting watching a product evolve.