Margo Weber
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Hello, I'm Margo! 8/22
A design/engineering strength: I don't rush my work and am patient to ensure that my final project is something I worked hard on and am proud of. I also really enjoy soldering and physically building the circuits.
A design/engineering area for growth: An area for growth would be persistence. Often times, when struggling with an engineering or design related problem, I ask for help from a friend or a teacher instead of trying to work it out alone. I'd like to try to be more persistent in my work this year.
Commitments:
a) Consistently updating for my site
b) Keeping up quality work and submitting work I'm proud of
c) Meeting with a teacher during tutorial if I'm consistently struggling in class
PCB Design Ideas 8/30
Brandon and I chose the clouds with the faces covering the sun because the design was unique and it incorporated the LEDS in a different way.
Collaborative PCB 9/8
Brandon and I made a sun peaking out of a few clouds for our PCB design. The LEDs are at the points of the sun. I will remember many things about this project, one of them being that you have to import the engravings and actual cutting design in two seperate layers. This was important for our design because we have a lot of engravings and smaller details, like the faces of the clouds.
Speaker Design Sketches 9/11
Out of my favorites (the sketches circled in red), I am most likely to move forward with the honeycomb or grape vine. For the honeycomb and grape vine, I'm most concerned with how it would stand on it's side. For the grapes, I'm not sure about how the acrylic would look on the front.
Post-Its Feedback 9/13
Detailed Drawing 9/16
Speaker Model in Rhino 9/29
I was thinking of using yellow acrylic for the front/body of the pineapple and green acrylic for the leaves (both 1/8 inch). The sides are 1/8 inch mdf.
I am uncertain of how the leaves are going to stand on the base/mdf. I was thinking a metal stand, but I'm not sure how that would look.
Cardboard Prototype 10/11
My cardboard prototype is made of five main pieces: the front two sides with engravings (one with holes for the speakers cut out), the side mdf that wraps around, and the top stem pieces.
I laser cut all of my pieces.
Finished Amp Circuit on Breadboard 10/23
These pictures show my completed circuit connected to my two speakers and uses bluetooth.
I learned a lot during the entire process of making my circuit! Specifically, I learned more about the individual electronic components that make up the circuit and how the electricity flows between them.
I was very persistent during this entire process, as it took me quite a while to get the entire circuit working (and I started a little later than everyone else).
Python Worksheets 10/27 & 11/1
PCB Amplifier Design 11/1
On the top is a screenshot of my schematic and the bottom is my board.
I worked on this PCB with Anakarina! I would say that we collaborated very well on this project together. We didn't necessarily divide the work, but did all the steps together. For the schematic, we each took turns doing certain sections of the wires. We also checked each others work and edited out errors.
I think this project solidified what I already knew about PCBS and allowed me to practice it again in a less guided way. I also got to play around with adding text onto the board (see the bottom middle section).
#1 Microcontroller Challenges 11/9
Unfortunately, Avery and I ran out of time to try an actual challenge. However, we did have time to load the "Enjoy Life" image onto the OLED screen. That was pretty simple to do, as we just copy and pasted the code. We remembered to import all the libraries.
Link to Avery's Gist: https://gist.github.com/avery-c-yang/e389aba09e8b10dc7be6191fe8801396#file-avery-margo-image
#2 Microcontroller Challenges 11/10
A challenge that Avery and I tried to solve was to display the temperature. We had to adjust the calculations slightly so that the Fahrenheit temperature was accurate.
Another challenge we tried was connecting to the internet. We successfully set up our secrets file and our normal code.py file, and it displayed a random quote.
Finally, we tried to get the most popular articles from the NYT, but we ran out of time to finish this challenge.
Digital Project Idea 11/15
For my digital project, I would like to use the Circuit Playground and use the neopixels to shine light through the acrylic leaves at the top. It would sit in between the leaves and be hidden by them. I was also thinking about using bluetooth to connect to the lights and customize them.
My concern is that the lights won't be visible through the acrylic leaves. If this is the case, then I'll use it as a stand alone project!
PCB Pre-Soldering 11/27
This is my PCB before I solder the electronic components onto it! Once soldered, the PCB will control my speakers and have bluetooth.
Completed Shaped PCB 11/28
This is mine and Brandon's collaborative PCB! It features four LEDS along the edge of the sun, and clouds with faces on them.
Soldered Amp Circuit 12/12
This is my completed circuit for my amplifier! During this process, I improved my soldering as well as my overall understanding of certain electronic components. I learned more about resistors, capacitors, ferrite beads, and more.
Enclosure Build Process 12/14
This picture was taken before laser-cutter disaster :(
Right now, I need to re-print my MDF, spray paint my MDF, get the glue off the acrylic, and assemble. At least my speakers are working!!
Final Amplifier Documentation 12/20
This is my completed pineapple speaker! The front and sides are made up of MDF and spray painted yellow, and the top stem is cut from acrylic.
I am very satisfied with the final product! Due to some problems with my acrylic, I essentially had to restart my entire enclosure on Tuesday afternoon. I wish that I had thought about using MDF from the beginning! I'm really happy with the way it turned out. It looks very clean and uniform.
If I were to start my project over, I would scratch the idea of using acrylic and only use MDF. Additionally, I would make the sides a bit wider so everything fit inside with more room.
There are so many lessons that I will take away with me, but using the laser cutters is probably the biggest! Before this class, I was very unconfident with using the laser cutters and also had to have a teacher help me. Now, I am a pro at using the laser cutter in the electronics shop.
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