Piston Tank with 3D Printed Parts

[tracer21]

Wanted to share some work I've been doing on a Piston Tank with 3D Printed Components.



Tank Caps, Cylinder Head, Gears and Mounts are all 3D Printed. Piston position is powered by a Open-Loop Stepper with 4:1 Gear Reduction controlled by an Arduino Nano. Takes about 30 seconds for the piston to move the full length of the tank.



Gears are Herringbone design to minimize axial forces.

[JWLaRue]

Looks really good. Does the Arduino sense when the piston is at the full/empt position?

-Jeff

[tracer21]

Yes, when power is first applied the piston homes and triggers a limit switch at the full position. Once this has finished it can then be moved to any position.



Uses ~1.4Amps @ 12 Volts when in use, after movement is done the stepper driver is shutoff and only the Arduino needs power.