Week #5 - Journal
Lotus Blooming Lamp
Tell us about your assignment's idea for this week. Why do you care about this idea? What inspired you? (Please include images or links to sources of inspiration)
preliminary sketch of the design
THE IDEA for this week's assignment was to design and fabricate a card board model of a working electric circuit design of a functioning product. the preliminary sketch consisted of a base with the interface, the 3 petales of the flower, and the movement mechanism.
The inspiration for the design comes from the ever blooming lotus flower lamp by Jiri Praus. i was very interested to do this assignment because it's potential and it's direct integration with my final project. working with mechanisms and robotics is my passion and it gives me a chance to experiment with the screw action i intend to use as the movement mechanism in my project
Tool Chain
Which software/machines/materials did you use in the assignment? Why?
below are the tools i have learned to use in the first week of the maker diploma. utilizing these tools i was able to finalize this week's assignment
cutting knife
hot glue gun
super glue
different pliers
soldering iron
digital caliper
as for the materials i used the following :
cardboard
toung depressor
round plastic container
yellow painters tape
M10 screw, nut and washer
pcb breadboard
yellow painters tape
cardboard
wooden toung depressor
round plastic container
M10 screw, nut and washer
as for the electrec components i used the following :
crocodile connectors (multiple)
jumper wires (multiple)
breadboard (1)
input components :
momentary push button (4)
on off switch (1)
output components :
hobby gear reduction motor (1)
12 v lamp (1)
breadboard
12 v lamp(output component)
push button(input component)
on off switch (input component)
on off switch
hobby motor(output component)
on off switch
for this assignment i used a 9 volt power adaptor to power my components for the following reasons:
power adapter because this is a desk lamp and i don;t want it to be movable so i don't mind being tied to a power socket
i chose 9 volt because it is a voltage level suitable for this application since the lamp works on a range from 6 to 12 volts and the hobby mototr range is 5 to 9 volts
there for from all the power options a 9 volt was the right choice.
Design Process for lotus lamp
Explain the design and/or preparation process of your assignment. How did you use the tool or software to design and/or prepare your assignment before fabrication/implementation?
MEASURMENTS
i started taking measurement of the items i want to fit inside the lamp:
measuring the over all dimensions of the hoby motor since i will start with the mechanism.
measure the dimension of the plastic container to make sure the components will fit inside.
DESIGN
1- started with tinker cad to figure out the circuit design and test it
2- used an H bridge diagram to control the direction of the motor.
3- worked on minimizing the footprint of the 4 switches to be able to push on them 2 at a time for ease of use
4-a 9 v adapter was used to power the device connected in parallel for optimum load efficiency.
5 - parallel connection was optimum since it preserves the voltage drawen by each output load item and in the same time allows each component to run at it's optimum speed or brightness
the circute consists of 2 sides motor control and lamp on/off
circuit wiring diagram showing the H bridge connection and the lamp on off switch
Development/Implementation Process
Explain the development/implementation process of your assignment. How did you use the machine/tool to manufacture or implement the design of your assignment?
4- implement the diagram in real life and test the motor and lamp control
5 - noting that initially intended using 2 pot resistors to control the speed of the motor and the brightness of the lamp i ended up removing them since they were not really necessary.
original circuit (in the final version the 2 POT were removed)
5- after reaching the optimum design for the circuit it was time to start working on the cardboard model
6- started with the hobby motor housing for the mechanism
this video demonstrated the mechanism used in my device. it has the same basic action concept and same flipping mechanism but utilized in a different usage
7- after making the housing it was time to make the screw rails and guides to ensure the screw rotats perfcetly vertical and the nut is fixed in and can't rotate(this is what creates the up and down motion of the nut)
8- with the mechanism done it was time to start on the petales of the lotus flower
9- after a faild attempt to find out the angels of the petal panels i used sketchup and autocad to find out the dimensions of the shapes and the angles of the bracing in between
10- connecting the movement to the petals from the mechanism
part preparation and assembly
the final fabricated part
Overcoming Challenges
What kinds of challenges or problems did you face while doing the assignment, tutorials, or exercises? How did you solve them? Did you ask for help from an instructor or peer? Please provide a link to the tutorial or article that you used to solve your problem (if any)
11- after a faild attempt to find out the angels of the petal panels i used sketchup and autocad to find out the dimensions of the shapes and the angles of the bracing in between
12- SketchUp helped me to get a parallel projection of the angle for the lotus petal to be able to draw the petal design on flat cardboard b
helps me get 3 flat areas on autocad / 2 will be the petal design on flat cardboard and the 3rd helps me get the angle to bend them
shows the design i used for the petal and the angle i got from the sketchup parallel projection
there was a problem with the push buttons as they are not able to stay fixed on the breadboard and the connections around from the jumper wires will prevent a smooth interaction with the switch, so my solution was that i soldered them on to a PCB breadboard to bring the push buttons to the surface of the product, this was done after testing my wiring on the breadboard and making sure every thing was woking as planned
Final Project
How can you use the skills and knowledge that you've acquired this week in your final project?
this assignment helps alot in the design and finalization of understanding of the mechanism of the final project and a good trial of the movement i have decided to implement in my design
WOW!
What is the coolest thing that you've learned this week? What is something that you will never forget from this week?
Gamification - challenge 1
Weekly Digest
Tell us about any other cool things that you've made this week: in the Hands-on activity, tutorial examples, exercises, or any other cool mini-project that you tried out aside from the assignment.
Week Wrap Up In Pictures
