Automatic Climbing Brush

Automatic Climbing Brushes have already been released in the market, and are excelling at their job of removing chalk off of slippery holds and making a climbers task much easier and more enjoyable. However, these brushes currently retail at around ~$200 making them inaccessible for those who don't want to spend a fortune on a simple tool for climbing. This project is one solution that tries to alleviate this problem, making a way for climbers to create their own automatic brush, while experiencing the fun and learnings of technology while saving money at the same time!

Materials:

1. DC Motor
2. 9V Battery
3. 9V Battery Connector
4. Wires
5. Switch
6. PWM Motor Controller
7. Climbing Brush
8. 3D Print Filament
9. Tape/Adhesive
10. Spare Fabric

ALTERNATIVES FOR CYLINDER CHASSIS:

1. Prebuilt Cylindrical Chassis (e.g. PET bottle) (optional)
2. Acrylic Sheet/Any sheet of a moldable material (optional)

Software:

1. 3D Modeling Software
2. 3D Printer Slicer (e.g. Ultimaker Cura)

Machines:

1. 3D Printer
2. Soldering Machine/Heat Gun (optional)

Make sure to acquire all of the required materials/electronics, ensuring that all these checks are satisfied:

1. DC Motor works and can support 9V
2. Using a multimeter to ensure that: 9V battery is relatively healthy (>8V), Wires function properly, 9V Battery connector functions well
3. 3D Print filament is not expired

As we need a PWM Motor Controller to control the speed of the fan, you could either solder the controller components yourself, procuring all the necessary materials, or get a pre-built one online.

The next step is to assemble our complete working circuit. Identify which sockets in your controller are meant for which part, there should usually be around 4 sockets, (+Motor, -Motor, + Battery, -Battery). Firstly, attach the respective wires of your DC motor to the terminals, which one does not matter yet as the polarity only determines if it will spin clockwise or counterclockwise, this will be important in step 5. Secondly, attach one of the battery to the battery connector then attach one of the wires, either the negative (-) terminal ONLY or positive (-) terminal ONLY to its respective socket in the controller. Whichever wire you don't attach to the controller, solder it to the switch, then solder another wire from the switch to another wire which will then be connected to the controller. Lastly, all that's left to do is test the circuit.

If everything was done correctly, then it should turn on, allowing you to change the speed of the motor by adjusting the knob, congrats!

If not, troubleshoot and test the different parts of the circuit individually again, identifying which specific component doesn't work, you may use a power source or a multimeter for this, depending which part you are testing

You can either create your own fan blade model from scratch, or get a model for free from an online catalogue (which is what I did) to save you the hassle. Using your 3D Slicing Software of choice, in this case I used Ultimaker Cura, import your created/downloaded fan model and adjust the size according to the end of your DC motor. For this step, I manually measured the diameter of the DC motor end and adjusted the center of the 3D Model to match it. Now, all that's left to do is to change the settings of your software to match that of your respective 3D Printer and filament, and print. Keep in mind that to minimize waiting time, you may use the lowest quality setting of the print to save time, as well as give you less hassle when tweaking the print just incase an error occurs mid print.

In this step, you may also 3D Print a custom cylindrical chassis for your build for a more streamlined look and a exact fit for your components. I decided to forego this step given the time, hassle and materials it takes to 3D print a cylinder big enough to fit all of my components, and I instead decided to use a spare 1 liter PET bottle I had, which you can do as well. Another alternative if you don't have a spare cylinder laying around is to get a sheet of a moldable material, for this I used an acrylic sheet, then get the circumference of your designed fan chassis and cut the width of your sheet accordingly. After, you can use a heat gun to mold the sheet into a cylindrical shape, being careful not to burn yourself.

If you decide to use a spare PET bottle like I did, then follow these steps to create your own chassis:

1. Cut the bottle right below the cap, ensuring that you are left with a open hole at the top.
2. Cut the bottle right above the bottom part of the bottle, leaving you with the lower end of the bottle.
3. Cut the bottle in half, then dispose the lower half.

Now you should be left with 2 parts, the upper half, where we will be assembling our components, and the bottom half, which we will use to cover our circuits after.

Now all that's left to do is to assemble our final circuit.

Firstly, we need to stick our fan to our motor, for this you can either friction fit the motor tip inside the fan if you accounted for that, or you can use adhesive (e.g. super glue) to attach the fan to the motor. Keep in mind that now the polarity of the motor matters, as if you attached the fan wrong, then by turning on the motor the fan will blow air inwards, which is the opposite of what we need. If this is the case, switch the positive (+) and negative (-) terminals of the motor in the controller to fix it and you should be good!

Secondly, attach the motor inside the cylinder around the top, making sure to center it so that the blade does not hit the sides and so that the air output is consistent. To do this, you can use a moldable material, here I used tape, and surround the motor so that it could stay in the center of the cylinder.

Third, the next step is to expose our adjustable components to the outside of the cylinder. We can do this by carving out holes/slits in the plastic cylinder to match the size of our switch and our knob exactly. If done correctly, all you need to do is fit the components through their respective holes and they will stay put and flush. If not, you may use tape to hold them in place in their respective slots.

Fourth, now that all the components are successfully attached, all that's left to do is attach the bottom of the plastic bottle, now serving as a sort of "lid" for the bottom of our fan, using an easily removable adhesive (such as tape) to attach the "lid" to the bottom of the bigger plastic piece. A removable adhesive is extremely recommended as in the case that one of the circuits needs troubleshooting, is broken, or the battery needs replacing, it will make disassembling much easier.

Lastly, attach a small strip of any spare fabric to the side of the fan, taping/sticking its 2 ends to the plastic, and leaving the middle open to make a makeshift brush holder.

Now you have a completely working automatic climbing brush that you made yourself, and for cheap as well!

If you want to improve it even further given the time and resources, one recommendation is to make the battery a rechargeable one, instead of a disposable 9V, making another slot in the fan for it to charge.