Week 10: Mark F.

To explore the feasibility of 3D printing specific components for the Astraeus rover, I researched materials used by NASA for space applications, including PEEK and ULTEM. These materials are the best for the finalized version of Astraeus but because we are making a prototype, PETG was picked because of it is the most practical choice due to its balance of strength, flexibility, and ease of printing. PETG offers strong structural integrity and environmental resistance. I printed test Wheel from Pedro's Rocker Boogie Design in PLA to ensure the dimensions were accurate and made any necessary design adjustments.

Before printing in PETG I decided on these parameters for all parts to make sure they are strong enough but still cost affective for our project.

Layer Height - 0.2mm

Wall count - 3

Horizontal Expansion - (-0.24)

Infill - 25%

Infill Pattern - Cubic

Support angle - 25

Bed Adhesion - Brim

Brim line count - 10

Using these print parameters I began printing the wheels for Astraeus in the OpenLab using the new Creality K1 Max.