Sanya and I chose the snowman design for our PCB because we intend to strategically place our LEDs to decorate the snowman's buttons, eyes, and mouth. We also think that the snowman shape is simple enough to create in Rhino and export into Eagle.

Final Collaborative PCB:

Sanya and I created a white snowman shaped PCB, with LEDs as the snowman's buttons, mouth, and eyes! We initially had a lot of struggle importing our snowman shape from Rhino into Eagle, as it wouldn't import into the microboard shape. In the future, I will remember how different shapes in Rhino require different export schemes to be successfully imported into the Dimension layer in Eagle, since our snowman ended up needing to be exported as "2007 Lines" instead of "CAM Metric." I will also remember the differences between series and parallel circuits, and how we used parallel circuits in our PCB so that each of our lights would receive the same voltage.

Speaker Design Ideation:

I am most likely to move forward with either the glasses, stovetop, or bicycle idea. Before making a final design, I'd like to get some feedback from the class and flush out the ideas more. For the glasses idea, I'm concerned about the total size, as well as the appearance of having a wire connecting the two separate speakers. For the bicycle idea, I'm not sure what materials I could use to construct the wheels and frame, as I'm worried metal tubing would not be strong enough. I'm also not exactly sure where I would hide the electronics. At this point, I don't have any concerns for the stovetop idea!

Speaker Design Feedback:

Phase 2: Design Drawing

Using Speakers B and hoping to find a balance between sound quality and visual appearance!

Modeled Enclosure Design:

I'm thinking of using Walnut wood for most of the box, and metal tubing for the stovetop and oven handle. I'm also thinking of using dark grey acrylic for the oven window. I'm hoping to add the volume dial and digital FeatherM4 at the top end of the stovetop.

I'm uncertain about the overall size of the enclosure—if it will be large enough to hold the electronics while still fitting on two 11.5 in x 17.5 in sheets. 

Cardboard Prototype:

To scale model of my speaker enclosure! Most of this would be constructed from Walnut wood, but the top two stovetops would be constructed from metal tubing. The oven door would be made from clear grey acrylic, that is connected on a hinge to be able to access the electronics. The back view below shows the cutout for the speaker, and the top cutout is for my digital FeatherM4.

Python Exercise 1:

Introduction Python exercise on variables, casting, comparison operators, and more!

Python Exercise 2:

More introductory Python on lists, for loops, while loops, etc.

Amp PCB Design:

This is me and Franklin's Amp PCB board (left) and schematic (right)! 

I created all of the schematic connections, for the main power, power indicator, audio jack, speakers, etc. Franklin checked my connections, and routed the parts on the board. Together in class, we customized the board by adding our names to the board, which will eventually be hidden under the integrated circuit. 

For my 2nd circuit board, I learned how to change the width of the trace sizes, and why we customize them to allow for more current and to reduce noise. I also learned how to customize the board with text and graphics.

Circuit Playground Challenge:

Simone and I completed the temperature challenge to program one or more lights to become red when the temperature is high and blue when it is low. We combined the code we learned for programming LEDs with the code for programming the temperature sensor. Below is our solution!

Microcontroller Challenge:

Brock and I played around with the Feather M4 Express Neopixel Grid, and had the screen alternate from a singular red pixel to all blue pixels. Above shows our code and the result!

https://gist.github.com/oliviasze25/58a6bedcc3c9cc78d1f38c49b6c522d9

Microcontroller Challenge 2:

Digital Project Model:

I am planning to use the Feather M4 Express with the OLED screen for my digital project! I would like to use the Real Time Clock (RTC) feature to include with my stovetop speaker, next to my volume dial. The cut out rectangle above is where I plan to include it in my speaker!

Unsoldered Amplifier Circuit:

Soldered PCB:

This is the snowman PCB I designed with Sanya!

Soldered Amp Circuit:

Enclosure Build Progress:

To complete this project, I only have to hot glue my metal stovetops, digital component, and potentiometer. Then I'll be done :) 

Final Amplifier + Digital Project!

I created a stovetop as my amplifier enclosure, featuring the Real Time Clock (RTC) as my digital component. I am most satisfied and proud of how my wood enclosure and metal components came together into one piece! In Rhino, I wasn't sure exactly how/if it would come together, and I'm really happy with the final product, especially that I was able to fit all of my electronics inside. If I could start over, I would make the acrylic "door" much bigger and my wires longer so that I could realistically look at my amplifier PCB without having to open up the whole enclosure. When my speakers stopped working, I had to unplug the digital product and still struggled to reach the PCB. Having a larger door would have made debugging much easier. In future projects, I will remember to ALWAYS double check that all of the technology works perfectly before sealing up the enclosure, and to double check all of my connections/solder. I'll also take with me the possibilities of technology from the Current Topics presentations.

For my digital project, I incorporated the Feather M4 Express and using the Real Time Clock (RTC) sensor. My goal was just to create a simple clock that would print the date and time, so that I could use it in my stovetop enclosure. During this process, I learned a lot of debugging skills as I faced challenges getting my code to show up on the screen. I kept receiving a "no attribute" error, so I had to look at a new sample of code that was still a bit slow to load to the screen. Overall, I learned about basic functions in CircuitPython and how to debug common issues!