PS70: Intro to Digital Fabrication

<div class="textcontainer"> <h1 style = "text-align: center;">Week 3: Hand Tools and Fabrication</h1> The objective for this week was familiarizing ourselves with shop tools and motor mechanisms. With this knowlege, we were tasked to create a kinetic sculpture for this weeks' assignment that includes a simple motor and a power source. <h2 style = "font-family: 'Gill Sans', 'Gill Sans MT', Calibri, 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The Design</h2> I decided to expand on my box design from this past week's assignment <mark2><a href="../02_2Ddesign/index.html">(2D Design)</a></mark2> by adding a mechanical eye that blinks. I envisioned a "ferby"-esque creature for my kinetic sculpture. <image style = "width: 70%" src = "3.1.png" alt = "Design" class = center> </image> For the physical mechanism, I imagined a gear system attached to a hinged arm. I would need to slow down the fixed motor speed with a combination of gear series and gear ratio. My largest concern was fitting all of the system neatly into the box. <image style = "width: 100%" src = "3.2.png" alt = "Sketch" class = center> </image> But before I get to the mechanical structure of the sculpture, I had to modify the body of the creature. I did this with adding a hole in the face of the box and adding a sphere (eyeball) and half sphere (eyelid) fitted into eachother. <image style = "width: 70%" src = "3.3.png" alt = "Sketch" class = center> </image> The eye and eyelid was 3D printed and skewered on a rod which I secured on a frame fitted for the body of the box. Furthermore, the frame was secured onto the box with screws that bore through the box from the bottom. Similarly, I CADed a quick stand to securely hold my motor in place. <image style = "width: 100%" src = "3.4.png" alt = "Sketch" class = center> </image> <h2 style = "font-family: 'Gill Sans', 'Gill Sans MT', Calibri, 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Trial and Error</h2> I removed the back wall of the body for easy access to the mechanical components in the time being. I will for attach it back onto the body for next week's assignment as it is most important for me to focus on having a working mechanism for this week rather than the overall asethetic. I started off with simplying experimenting with varying lengths of the hinged arms, wire configuration, and motor placement. <video width="70%" controls autoplay muted class = center src="IMG_0792 2.mov" type="video/mp4" > </video> I realized that the gear was too small so I had to increase the size from d=50mm to d=65mm as an attempt to increase the amount I was able to open the eyelid. <h2 style = "font-family: 'Gill Sans', 'Gill Sans MT', Calibri, 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Final Product</h2> Once I was satisfied with the overall movement of the mechanism, I secured the motor down to the final placement. <image style = "width: 70%" src = "3.6.png" alt = "Sketch" class = center> </image> Working mechanism: <video width="70%" controls autoplay muted class = center src="IMG_1880.MOV" type="video/mp4" > </video> I plan on finalizing the overall aesthetic of the sculpture for next week's assignment as I plan to continue improving this mechanism for the micocontroller assignment... <image style = "width: 20%" src = "Fabrication.png" alt = "End Pic" class = center> </image> </div>