Engineering Design 1 Project

Project Ideas:

Three potential projects for my semester project are a speaker, a light saber, and LEDs that can blink to music.

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. The speaker I would be interested in building is a Rubik's cube speaker. In order to create this, I would have to laser cut or create sides to create a box to fit to the visual on the instructable, including small wholes where the audio plug goes. Then, I would have to take apart a part of the cube to place the wireless speaker I would have to buy and connect the speaker to a raspberry pi and place these two materials on the side of the box. Then I would paint the box that had been put together and place stickers on it. Once I have competed the instructions on the instructables, including programing the raspberry pi, then I would be able to have a wireless speaker that looks like a Rubik's cube and projects good sound. On the downside of building a speaker, it requires me to spend a lot of money on some of the parts such as a real wireless speaker and not just something that projects the noise. Also, I feel that while the instructions are informative, the tutorial does not tell me in detail how to make the raspberry pi work or which parts of raspberry pi connect to the speaker, which can lead to problems overtime. 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. I think It would be something that I would use very frequently, too. I would probably use the designs for speakers on instuctables and most of the materials listed under those instructions can be found in our fab lab, but the actual speaker part would be cheapest found on amazon, and I could buy or make some of the other materials accordingly. I think the most exciting part of this project would be how often I would be able to use the speaker after I created it because I listen to music a lot, and I would be able to use different coding and building materials in order to create almost a hidden speaker inside a Rubik's cube. (http://www.instructables.com/id/Wireless-Rubiks-Cube-Speaker/?ALLSTEPS)

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. Based on the instructable, this would involve me buying many of the plastic parts already pre-made and placing an LED inside of a tube and creating a surface that will hold the LED at the bottom of the light saber, and I could add sound if I wanted to by using Li-Ion batteries and would be able to use an LED control board in order to turn the light saber on and off. I would have to put all these parts together by following the instructions on an instructable, but I would have a full functioning light saber that can turn on and off and make noise. An advantage to this besides it would be really cool, and I would be able to incorporate many of necessary skills in this project and more skills that interest me. Also, an advantage is the price can vary, so I don't have to spend a lot of money to make something that really interests me. On the downside, I don't know if building a light saber would be considered an okay object to build and might not technically have a from of intelligence to build it. For this project, many other people in my class want to build this as well, which might prevent me the option to make it, which is a downside of the project as well. Overall this project seems very fun and it interests me very much. The most exciting part to this project to me seems like being able to use the control board in order to turn the LED on and off and also control sound, and I can incorporate or customize it to be however I want it. (http://www.instructables.com/id/Building-a-Lightsaber/)

My third option for a project would be creating LEDs that blink to music, which I find very cool because I am very interested in incorporating LEDs into my project. An instructables gives good instructions to follow in order to create this project, as well. It has instructions in order to design or set up an arduino to connect to an LED strip and speakers and use a code in order to have the LEDs blink to the music that is connected to the speaker. It uses several different materials like transistors and several wires, capacitors and resistors to place on the arduino and to power the arduino in order to make the LEDs light up. After the arduino is set up and I use the code that is used in the instructable in order to make the LEDs blink to music rather than a basic stead test, which just follows a pattern. The arduino is connected to the speakers through a usb and also to the LED strip which is why the LED blinks to the music on the speaker after coding the arduino. The advantages to this are the cost is not too expensive, and the instructions on the instructable are very clear in telling me how to code the arduino and how to set up the arduino and the overall instructions are very helpful. Also, I would be able to incorporate all of the requirements for the project, including intelligence. Some disadvantages to this are, the troubleshooting for this project would be very hard because there is many wires and components to deal with on the arduino, but overall I think this project will be very fun and interesting to see how it works. I think the most exciting part of the project and also the most challenging part will be when I get to see the LED strip blink different colors based off of the code, and I can first test it to see how it blinks at first with the basic code verses at the end when I will get to see it blink to the music. (http://www.instructables.com/id/Blinking-LEDs-to-the-Frequency-of-Musi/)

Description of Project Choice:

For my second semester engineering project, I have decided to make leds that are connected to music when blinking. I will follow and improvise project instructions on instructables.com (http://www.instructables.com/id/Blinking-LEDs-to-the-Frequency-of-Musi/). It has instructions in order to design or set up an arduino to connect to an LED strip and speakers and use a code in order to have the LEDs blink to the music that is connected to the speaker. It uses several different materials to place on the arduino and to power the arduino in order to make the LEDs light up. I have to follow a visual that shows the way to set up the arduino and what components to put all the materials in. All the wires play a role in making the LEDs light up, but the most important part is the code. After the arduino is set up and I use the code that is used in the instructable in order to make the LEDs blink to music rather than a basic stead test, which just follows a pattern. I chose this project because using LEDs interests me, and how the different codes can change the design of LEDs with a simple change. Also, I think it is interesting that LEDs can blink to the sound of music just by being attached to the speakers by an arduino and the coding controls it all. I am interested to try this project and see the finished project in the end. If the project ends up working, then I will be able to play whatever song I want to on the speakers connected to the arduino, and after I program the LEDs and the arduino, then the LED strip will blink colorful lights to the music.

How My Project is Different for the Tutorial:

My project is different than the tutorial because unlike in the video I will end up placing my LEDs around a box, I made, in order for the LEDs to light up on, and the tutorial placed the LEDS all over the wall and probably had a lot longer LED strip than I have, which might effect some of the numbers in the code that say how many LEDs follow the code. Also, I had a different LED strip than the one in the instructable, which caused a lot of problems at the beginning because the one I bought only had three components to put the wires into and the one on the tutorial had four, but I had to purchase a waterproof LED strip to make the wiring the same, but is still different then the one that is in the instructions. Also, I don't have the same speakers and iPod as the person in the instructions, but overall the projects are very similar in construction because these were the instructions I followed to understand how to make the project, and I used the instructions recommended sellers of the materials and also followed the same code to make the project possible.

Attribution of Project:

I will follow and improvise my project instructions for blinking LEDs to music on instructables.com (http://www.instructables.com/id/Blinking-LEDs-to-the-Frequency-of-Musi/). This instructable was created by David Wang. This instructable has inspired me to create this project and provides a very good path and instructions for me to follow to have the most success I can have with this project. It made me interested in the topic of LEDs and programming them to music, and I felt it was achievable with the instructions, visuals, and coding to help me along the way.

Other tutorials that I have a potential to use for this project are (https://learn.adafruit.com/rgb-led-strips/overview) for RGB LED striping, and I will use a tutorial for MSGEQ7 (http://nuewire.com/info-archive/msgeq7-by-j-skoba/).

Materials:

Materials List:

1. a breadboard

2. a 12v 5A power supply

3. a LED strip

4. an audio jack

5. three 10k resistors

6. one 220k resistor

7. a 33pf ceramic capacitor

8. two 100nf ceramic capacitors

9. a 10nf ceramic capacitor

10. an Arduino red board

11. a 3.5mm audio cable

12. one MSGEQ7

13. three N-channel MOSFET Transistors

14. one pack of male to male jumper wires

15. a set of speakers

Original Plan:

Project Workflow Plan:

1. Design and set up my arduino and breadboard

2. Learn and do LED stripping

3. Learn and setup MSGEQ7

4. Code my arduino and LEDs

5. Design and print a 3d box

6. Design and a laser cut a platform for my LEDs

7. Create and cut a vinyl sticker to be stuck on my completed project

8. Put project together and look for final mistakes

9. Turn in project

These are calendars for November and December and the projected start and finish days of my project steps, without any setbacks. This calendar shows my project due December 15, 2016.

Step by Step Instructions:

1. Design a 3d box using 123d design with the dimensions 3in by 3in by 3in, by adding a cube and smart scaling the box to the corresponding dimensions, then create another cube that is 2.5in by 2.5in by 2.5in and place the smaller cube inside the larger cube and use the subtract tool to subtract the smaller cube from the larger cube in order to create the inside of the box and the box itself and download the design to a usb to print the box.

2. Print the 3d box

3. Design a 3d lid to fit your box on 123d design with the dimensions 3in by 3in by .25in, by adding a rectangle with the dimensions 3in by 3in by .25in and then create another rectangle with the dimensions 2.5in by 2.5in by .25in and place the smaller rectangle underneath the larger rectangle and combine the two rectangles in order for the lid to fit perfectly on the box, and then in the end add a cylinder to act as a handle on top of the larger rectangle and then download the design to a sub to print the lid.

4. Print the lid

5. Design a label that is labeled that has the word LEDs on it by creating a text box and typing the letters LEDs and have the stroke setting as .002 in order to raster the letters and then create a box around the text box and put the stroke setting on .001 to cut the box out around the letters, then download the design as a svg and a pdf.

6. Laser cut the label

7. Glue the label to the box

8. Set up the Arduino by putting the wires and other materials in the correct components on the breadboard and Arduino

9. Solder the audio jack to the wires connected to the breadboard and Arduino that should be connected to the audio jack

10. Solder the LED strip to the corresponding wires on the breadboard and Arduino

11. Create the code that allows the LED strip to blink to music on the program Arduino

12. Place the LED strip on the 3d box

13. Plug in the power source and the speakers to the audio jack

14. Program the LED strip by downloading the code to the LED strip and the Arduino

15. Play music on the speakers to test to see if the LEDs blink to the music

16. Troubleshoot if necessary

17. Watch the LEDs blink to music when the project is completed

Decision Making and Process of Making:

I decided that I would use 123d design in order to design a box to keep my speakers for my project in because I need to incorporate a 3d print into my project. 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 inside of 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.

Later I decided I wanted to make a box out of cardboard instead of a 3d printer, because it would be more efficient and would work better in the long run and to have an object that could meet the laser cut requirement. 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. They will be able to parametrically fit together. 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. I used cloning, or parametric design, in order to create clones of the tabs. 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.

Later 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, and 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 will later glue the word to my box. When I was able to 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 using 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.

I decided to make the top for my 3d printed box on 123d design because the actual box was already made and the top need to made in order to contain the speakers inside of the box. 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 on the box. I created the handle for my box lid, also. 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 created the code, made originally by the maker of the instructable that I followed, that will allow my lights to follow music. I decided to make the code because this is the code that the instrucable example used, and also I need to make it in order to have the LED strip programed to blink to music, which is the main part of my project. 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 pin, analog write values for each pin, 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.

I set up my arduino board to have the correct components and wires and other materials connected to wires of my arduino board. I set my arduino up with these components because the instructable had a visual that showed how the arduino was set up, which made it easier to actually setup when having an example to look at. 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. I began working the the pieces I had available to me, including setting up some of the many different color wires, the 10k and 22k resistors, and one of my N-channel MOSFET transistors. I am following the design that came with the instructions to my project on instuctables.

Later, I had to restart setting up my arduino board to be able to basically have my lights light up to music and make my project work because I could not find my arduino board that I used the other day, therefore I had to use a new arduino board and set it up using the materials available to me. I added all of the wiring I could but could not add all because some wires go to specific pieces, that did not arrive at first. 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 materials go to, but it became easier. 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 needed capacitors, my LED strip, and two more N-channel MOSFET transistors. Later, I added my final wires to my arduino. I only had about five wires left 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. Once the new audio jack arrived, I decided to solder the wires that connect to the audio jack because that way they would permanently be together instead of just holding it there.

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 do something for example putting the LED strip around the box, 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.

Finally, I decided my box would have the dimensions of 3in by 3in by 3in and the lid would have dimensions 3in by 3in with an lip underneath it of .25in and instead of the handle I had, I would use a cylinder instead of my elaborate handle because when I shrunk the size of the box, the handle would not adjust to the new lid surface. I made the box smaller because I didn't need it to be very big since I am wrapping something around the box, and also the time the box would have been printed was very long, and it needed to be slightly smaller. I then finally printed my box. I also later printed my box lid, but the 3d printer was originally not extruding pla when I attempted to print my lid, and there for I had to remove the pla from the 3d printer and use pliers to get a piece of pla stuck in the printer out of it. Then I cut the pla and was able to start and finish my print of my lid. Therefore, I finished printing my box totally.

I decided I had to redesign my label that was rastered by the laser cutter because I am now placing my LED strip around my box, instead of the speakers. 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. 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 it. I later glued the label onto my 3d printed box in order to have my laser cut requirement on my project, and so I could have my label on my box.

I decided to do a strand test for the LED strip once it arrived because I needed to make sure it worked before I tested it with my very complicated arduino. Once I downloaded the simple strand test to the arduino program and plugged in the number of LEDs I wanted tested into the code, I was able to verify and download the code to the LED strip and watch it blink different colors in an pattern. Later, I decided I needed a new LED strip because the one I ordered only had three components to put wires and I needed four components. Therefore, I bought a new LED strip.

I finally received my LED strip in order to continue on with my project, and once I received the LED strip, I realized it had the exact number of wires on the LED strip that I needed to connect to the arduino wires. Since there were no components I could just attach the wires on the arduino to the LED strip, I decided to solder the wires together. At first I thought the color of the wires on the arduino corresponded to the wire colors on the LED strip, but according to the instructions on the instructable I was using, the blue wire went with the red wire, the first red wire went with the blue wire and the green wire went with the green wire, and the longer red wire went to the black wire, meaning ground. The wires correspond with wires for ground, data, and power. I will now be able to work on my project more because all my materials have arrived.

Setbacks:

My first setback was 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. Originally I wanted to create a 3d box, so I had already made that even though I thought the laser cut box would work better, but I was not going to start over something that was going to take time aways from working on another part of my project like the arduino; therefore, I used my box from 123d design.

Another setback I had was the dimensions of my box were to big to where the box could not fit on the printing platform and would take eight hours to print. I had to scale my box to be smaller to fit the 3d printers. I began by keeping the same dimensions but making 7.5in by 4.5in instead of 4.5in by 7.5in, and I had to change the size of the lid of the box as well to 4.5in by 4.5in. This again was too big for the 3d printer platform; therefore, I had to change the dimensions again. I changed the dimensions to 3.5in by 4.5in and the lid was still 4.5in by 4.5in, but this box would still take too long to print. Therefore, for my final box I decided to make the dimensions 3in by 3in and the lid 3in by 3in with a .5 lip underneath the lid. With these dimensions, the box will only take only 3 and a half hours; therefore, a more efficient print, and also, I didn't need the box as big because instead of putting something inside of the box, now I was putting something around the box, so it doesn't need to be as big.

A small setback in my project was when I needed to create another label using the laser cutter because I am not storing my speakers in the box I am creating anymore. I decided to make a label that said LEDs because that is th email focus of my project, and the LEDs will surround my box that I am putting my label on. It was easy to fix because I already had the label designed, but I had to just change the text and download the svg and pdf of the label and then use the laser cut software, and my laser cut workflow, and 100 frequency, 10 power, and 12 speed for the correct settings to laser cut cardboard. Then I was finally able to laser cut my label and fixed the minor label problem.

I received another setback when I tried to print my 3d box for the first time. When I went through the procedures to print my box, I had a careless error of using the material pla in my settings when the material should have actually been t-glase, and my print was later canceled before it could be finished. In order to fix this setback, I had to reprint my box at a different time using the correct material and use the workflow to using a 3d printer, and the second time I printed my box was successful.

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. I fixed this problem by using a new arduino and using the parts I had avalible to me and reordering the parts that I had lost with my arduino, but I did have to start over setting up my arduino.

Throughout my project, I have had trouble with being able to work on my project because many of my parts did not arrive very quickly. I was unable to setup my arduino when all of the transistors, capacitors, audio jack, power supplies, and basically all of my materials except the wires did not arrive very quickly. Also, my LED strip came later then all of my other pieces which led to setbacks in my project because I was unable to work or test or move forward with my project. I had to be patient with my parts arriving. Once my LED strip did arrive, I attempted to hook up to my arduino, but I found another setback of the LED strip having 3 wire components to hook my arduino wires to the LED strip, but I needed four components. I had to fix this setback by ordering a new LED strip with four wires that can connect to the four arduino wires. I will have to wait for this piece, but I will just be patient.

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 in order to solve this setback, but I had to wait for it for a little while, which caused me to have to be patient.

A minor setback I had was when I attempted to 3d print the lid to my box, and the 3d printer was temporarily jammed. I had to remove the pla from the printer, then I had to use pliers in order to remove a small piece of pla that was stuck in the 3d printer. Then, I had to cut the pla, so I could place it back into the 3d printer and attempt to extrude the pla, and it worked, and therefore I was able to print my 3d lid and complete my box as a whole.

(This folder includes all my files, designs, photos, videos, and the qr code for my project.)

- I had no calculations for this project.