Design & Fabrication of Stippling Machine

My Graduate design project, 'Design and Fabrication of Stippling Machine' is the most enticing design project, I worked on. Stippling is the marking of plastic surfaces for increased grip or aesthetic purposes. The inspiration behind being, the time and effort taken by a 'stippler' (person who stipples) who manually stipples the plastic surface by means of a soldering iron. The process is very time consuming and requiring intensive concentration & patience, moreover the corresponding pay is really less not to mention the health risk one poses by inhaling burnt plastic fumes. Hence we designed and built a unique functioning prototype under $3000 for automating this process. The machine is basically a 5-Axis CNC gantry style machine, with working area of 150x150x75 mm. The automation of the stippling process can help people who stipple by hand by increasing the number of stippled grips and won’t pose a risk to the health of the person stippling. Moreover, stippling can be applied to myriad of other applications both for increasing function and aesthetic qualities.