Embedded Files
September 1, 2016- Today in engineering class, I worked on creating my tabbed box on Inkscape. I followed a video on Youtube about how to create a laser cut box step by step to find out how to make the sides and bottom of a box by either adding tabs onto the sides or cutting the tabs out of the sides. Later, I will have to adjust the measurements of the tabs to the width of cardboard in order for the sides to fit together to make a box. I found it was easier as I went along, but I struggled with learning how to space the tabs and create the tabs to begin with. (Digital Cutting- Laser Cut Box)
September 6, 2016- Today in engineering class, I worked on creating a new tabbed box with different dimensions than the video and the box I made yesterday. I used parametric design in order to copy the tabs and used the dimensions of .5 in by .3 in, and it was challenging to find out how to find out how to put the tabs at .15 inches outside the rectangle or side because there was no specific line for .15 and you had to add or subtract .15 to the edge of the rectangle I wanted. I eventually figured out how to do this and it became easier. I also had to create two other rectangles for the bottom and other side of the box which was easy because they have the same dimensions of the first box I made, but I did not have enough time to add the tabs to the other rectangles. It had a very similar form as the first box I made, which is why it was easier to create. (Digital Cutting- Laser Cut Box)
September 7, 2016- Today in engineering class, I completed my design for my tabbed box that has the correct measurements corresponding with cardboard. Similar to yesterday, I used tabs with the dimensions of .5 by .3 inches and placed them .15 inches into the corresponding rectangle. Also similar to yesterday and September 1st, I used the union feature on Inkscape in order to make the tabs and the rectangle be one object, and I used the difference feature when I placed a copy of one of the sides on the other side or the bottom in order to make spaces where the tabs will fit in when the object is printed. Today, I did not find it very challenging to create the sides and bottom of the tabbed box because the steps to creating a tabbed box are beginning to be very routine for me and easy to remember, and the math for deciding the how far the tab should go into the box became a lot easier today than initially. (Digital Cutting- Laser Cut Box)
September 8, 2016- Today in engineering class, I saved my tabbed box into my Google Drive as a pdf and svg. I saved it to a pdf in order to later laser cut my box using a laser cutter and cardboard as the material of the box. Also, today I prepared to make a vinyl sticker that was a more "advanced" sticker. I had to find an image that I could weave. Weaving a sticker means that their is a design or places in the sticker that are not part of the sticker that you have to take out using tweezers. I chose the word lacrosse with a lacrosse stick in the a, therefore I can weave the letters out and the holes in the lacrosse stick. I learned that even if I am not on the computer that connects to the silhouette maker, I can download a silhouette or image to the app that is used for the silhouette maker and download the image to the app if it is installed on the computer. Then, after I traced the lacrosse image I wanted, getting rid of the box around it by tracing it, then I could scale it to whatever size I wanted and download it to my Google Drive. That allowed me to be able to access it on whatever computer I want. It was hard at first to figure out how to download the image onto the app silhouette maker and trace it, but once I remembered the steps to making my first vinyl sticker, it became easier to trace it and download it to my drive and silhouette maker. Next class I plan to print out my sticker. (Digital Cutting- Vinyl Cutting)
September 9, 2016- Today in engineering class, I printed and cut my "advanced" vinyl sticker. I decided to create the word lacrosse from the silhouette maker. My sticker is 6 in by 2 in and had a mini lacrosse stick within the a. The letters and the lacrosse stick required me to practice a new skill, weaving. After I used the same design I made yesterday on my Google Drive, I printed my vinyl sticker and used transfer tape in order to get my sticker from the piece of sticker material onto my planar. Once my whole design was on the transfer tape, I was able to carefully weave the letters out of the outline of the letters in order to just have the outline of the word on the transfer tape. The hardest part of creating this sticker was weaving the the small, extra pieces of material out of the a in order to make the lacrosse stick. Through the process of weaving, I learned that weaving is easier to achieve with tweezers, and you have to be patient when weaving because you want to be precise and not rip part of the design that is not supposed to be taken out. (Digital Cutting- Vinyl Cutting)
September 12, 2016- Today in engineering class, I used a new website called Lynda.com, which we use to watch tutorials on different programs and today I watched the 123d design tutorial. 123d design is a cad, computer aided-design, website in order to build objects and print it using the laser cutter or the 3d printers. The tutorial covered the basics of 123d design such as the ways to look at the screen, zooming in and out, top, bottom, or side view. Also drawing shapes, and creating basic shapes with the tools that provide the shapes for you called primitives, or basic shapes. Also how to create arches and lines using the two-point and three-point arcs and the line tools. As the steps went along, I tested some of the steps out in order to make sure I had the concept down. Overall I though this was easy because it was mostly review of a software that I used last year and the year before. I did not learn a lot of new tools today but my mind was refreshed from the previous years. (3d Printing- 123d Design)
September 13, 2016- Today in engineering class, I used the laser cutter to make and cut out my parametric design pieces. I made 16 squares, rectangles, and circles with 4 tabs inside of each individual shape and used cloning to make it easier. I downloaded the pdf for the design of the "building blocks" or parametric design that I created a little while ago and used the settings for cardboard on the laser cutter, which are 10 speed by 100 power by 10 frequency on the larger laser cutter we have in the lab. I used a piece of cardboard that was 30 in by 20 in and then after I set the correct settings on the laser cutter, I printed my design. Since in my design I set the outlines to .001, all of the shapes and tabs cut out so I didn't have to do anything but design and print the parametric designs. After the shapes were cut out I was able to put or fit them together like legos. I learned that the settings on the laser cutter are very important because if you have the settings for another material or the speed is more than it should be, it could result in a fire in the laser cutter and then you would have to reprint and stop the laser cutter and the fire. I did not find this very hard today because I learned to use the laser cutter in 8th grade and proper settings and sizes for cutting cardboard. (Digital Cutting- Inkscape)
September 14, 2016- Today in engineering class, I watched more tutorial videos on Lynda.com. I watched and tested the skills on 123d design and learned how to create patterns such as the rectangular pattern, circular patterns, pattern on a path, creating a pattern of holes, and using the mirror tool. I also learned how to use the text tool to put it on shapes and can make the letters a solid instead of a 2d object. The other skills that I learned and watched in video were importing svgs and 3d files which can be useful in a project with many steps and make it easier to create objects and just add something to the imports. Finally the tutorial showed the different materials that can be used on the different objects and also how to share and export my design. Overall these videos were reviewing the skills that I had learned in the previous year, like the patterns and importing files, but there were a few new skills, like creating a patterned with holes and lofting, that will be helpful in my future projects that will be interesting to me to try them for the first time. Compared to other computer aided design (CAD) softwares, I believe that 123d Design is a better cad program than Tinkercad because this software has more complex skills to improve my projects, such as lofting, subtracting, merging, orbiting, and splitting faces of objects, and has a variety of ways to create a similar project but can have very different approaches to the same project which I find very interesting, and it shows how many different features this software has. Where as Tinkercad is a very simple software and does not have a variety of tools or ways to approach a design. It is more straight forward, and you can't be as creative with it. I just need to work a little more with 123d design to fully grasp the features because I think it will be more helpful in more of my projects than Tinkercad. (3d Printing- 123d Design)
September 15, 2016- Today in engineering class, I was able to print and cut my orginal tabbed box made off from dimensions in the video I watched and cut the tabbed box I made with the correct dimetions corrosponding with cardboard. The settings for both boxes when cutting were 12 speed, 100 power, 50 frequency. In designing the boxes, I used .001 in order to cut through the box. When I made my first tabbed box, since the dimensions were not specific to the cardboard, the sides fit together, but the tabs on the box were hanging over the sides. That is why I had to create another box which I had already created in Inkscape that fit the dimensions of cardboard to make a new and improved tabbed box. Once I downloaded the pdf and laser cut my second tabbed box, I put the sides together, and the box fit perfectly together without any over extending tabs or sides. I learned that if your first design does not work, it is similar to trial and error, but you can adjust parts of the design in order to make it new and improved design that is better than the first, and you can have a better final product in the end. I did not find anything especially difficult today when laser cutting my boxes because I just had to enter the settings for cardboard and press print. (Digital Cutting- Laser Cut Box)
September 16, 2016- Today in engineering class, I watched and practiced more skills from the videos on Lynda.com. Today, I re-watched the videos about 123d design on importing svgs and 3d files. Importing svgs is also importing a sketch, and after I import the svg of my choice from my documents or downloads, I can use all of the different tools on 123d design that I learned in the previous videos such as creating fillets, adding polylines, using the extend feature, or just moving lines around. I can also extrude this sketch design and make it a 3d object, but I could also just have imported my object as a solid instead of a sketch if I wanted to do this and then make adjustments from there using tools like tweak. I also learned that I can import a 3d file from another CAD software into 123d deign if I wanted to as well. I did not find this very difficult today because most of the topics the videos on 123d design are review from projects I have created last year. Although, I found it interesting that I can import the same file as a sketch and also a solid and then make adjustments to it. I think that will be helpful for my future projects. (3d Printing- 123d Design)
September 19, 2016- Today in engineering class, I finished watching and actively practicing the last of the Lynda.com videos. Today, I re-watched the projecting sketches, splitting faces and solids, using materials, saving and exporting, combining while constructing, hiding solids and sketches, lofting, shelling a 3d primitive, merging objects, subtracting objects, and intersecting objects and followed the steps on the video to practice these skills by physically doing these techniques. I thought the hardest thing that I was trying to do was the lofting and there are two types of loft. I have to use two or three objects and hover them above the first object and then use the loft tool. I thought this was challenging at first, but the finished product will be useful for creative and interesting projects later. I thought that the other videos I watched were very straight forward and simply, but can help a lot when creating any new project such as merging objects or subtracting objects. Other videos I watched, such as creating materials and hiding solids and sketches, I thought was interesting to know how to do, but I will probably not use these when creating new projects because I find no advantage to changing the material of an object because it will not print in that material anyway. Overall, the videos today and the Lynda tutorial was very informative and will be helpful in creating future projects with all the new skills and tools I learned and practiced using. (3d Printing- 123d Design)
September 20, 2016- Today in engineering, Mr. Dubick taught us how to use the new 3d printers called a Lulzbot mini. They are still 3d printers like the polar 3ds we used last year, but these have slightly different preparation steps. The first step to preparing the printers is to use a usb to download an stl file from thing a verse and then plug in the usb to the computer that is connected to the printers and start up the program, Cura and download the stl file from the usb. After I would download the file I want, I would wipe down the platform on the 3d printer with alcohol. Then after the platform is prepared, I would go to control and then set the temperature to 205 and the bed temperature to 60, but the temperature might drop in the process of printing slightly. Mr. Dubick taught us that we needed to extrude the pla at first when the temperature is a at 205 degrees, and if it does not extrude, I need to pull out the pla, use wire cutters to cut it, push it back in, and then see if it is working now by pressing extrude. The pla, when extruding, needs to be going straight down. Then after I scale my file to what I want the dimensions to be, then I can print the file. I learned that if my file or object has feet or has a thin bottom or no surface area, then I need press the print brim box for my object to have supports. Hearing Mr. Dubick teach us how to use the new printers will make it a lot easier to 3d print future projects because now I have a general idea of how to work the Lulzbot mini 3d printers. (3d Printing- 3d Printing)
September 21, 2016- Today in engineering class, I used a usb and the website thing a verse to download my design for a 3d printed object. I plan to print my object next class because the printers were all taken today. I first had to select my design or object; I chose a duck and searched duck in thing a verse. After I selected the duck of my choice, I had to figure out that I could not just press download to make it an stl file that is needed for the printers. I had to select the separate files and then download the individual file. After I figured out how to do that, which was challenging at first because I had to figure out how to make the design the correct stl file I needed. I was then able to use one of the usbs we have in our FAB lab and download it on to the usb, and later I can connect the usb and easily access my design. Since I was able to go through this today, it will make doing this process a lot easier and faster. Next class I will use the same usb and download my duck design and follow the steps for 3d printing that I learned yesterday.
(3d Printing- 3d Printing)
September 22, 2016- Today in engineering class, I 3d printed the design I downloaded last class of a duck. I used the same usb that I downloaded my duck design to and hooked it up to the computer that was hooked up to the 3d printer. Then I scaled my duck to be a smaller size in order to finish it in under 30 minutes. I then set the correct temperatures for the printer of 205 degrees and 60 degrees for the bed temperature. I then extruded the pla, and once I realized the pla was extruding and went in a straight line, I was able to print my design. Once I printed my design, I learned that the temperature will drop a little during the process of printing on these new 3d printers, but it did not effect my duck design. Creating this object was primarily for understanding the new, Lulzbot printers we have in the FAB lab, not for creating just any object. Now that I have had a "trial run" with the new 3d printers, I believe that the more I use the printers the more natural and easier it will be, just as easy as the polar 3d printers we used last year, but these will be even better for printing different things to use in my projects. (3d Printing- 3d Printing)
September 23, 2016- Today in engineering class, I worked on finding an idea for our new project that we were just assigned. We are required to make or design and 3d print an object that can only be made using the 3d printer and not with any of the other tools we have in our FAB lab such as the laser cutter. For example we cannot make a box because that can be made with the laser cutter as I have done before. I was looking for inspiration today on websites such as Pinterest, thing a verse, and fab academy. There we some creative ideas on these websites, but I couldn't help but second guess myself and the use of other tools in the FAB lab and their capabilities. I thought of ideas such as 3d printing a brush or a mug or cup but I keep thinking that the tools such as the laser cutter have features that I just haven't used yet that are capable of these things, which is making this project an even bigger challenge. This is a hard project especially because we have to think outside of the box and be very creative. I hope to pick what I want my project to be on and start working on it very soon. (3d Printing- 3d Printing)
September 26, 2016- Today in engineering class, Mr. Dubick showed us a video about the future in technology and how many advancements are useful and helping our society, but what these inventions are not showing is how many jobs they replace. For example, like uber, they are working on the technology to not have to use drivers to drive the car, which is replacing the many part-time workers uber has now. This is also happening with truck drivers and these technology "replacements" go way back to when people had to pick the seeds out of cotton, and then people invented the cotton gin. The invention was portrayed as great and it really helped with time and efficiency, but nothing was mentioned of the many families and people who picked cotton seeds and lost their jobs. From this video I learned that technology can have it's perks and is helping move our world forward and making obstacles easier to handle, but it also has a down side of people losing jobs, which should make people worry about the future of jobs in the world if this trend keeps continuing. Mr. Dubick also showed us some websites that would give us inspiration for the project that we will be making in the second semester with some requirements, but based off of our skills that we have been taught, we will make an object of our choice. (Extra)
September 27, 2016- Today in engineering class, I figured out what I wanted to do for my project that can only be made from a 3d printer. It was very hard for me to come up with and idea that could only solely be made from the 3d printer. Today I learned to think that all of the other tools we can use are subtractive processes, but the 3d printer is an additive process, and a way to add things to my projects rather than subtract can to be to put something inside of something. The fact that whatever I make is an additive process rather than a subtractive process is the reason I can only manufacture it through 3d printing. This lead me to think to not just create a box and put something inside of it, but make a box made of rings and are all connected and have a ball inside of it that will not be able to come out of the rings after I 3d print it. Today, I began to create my design and began interlocking the ring to form the box. This requires me to look at the rings at different points on the grid and use the orbit tool and also use the move and scale tool, in order to tilt and move the rings slightly so they can interlock. I learned that when having a additive process rather than subtracting process, it allows me to put objects inside of objects, whereas I can't do that with a tool used from subtraction like the laser cutter or milling machine. It was hard to come up with an idea for this project, but I finally did. (3d Printing- 3d Printing)
September 28, 2016- Today in engineering class, I continued to work on my box made of rings and added the ball into the center. It has been hard to form the rings into a chain and form a box out of the chain because I have to position it just right so the rings interlock and connect. It was also a big challenge to put the ball into the center of the rings. I realized I should have put the sphere in first and then built the rings around the sphere, but instead I had to remove some of the rings I already interlocked and place the ball in and start to re-position some of the rings. I have to close the gaps so the ball will not be allowed to escape by adding more rings, and at the same time I have to adjust the size of the ball and rings so the ball will not escape. It is very challenging for me to have all of these things fit together, yet not touch, be a respectable size so the ball cannot escape or look like it can be placed in the rings. Next class, I will make these adjustments to the rings and ball until it will appear like the ball cannot escape the rings.
(3d Printing- 3d Printing)
September 29, 2016- Today in engineering class, I finished my rings containing a ball inside of it or my, 3d printer is the only thing I could use to create this object, project. I had to connect some more rings today and close the gaps of where the ball could possibly fall out. It was hard to connect all or most of the gaps of my project, and yet keep the rings from touching the ball. I had to move the rings around to where some of the rings are together and overlapping and some are interlocking, but the ball remained in the center without anything touching it. After I complete my project, I used one of the usbs in our FAB lab and saved my project as a stl and then downloaded it to the usb, so hopefully I will be able to print my object tomorrow and hopefully the ball will stay within the rings. (3d Printing- 3d Printing)
September 30, 2016- Today in engineering class, I further explored or looked at possible project ideas for the second semester. We were told to choose three different options and think about the advantages and disadvantages there is to each project. My favorite website to explore future projects was instructables, and I was most interested in creating something like a speaker but also the idea of using LEDs to create something is also very cool to me and interesting. My three project ideas are a speaker, a led light saber, or just a lamp or something that lights up like my last name.
The speaker idea is very interesting to me and something that I think would be cool to say that I built and customized, and it would be something that I could use everyday. On the downside of building a speaker, it requires me to spend a lot of money on some of the parts like the parts that actually make the object a real speaker and not just something that projects the noise. Overall I think it would be very cool to make and I could even incorporate the necessary skills that are required for this project very easily and possibly if I have enough time and resources I could add some LED lights and some vinyl stickers to make it even more customized.
Another project idea would be a light saber, which I find very cool, and I can use things such as LEDs to make it light up, which I want to have the ability to work with because I have an interest with the lights. An advantage to this besides it would be really cool, and I would be able to incorporate the necessary skills in this project and more skills that interest me, is that as far as I'm concerned the supplies necessary to build a light saber is not very expensive, and also on instructables it shows some tutorials that would be very helpful to building these designs in various ways and incorporating ideas from different designs. On the downside, I don't know if building a light saber would be considered an okay object to build for this project and many other people in my class want to build this as well, which might prevent me the option to make it. Overall this project seems very fun and it interests me very much.
My third option for a project would be creating a lamp or a nightlight or just something like my last name that lights up, but more likely something that would use leds and be able to sink or light up to music, therefore I would be able to use LEDs and have more freedom to choose the design of my project and what I want it to be like and be creative in how I want the LEDs to be like and how I want to incorporate the necessary skills for this project in different ways that I may not be able to in the other two projects. On the downside, I don't find this project as interesting as the light saber and the speaker, and it requires me to think more outside of the box, which is not always a bad thing, but it might cause an issue with me thinking creatively on a time limit with the semester. I still think this project would be fun to "mess around" with and experiment with different skills on the different tools, and it is cheaper. It is definitely still a possibility for my future project as well as the other 2 ideas, and there is a very good tutorials about it on instructables, which would make finding what materials I need easier and building it easier. (Second Semester Project Ideas)
October 4, 2016- Today in engineering class, we began working with and learning the parts of our electronic kits that we just purchased. This included arduinos and the breadbox. We learned the function of the different buttons and lights on the arduino such as the reset button and where to find out how much power it has and if it is on and many other different devices, and when we practiced using the arduino, we were able to see the power light and the light up in green that says on and blue which is labeled 13, which if both of them are lit I know the power is on. I also learned that the breadbox has different settings of power and depending on where you connect the wires or cords or other connecting devices is how much power you get. Also with the breadbox you cannot connect the wires or cords to the two spots exactly next to each other because the left side is positive and the right side has a negative connection. We will learn more in future classes and further advance our knowledge on arduinos and electronics. (Mechatronics- Electronics/Arduino)
October 5, 2016- Today in engineering class, we continued working with our spark fun electronic or arduino kits. We began experimenting with LEDs and learned more about connecting wires and using the breadbox and what to do if my arduino board does not look like it is on or have any power. When the arduino does not look like it is on or doesn't have power, then I should check three things, first the battery, then wiring, then the cables and cords for arduinos. I had to do this today when my led light would not turn on and the lights to show there was power. I used several different methods, but eventually I learned how to fix or make the led lights work again. I learned that like water, the power on the breadbox goes down, and that there are different types of power on the arduinos to put the wires into such as digital power. Also there is a usb port on the arduino and a place to plug in a cord that could possibly connected to a battery. We also experimented, when attempting to make the LEDs light up, with resistors and the importance or which resistor to use because if it is the wrong one, it could burn out the led or short circuit it. We used a circuit in this experiment because our source of power was the battery connected to the arduino, the conductors were the wires, and we used a resistor, and the led all allowed these items in a circuit to turn into light in the led. We will continue learning new skills on electronics that we will later be able to incorporate into our second semester projects, possibly. (Mechatronics- Arduino/Electronics)
October 6, 2016- Today in engineering class, we re-did making an led light up in order to understand it further. The red wires I used meant hot and the black wires represent ground because they will be closer to the ground. I put the first wire on the power 5v and on 12 on the rail of the breadbox. I put the other red wire at 9 on the rail and 10 in the center of the breadbox. I put the first black wire on gnd power and 14 on the rail. I put the second black wire at 15 on the rail and 17 in the center. I placed the resistor right behind last black wire and right behind the short leg of the led and the last red wire is horizontal to the long leg of the led. I learned that long leg of the led is positive and so it has a close connection to the red wires, and the short leg is negative so it has more of a ground or black wire connection, so the long leg is going up and the short leg is going down on the breadboard. The led has polarity and so the direction of the legs does matter, but the resistor does not so the direction does not matter. We also experimented with getting the ends of two wires wet and attaching them to a battery and placing them on our tongues. I could feel it more when the wires were closer together. I learned that the further away the wires were, the more resistance. (Mechatronics- Arduino Acting as a Battery)
October 7, 2016- Today in engineering class, we continued to work with leds in our arudino kits and troubleshooting, which is like fixing or looking for the problem if it is not working. We were in partners and one partner left the room while the other rearranged the arduino board and the wiring and the led. Then, the partner came back in and had to fix the arduino. We had to check the battery and connection with the battery, the cable, is the arduino on- do I see the blue and green flashing lights. If the led is not lighting up now, I can check the connection to the jumpers, are one of the wires connected to positive and one connected to the ground- are the wires or jumpers going from ground and hot, the polarity of the led- is the long leg going positive and the short leg going negative, are the wires in the wrong components, is it the right resistor. Finally, if I have checked all of these things and the led is still not lighting up, then the led might have burned out possibly because of the resistor or the polarity. I had to go through this checklist and a lot of these things were occurring, but in the end, after checking these specific details I was able to achieve my goal of the led lighting up and learned the new skill of troubleshooting. (Mechatronics- Arduino Acting as a Battery)
October 11, 2016- Today in engineering class, we worked on programing the arduinos. First we had to install the Arduino program onto our mac computers. We had to go to Arduino.cc and download version 1.7.10 to the macs. We had to delete the original Arduino program that was out of date, and this program was called Arduino 3, but we left it named as it was. We also changed the wiring on our ardiunos so instead of a solid led light we changed the red or hot wire to pin 13 power on the digital power side of our arduino instead of its original 5v power. This caused our led to start blinking on and off. After installing the Arduino program, we used the basic blink example that was already created for us. We were able to use this to control the speed of the led and how fast in blinked. I learned that the lower the number we programmed into the blink example, the faster the led blinked and the less time there was in-between blinking after we downloaded the "command" or program onto the arduino. This is just the beginning of learning about arduinos. We will later expand on our knowledge and be able to control bigger and more powerful things than a led.
(Mechatronics- Blinking Lights with an Arduino)
October 13, 2016- Today in engineering class, we worked further on programming our arduinos and the leds flashing. After plugging the arduino into the computer, I made sure the board setting was on Arduino Uno and the port was on the usb's serial number and not bluetooth. My arduino was already set up to have the led flash, from the other day. I got to experiment with the led and the delay settings of the led on the program Arduino, so the speed of the flashing of the led was either increased or decreased depending on the digit I replaced the default program with. To send the new code or flashing pattern to the arduino, I had to verify or compile what speed and delays I wanted the led to be and then upload it. The delays were in milliseconds. I saved the default settings as blinkZoe, with no spaces and capitalization for what would be a space in words for saving different programs or documents on the program Arduino. Blink was the original example program I was using. After I saved the program, I learned that the coding or programming for this specific arduino was integer ledPin=13;. The variable is ledPin, and the variable is in words not letters. The pin number is 13. The semicolon is used to go to the next line of programming, and everything ends in semicolons. Then there is a void code, and void means either input or output. The code for void is void setup () {. For this project it should be output, and the digital rights code should be (ledPin, high) and (ledPin, low). After I learned about the coding features, my class changed the pin number the program was operating off of to pin number 6. In order to make the blinking codes transfer to the arduino, I learned that we have to change the coding on the program to not ledPin=13, but in this case ledPin=6. Then I was able to see it work equally as well operating from a different pin. I thought it was interesting how because of the coding in the program when we switched the pin number the led would not work. It showed me how specific coding can be and how you can change the pin on the arduino and still have the same results as before if you change the programming first. (Mechatronics- Blinking Lights with an Arduino)
October 14, 2016- Today in engineering class, we made a code in order to have 2 leds light up opposite of each other. In order to add another led, I had to use the component 13 in digital power and have that wire be connected to the left side of the rail on the breadbox because it is the positive side. Then have a wire going from ground for the second led going to the right side of the breadbox because it is the negative side. The second red wire has to go directly in front of the long leg of the led, and the second black wire has to go directly in front of the resistor leg that is closest to the bottom of the breadbox. The resistor is directly behind the led with the leg closest to the top of the breadbox, right behind the short leg of the led. After adding the new led, I have to change the code on the computer to include the new led. I have to use my blinkZoe and the build a second blink program called blink2Zoe, and save it for coding two leds to light opposite of each other. In order to change the code, I had to add a new pinMode called (13, OUTPUT);, and make sure there was a } at the end of the void setup. I had to add to the void loop, now. I added directly underneath the original digitalWrite, a new digitalWrite called (13, LOW);. It had to be LOW because the original pin 6 was HIGH, and they need to be opposite commands for this code. Then I set the delay to a simple (1000). I had to again set another digitalWrite under the first digitalWrite pin 6, called digitalWrite(13, HIGH);. Again, It was HIGH this time because pin 6 was set to LOW, and they have to be opposite for this particular code. I then finished with a simple delay(1000);. After I pressed verify and then upload, I was able to see both leds flashing opposite of each other. It was very hard at first to figure out how to achieve this because my partner and I tried many different way to achieve this code, but it did not work to the very last one. It will be a lot easier to do now that I know how to do this and can even add more leds if I desire. (Mechatronics- Blinking Lights with an Arduino)
November 9, 2016- Today in engineering class, I began working on my project. I decided that I would use 123d design in order to design a box to keep my speakers for my project in. I measured the cardboard box that my speakers originally came in, and the box was 7 in by 4in. Since it was made of cardboard and was able to be stretched I decided that I would make my box with the dimensions 7.5in by 4.5in and would add a .5in edge to the box in order to fit the lid, I will make, on the box. I created a rectangular prism with the primitive shapes on 123d design and used smart scale to measure the boxes 7.5in by 4.5in. I created another rectangular prism that was 7in by 4in and placed the shape inside the original shape, just far enough down in order to have a thin bottom of the box. I then used the subtract tool and was left with an empty space inside the larger rectangular prism. I might have to scale my box to be a bit smaller later in order to fit on the 3d printers, and I have to create a top for the box, but I have just begun working on my project and will continue in future classes.
November 10, 2016- Today in engineering class, I began constructing my object to be cut by the laser cutter. I decided that I would make my box out of cardboard originally using the laser cutter and then later use the material of my choice, instead of a 3d printed box. I began designing the box today to the dimensions that I desired. I will use parametric design to create the slots in the boxes. The slots will be .15 on the inside of the side or bottom, because that is the thickness of cardboard. I decided the dimensions of the sides and bottom of my box today on Inkscape. My sides are 4 in by 7 in, and my bottom is 4 by 4 in. I will continue working on my box and add tabs in order to parametrically fit my box together in future classes.
November 11, 2016- Today in engineering class, I continued working on my laser cut box for my project. Today I added tabs to my box that were .5 by .3 inches. I had to add and subtract, depending on whether I was going to combine or subtract the tabs to the side of the box, by .15 cm because that is the width of cardboard, the material I'm using to test the design with, and it had to be in the object that certain amount. I used cloning, or parametric design, in order to create the many clones. Then after I created the number of tabs per side of the box and evenly spaced them, I had to unlink the clones, so I could union and subtract the tabs from the sides. When I union the tabs, I am combining the tabs with the side of the box. When I subtract the tabs, I create a space in the sides. Then I cloned the top side in order to have a bottom and top side exactly the same, by saving time. I will continue to work on this in my next class.
November 14, 2016- Today in engineering class, I decided that it would work best to create my box with the 3d printer because I had my first setback in my project. My laser cut box did not save from the other day, and so it would be like starting over and I had already designed a 3d printed box on 123d design, so I would use that instead, in order to have an element of 3d printing in my project, which is required. For my laser cut portion of my project I decided that I would raster the word speakers onto cardboard or leather in order to put a “label” on my box because that is what I am storing in the box. I used the text tool on Inkscape in order to write the word speakers and made sure the stroke setting was anything but .001, so it would raster instead of cut. Then, I created a box around the text box and put the stroke setting of the box to .001, so it would cut out, and I would not have to cut out the word after I rastered it. I would later glue the word to my box, but I first have to laser cut and 3d print my project objects, and I plan to do this in near classes.
November 15, 2016- Today in engineering class, I began working on the top for my 3d printed box on 123d design. I first created a rectangle and used the extrude tool to make it 3d, and used smart scale to make the dimensions 7in by 4in and .25in thick because that is the dimensions of the inner, empty part of the box. I then created another rectangle and used the extrude tool once again but made this rectangle slightly bigger with the dimensions 7.5in by 4.5in and .5in thick because those are the dimension of the box as a whole. I then placed the larger rectangle on top of the smaller rectangle and put the rectangle slightly into the smaller rectangle in order to have them together. Then I used the combine tool in order to have these two shapes together. Now the lid will fit tight and stay on the box. I hope to create the handle for my lid of my box next class.
November 16, 2016- Today in engineering class, I continued working on my 3d printed lid for my box. I created the handle for my box today. I created the handle using the revolve tool. I used a cube and an edge on the cube for a cylinder to revolve around and placed it into the rectangles and combined the objects, and I completed my design for the lid of my 3d printed box. It was hard to figure out if I needed to revolve around a face or an edge of a box and which edge I should revolve around and which shapes I should use for this, but the Lynda tutorials helped me remember how to revolve an object. I also had to make the objects near the middle of the rectangles to begin, in order to figure out how much I needed to revolve the cylinder. I might have to scale this to be smaller if I have to scale my box to be smaller to fit the 3d printers. I hope to print this soon along with my box.
November 17, 2016- Today in engineering class, I worked on adding all of the files, including my pdfs and svgs for my laser cut box and my engraving of the word speakers, to my google drive. I planned to laser cut my engraving, but instead I learned how to use a new saw that we just received in our fab lab. It is a very powerful saw, that can cut larger and thicker objects than the laser cutter. I was allowed to cut a piece of wood, but I first had to line up the side of the tool that held the wood on one side in place, and I had to make sure the blade was high enough to cut something that thick. Then I turned the saw on after holding the piece of wood in place on the tool, and I held the end of the piece of wood and held the glider near the top of the wood for safety. I then was able to glide the piece of wood to the end of the blade where all of the wood was cleanly cut though at the specific spot I wanted. It is a very powerful tool and a very nice addition to our FAB lab at CLS.
November 18, 2016- Today in engineering class, I was able to finally laser cut my engraved word for speaker. I made sure color mapping was off in the print settings, and that the settings were on 12 speed, 100 power, and 10 frequency. I turned auto focus off, and hand focused the laser cutter used the toggle on the laser cutter, and so it was close enough to start cutting. I also had the job type on settings as combined because I needed it to raster the word speakers and cut the rectangle around word in order to have it be similar to a label that I laser cutter. I then pressed print and watched it cut, so it would not catch fire, and it cut rather fast. It cut and rastered very well, and so I completed the laser cut portion of my project; I just have to attach it to my 3d printed box once I print it.
November 21, 2016- Today in engineering class, I created the code that my lights will allow my lights to follow music, and I downloaded my 3d printed designs to a usb. On the instuctables that I am following to create this project, it comes with a code that worked in order to make the LEDs blink to music. I used the arduino program and a basic example to create this code. It addresses the analog pin, the strobe pin, the reset pin, and includes digital write values for each, spectrum values for each, analog write values for each, and serial.prints are included as well. The code used a skill that we had been working on called a loop. The loop is for (int i = 0; i <7; i++), so instead of counter ++, it is i++. The code consisted of many side notes that will hep me understand what it is connecting to, such as the arduino or the MSGEQ7. The code this person created was very helpful and easy to follow and understand, but will be hard to troubleshoot if there is an issue because there are several commands applying to several different pins and loops, but I think it will work for my project. I also followed the procedure of downloading my lid and box 3d designs as svgs to usbs, so hopefully I will be able to print them in a class very soon.
November 22, 2016- Today in engineering class, I created a vinyl sticker to design to put on my box because it is another requirement of my project. I chose a music note to go on my box that will go on my box that will contain my speakers. I looked on google images and found a music note and made sure it was a jpeg in order to work on the program silhouette maker, which is the program that is used to vinyl cut the stickers. I then downloaded the image to silhouette maker and traced the design, so the music note will be the only part that will be cut, not the box around it. I made it 4 boxes by 4 boxes on the grid. I then saved it to my google drive, so once I print my box, I will be able to open a computer hooked up to the vinyl cutters and download the already made design from my google drive. This makes it more efficient when I am ready to cut my vinyl sticker, but first I will have to print my boxes, which I will do soon.
November 28, 2016- Today in engineering class, I began setting up my arduino board to have the correct components and wires and other devices connected to wires of my arduino board. This part of my project connects my project together. If I don't have the correct components and pieces where they should be on my arduino board, then the lights will not light up or even be connected to the speakers. It is a hard design to follow because there are many different wires overlapping each other, with different types of capacitors and resistors, and many parts that are not labeled and are hard to discover what they are and how that will effect my project. Today, I began working the the pieces I had available to me today, including setting up some of the many different color wires, the 10k and 22k resistors, and one of my N-channel MOSFET transistors. It is hard to work on the board while I am still missing some of the key pieces to my project, but I will be receiving them soon. I am following the design that came with the instructions to my project and some parts are harder to follow than others, but it became easier to start putting the wires in place when I turned the arduino board and screwed it in the same way the design had it. I will continue working on my arduino board in the next several classes and will be able to use the code and the led strip to see if the lights programmed to music.
November 30, 2016- Today in engineering class, I experienced another setback because when I tried to download my box to a 3d printer, I discovered that the dimensions were too big for the printer and would take forever to print even if it was okay dimensions. I decided to basically flip the box to where the dimensions were 4.5 in wide and 7.5 in tall instead of the other way around. I also had to recreate the lid too, to where the bottom layer of the lid was 4in by 4in and the top rectangle was 4.5 in and the handle was made smaller to fit the new lid to the box. This again was too big for the 3d printer platform, so I decided that I needed to create a even smaller box and would have to put something, for example the LED strip in here, instead of the speakers. The dimensions ended up being around 3.5 in by 4.5 in and the lid was still 4.5 in by 4.5 in. Also, because I was supposed to place a label on the box that said speakers, and so now I am going to have to create another laser cut label that says LEDs. Today was a day of a lot of setbacks, but I will print the box and lid soon because I have already downloaded them as an stl to the usb, but I will have to find an available time to print them, create another laser cut label, and continue setting up my arduino and putting my project together to make sure it works. I still have a lot to do for my project.
December 1, 2016- Today in engineering class, I worked on fixing one of my setbacks. I had to redesign my label that was rastered by the laser cutter because I am now storing the led strip in my box that will be printed later instead of the speakers. I had to change this because the 3d printers could not fit the box fit for the speakers on the platform, and so I had to make it smaller and choose something more flexible to put in the box. Therefore, on the already made design I had for the speaker label, I changed the letters to LEDs, and changed the raster setting to .002 to make it darker. It was fairly easy to redesign and download as a pdf and svg, but when I tried to download it to the laser cutter, the computer was not allowing me to download it to the laser cutter software, and therefore will have to try to laser cut it tomorrow.
December 2, 2016- Today in engineering class, I downloaded and cut my label for LEDs. After accessing my Google Drive, I was able to download the pdf to the laser cutter software. Then, I had to make sure the fans were on, the laser cutter was on, and my preferences for cardboard was at 12 for speed, 100 power, and 10 frequency, the piece size was at 30 by 20in and the job type was combined because I wanted to raster the letter and cut the box around it. Finally I had to check that color mapping was off, and then press print. I was a very short print and had lot of extra cardboard, that I was able to cut off and save. My laser cut part of my project is complete. I was hoping to continue working setting up my arduino, but I received another setback of my arduino kit not being near any of the other kits or to be found where I left it or in the three rooms in our FAB lab. Hopefully I will find it soon to be able to continue to building my project and testing it.
December 5, 2016- Today in engineering class, I restarted setting up my arduino board to be able to basically have my lights light up to music and make my project work. I added all of the wiring I could today but could not add all because some wires go to specific pieces, that have not arrived yet. I was able to color code my board to correspond with wire colors on the instructable outline, including red, black, yellow, green, blue, and orange. I also added my 10k and 22k resistors where they were necessary. It is hard to recognize the specific components the wires and other objects go into, but it became easier as it went on. It was also hard to determine some of the parts necessary because on the outline not every part is labeled, and I have to determine the piece by shape and similarity to the pieces I already have or will be receiving soon. I still need capacitors, my LED strip, and two more
N-channel MOSFET transistors. I will continue working on this the best I can, but I can not do much more without these parts and will not be able to test my project to se if it works, but I am almost complete with the wires on my arduino board.
December 6, 2016- Today in engineering class, I re-downloaded my 3d box lid and box to a usb because I could not find the other usb that I downloaded the designs on last time. I exported both as an stl on 123d design and placed it into the file for the usb. It did not take very long, but I was unable to print today because my prints take a long time, and I was unable to come in at a later time today, but I will do it soon. I am unable to do a lot more on my project because I have to print my box in order to cut my vinyl sticker, and I need my parts for my arduino to arrive in order to make sure my project works and to complete it, but as soon as the parts come I will be able to continue and hopefully finish soon.
December 7, 2016- Today in engineering class, I added my final wires to my arduino and figured out I needed to re-order an audio jack. I only had about five wires to add, but they could not be fully attached because the other side of the wire does not go into a component on the breadboard, but it connects to materials that I still need to receive. Also, I found another setback in my project and could not connect my wires to my audio jack because I realized that I had ordered the wrong audio jack, and this audio jack would not allow me to connect wires to the audio jack itself and could not connect the speakers and the iPod to the arduino and eventually would not allow the LED strip to connect to the music. I have ordered the piece that I need and will be able to finish and test my project after these pieces arrive. Also, I still need to print my 3d box and lid, but it is hard to find time available to me when I can print it because my 3d object designs are rather large and will take a long time to print. After I can print my box, I will be able to glue my label for LEDs on it and cut my vinyl sticker and put it on my box, and my project will be almost done. I am slowly finishing my project step by step, but I still have a long way to go.
- recieved led strip didn't know what to do with it, too many wires
- added all parts to arduino and tested the led strip by installing neopixel library on arduino to test it
- printed 3d box
- box setback- didn't finish print and was stopped because I used the pla material settings when it was t-glase material
- soldered new audio jack
- did a stand test with led strip- at first was wrong port and board but was fixed and made it blink different colors at different times
- printed box with dimensions 3 by 3 by 3 and created lid with dimensions 3 by .25 and and .5 lip
- had to buy new led strip with 4 wires
- created a qr code
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